Exploring the Global Financial Information Superhighway

I am currently staying in London at a place located 30 minutes from London Bridge Station by express train. Just 15 minutes after leaving that station, one begins to see pastoral scenes out the train window. My parents live in Saitama prefecture in Japan. When they visited my house in London, they told me that the rich natural environment reminded them of the Chichibu region in Saitama. The city of London continues to grow as a global financial center, yet retains this natural landscape on its outskirts. At present, approximately one-third of London's working-age population is employed in the financial and related sectors, and London internationally remains tremendously competitive in terms of financial services. Over the past 15 years, I have been visiting the sites where the international financial information superhighway is being built; in Tokyo, Singapore and London. On a daily basis, I have sensed the rapid changes in information technologies and the globalization that accompanies those changes. This is my first report in a series of reports on topics related to policy planning for financial market strategies in Japan.