"I suppose the biggest change for me over the last four years has been a move from a 25-year career as a corporate executive to an entrepreneur," Graham Harris said.

He used to be a banker, having fallen into banking, he says, because his father was a banker. His father established his life in the northwest of England, where Graham was born and brought up. After Graham earned his accountancy credentials, he came to Japan, beginning his life here in Kansai.

There he learned the Japanese language, and met and married his wife, Kyoko. In 1971 they came to Tokyo with Lloyds Bank PLC. Since then they have had only two tours outside Japan plus a brief stay in London. The first four-year tour away was in Bahrain, where Graham served as branch manager. The second was in Hong Kong, where Graham was regional manager for East Asia.