Thanks to the opportunities presented to us by Scottish Development International, ESS Ecology’s Director, Paul Gill, was able to visit Japan at the end of March 2015 on a Scottish-Japanese trade mission. This week-long trip allowed the company to gain new, promising contacts with whom we hope to collaborate and assist in the future. With the help of JETRO (Japan’s external trade promotion organisation) the prospect of ESS Ecology expanding to the Japanese market has become a real opportunity. Following this productive and fruitful visit we plan to return and begin to offer our services and advice to Japanese offshore developers. Japan’s future offshore wind and tidal prospects are huge, with many developments planned and same already in demonstration phases as the country moves away from nuclear power. Japan’s vast coastline and wealth of technological knowledge and expertise will allow for a rapid and financially sustainable transition to offshore renewable energy, a transition that ESS Ecology endeavours to support.