Branding: Comment - Japan's officialdom could be ignoring its next key export

Once there was a time when Japan had great influence over European culture. When ukiyo-e (an art form that emerged in the Edo period and is closely connected with the pleasures of theatres, restaurants, teahouses, geisha and courtesans) and its painters and printmakers Utamaro Kitagawa and Ando Hiroshige were held in high regard. Van Gogh and Renoir were among many artists influenced by ukiyo-e.