This chapter is about the development of the company Alps Electric (UK), which was the European manufacturing arm of Alps Electric Co. Ltd, Japan. Right after closure in 2009, Alps Electric (UK) passed on the development of new technologies to Two Trees Photonics Limited, co-founded by two former employees of Alps UK. 

Morita Akio (1921-99) was one of the main driving forces behind the Sony Corporation. This essay details his career, personality, and business philosophy, as well as his relationship with Britain.

Part I: This essay shows the process of adaptation of Japanese television companies to invest and sell in the UK during the 70s and 80s. 

Part II: The second section looks at the other side of the coin of UK-Japan components manufacturing and trade. This time British manufacturers had to adapt to Japanese companies’ needs. The process then led to the creation of a business joint venture. 

This chapter focuses on Sharp Corporation. The investment in Sharp Laboratories is just one example of the rapidly developing economic ties between the UK and Japan in the late 1980s and the 1990s.