Canada and Japan: Building
on a trusted partnership

Steve McKersie: Thank you, your Excellency, for joining us today. It's a pleasure to welcome you as part of our Ambassador Series.

So the discussion that we're going to have today is really about helping business leaders better understand the opportunities for collaboration and growth between Canada and Japan.

And earlier this year, our Prime Minister, Prime Minister Carney, visited Japan as part of Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy, which has a strong focus on trade, investment technology and critical minerals. What do you think that visit by our Prime Minister to Japan says about the future direction of our country's relationship?

Kanji Yamanouchi: I think this question is very, very important. And I would say I accompanied by Mr. Carney from the very beginning of his arrival to his departure and had several opportunities to talk with him in a person in person. So, I really think the visit was great success. And the two leaders signed a joint communique. And also, the two leaders issued what we call comprehensive strategic roadmap, which consists of 6 pillars. That is the economic security, national security, and technology and global warming, et cetera. It's covering almost everything. And this significance stems from the reality of this century. Because I think that three things are shaping our world today. One, very serious geopolitical reality. And some countries are trying to change the status quo, not by the rule of law, but by the force or intimidation, all those things. And that is unfortunately the reality of this century, geopolitics.

The second, global warming is real. So decarbonization, it's ups and down, but I think this is inevitable. That requires a lot of new thinking and new business models and a new way to work. And third, technology, deep tech, high technology can shape the future. Those 3 things are combined. The thing is that no single country can stand alone. we have to work together. But think this way, when we have to work together, we want to work together with a country which we can trust.

And Canada is one of a very few countries which we can trust from the bottom of our heart.

Steve McKersie: Where do you see the greatest opportunity for collaboration between Canada and Japan? Is it on critical minerals? Is it in technology? Is it in nuclear technology? Is it in resources? Where do you see the greatest opportunity?

Kanji Yamanouchi: The areas you mentioned are all those great potentials and promising. And fusion energy, the new nuclear fusion energy, is also key. And some of the Japanese startup companies are working together with the, the nuclear the house of the of Canada, and also this small module reactor is a collaboration between three countries: the Canada, Japan, and the United States. It's a great model, and this is a carbon capture storage or carbon capture usage and storage.
So many Japanese companies are working together in, say, Alberta.

And also, I think that Canada is one of the top of the game of high tech, like AI or quantum. And also, the Japanese companies are working so hard for those areas.

So, those are very promising, I think.

Steve McKersie: Can you give some advice then to Canadian companies that are looking at Japan? What distinguishes those Canadian companies that tend to succeed in Japan, that tend to be successful in expanding into Japan versus those that may not?

Kanji Yamanouchi: This is a very important question for your client companies. One, Japanese market is one of the biggest, but at the same time, very competitive. So it's never easy to penetrate into the new market. So one advice is if you discover it's a nice partner, say the Japanese companies which have a partnership with the Canadian companies, it makes it much easier. I have one good example of Hylife, that is a pork company from Manitoba. So now it's very popular, very successful, and that has a partner company called Itochu. That is one of the major Japanese companies. So having the partnership with a Japanese company makes it easier to penetrate into the Japanese market. The second thing is complementarity. As I just mentioned, you have enormous resources.
We need export source, so that is probably the practical areas that you can explore the new business opportunities that is food and energy.

Steve McKersie: For Canadian companies that are looking internationally, so beyond our North American borders, why should they consider Japan as a market?

Kanji Yamanouchi: Oh, I would say the size of market. Japan is now fourth largest economy, that's a big market and very matured market. And also we are the partner of TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership. So we are conducting the business based upon the rules. Canadian business can trust we have transparency.

And also, I would say Japan is the gateway to other Asian countries. As you may know, our food self-sufficiency rate is only 38%. Energy self-sufficiency rate is only 11%. That means we have to import. On the contrary, Canada, you have more than 330% of food self-sufficiency rate. 180% of energy surplus sufficiency rate. So you need to seek countries which you can export.

Steve McKersie: If you have one final message for Canadian business leaders who are looking at Japan, what would your message be?

Kanji Yamanouchi: To persuade Canadian government to maintain CUSMA. I think that's, as of today, the single most important message from Japan to Canada. Because of CUSMA, the Japanese company are working comfortably and confidently in Canada. But if it's not, the business environment is very different.

Steve McKersie: And that's a good place to leave it and a great point and something that all Canadians are focused on as well is keeping CUSMA and negotiating that in a favourable way for Canadians. Thank you so much for your time, Ambassador. I really appreciate it and I look forward to our next conversation together. Thank you.

Kanji Yamanouchi: Steve-san, thank you very much. Have a nice day.