Our stories

Last week New Zealand's wonderful Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern and a team of trade officials and delegates were in Japan for the first time since the pandemic broke out. It was the first official government trip outside of New Zealand since the borders have slowly started reopening. Japan is an important diplomatic partner for New Zealand. Japan is New Zealand's 4th largest trading partner after China, Australia and the US. We have a reciprocal Working Holiday Visa arrangement between our countries.  Obviously trade between our two countries was a big topic of discussion. New Zealand sends dairy products, vegetables, wood,...

Ever since I launched our online store North South Stewart I have been grappling with the words to express what sustainability is and why we should care about it. I think the best and simplest definition is the one given by Sir David Attenborough in his documentary series A Life on Our Planet - watch the trailer here. In it he says "Anything that we cannot do forever is by definition, unsustainable". This is helpful because it sets the parameters. Forever, into infinity.  Obviously the way we live is considered to be not sustainable, with the most pressing issue being climate change. Rising...

The saying April Showers Brings May Flowers is better known in the US where the Spring rains contribute to the thawing of the frozen ground. Here in Japan Spring unfurls gently, starting with plum buds magically appearing on the bare branches in February. It doesn't typically rain much in winter in Japan nor very early Spring. This year we experienced quite a few false starts to Spring and there was a lot of confusion as to whether we were seeing plum blossoms or cherry blossoms, simply because the weather was uncharacteristically warm in March.  A better seasonal expression for us in...