Congratulations 2020 British Business Awards Winners!

Thirteenth, and first ever virtual annual gala celebrates close bilateral relations. Awards for UK-Japan business ties,
organised by the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan.

The best of UK-Japan relations, and British innovation, entrepreneurship, diversity and social contributions in Japan were recognised at tonight’s virtual 2020 British Business Awards (BBA).

Organised by the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan (BCCJ), with winners chosen by a panel of six independent judges from backgrounds spanning business, sports, trade, government, media, and the not-for-profit sector, the BBA has become one of the largest annual events enjoyed by the foreign business community in Japan.

Established in 2008 to mark the 60th anniversary of the BCCJ, the event is now considered a unique showcase for British creativity, culture and commerce.

The online gala was supported by an impressive range of BCCJ member companies and friends, with Robert Walters Japan contributing as our in-event sponsor. Louis Pommery generously sponsored a bottle of English sparkling to each nominee, long-time supporter, Kate Thomson of Ukishima Sculpture Studios sponsored 7 beautifully sculpted trophies reflecting the theme of this year, and the Life.14 helped us transform the BCCJ office into a fully functioning broadcasting studio.

The London Symphony Orchestra opened the event with a performance in lieu of their postponed trip to Japan. The opening video also featured Steve DeWire of Grand Hyatt Tokyo welcoming guests and introducing the gala, where pre-pandemic it was scheduled to be hosted.

Following the opening performance, MC Guy Perryman gave a warm welcome to our guests and introduced live speeches from BCCJ President, David Bickle, and UK Ambassador to Japan, Paul Madden CMG, both reflecting on personal experiences and honouring the UK-Japan relationship. And of course, the usual mix of humorous gags and pun jokes which have become synonymous with BBA speeches.

We were delighted to hear from BCCJ Platinum Members, and other special guests of the Chamber who voiced their support to all our nominees and their fantastic contributions to the UK-Japan relationship.

Before moving onto nominees, the BCCJ wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the tremendous support of Kate Thompson of Ukishima Sculpture Studios, whose inspired work has been central to the evolution of the Awards, having sculpted the trophies for 10 previous BBAs. In the below video, we learn about what the trophies symbolise, and a bit more about the design process.

Following the eagerly awaited announcing of the winners, Heather McLeish of the BCCJ’s Executive Committee and leader of the BBA taskforce conducted our charity raffle. The BCCJ is delighted to announce we have raised over 300,000JPY (and counting) through raffle purchases, and also direct charitable contributions. Proceeds of the raffle will go to our two charities, Refugee Empowerment International (video link HERE) and Shine On! Kids.

This amazing achievement would not have been possible without the generous support of our prize sponsors! We would like to offer our huge thanks to each of the prize sponsors for their contribution to the event, and recommend considering their great products and services on offer!

Closing out the event, British Indie-Pop duo, The Watanabes shared a final message and played the premiere of their new song, Christmas Hummingbird, with the stunning video visuals produced by Adorkable! Adorkable is a playful, curious and creative collective made up of Tokyo based multimedia creator Zucca and New York based creative technologist Ian G.

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BBA 2020 PROGRAMME

An introduction to the outstanding achievements of our 37 nominees and their, as well as the criteria they were graded on under our 6 categories, is detailed in BBA 2020 programme HERE. Also included, information on the fabulous prizes contributed by our sponsors.

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JUDGES

This year’s six esteemed judges were:

Koji Tsuruoka, Former Japanese Ambassador to the UK
Anna Dingley, Founder, Japan Connect Ltd. / Non-Executive Director, Nihon M&A Centre Inc. Japan
Robin Lewis, Co-founder, mymizu / Representative Director, Social Innovation Japan
Sue Kinoshita, Minister Counsellor for Economic Diplomacy, The British Embassy Tokyo
Susumu Kaminaga, Former President of Sumitomo Precision Products Co. Ltd.
Carolyn Burnett & Kaori Hida, Executive Director & Stakeholder Engagement Manager, Japan House London

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A sincere thank you to all teams who contributed to the delivery of our first ever virtual British Business Awards.

We look forward to seeing you next year (hopefully in person)!

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About the BCCJ

The BCCJ is a not-for-profit private membership organization with over 200 member companies, whose mission is to strengthen business ties between the two countries. It was founded in 1948.

Media enquiries to: [email protected]

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2020 BBA UK-Japan Partnership Nominees

2020 BBA Company of the Year Nominees

2020 BBA Judges 

Raffle winners, 2020 highlights and photos COMING SOON!!