JSMEAs representative office in Australia is the Ship Machinery Department at JETRO Sydney. The office is in Gateway, a very distinctive modern building offering superb harbor views located at Circular Quay, the site of the first permanent European settlement in Australia. Circular Quay is still Sydney's gateway.
JSMEA's office is adjacent to the City Circle railway station, and to terminus points for the buses and ferries that serve the Sydney metropolitan area.
The harbor is a major maritime highway and, at the same time, a vast recreation area. Small pleasure craft and water taxis maneuver with great ease around the container ships, car carriers, and small and large passenger ferries, which constantly traverse it. Sydney's unusual Opera House looms large in the foreground of the view from the JSMEA office. It is said to resemble huge while sails on the headland, but in fact its Danish designer, Utson, says he was inspired by orange peels lying on a plate.
With so much happening outside, people may wonder that any work is done at all. However, JETRO's Ship Machinery Department is small but very active. Its primary purpose is to promote trade, particularly in marine equipment, between Australia and Japan. To this end, the Department is involved in providing detailed, specialized information for potential exporters and importers in Australia. The Department also undertakes a wide range of research tasks designed to keep up with developments in industries which are potential exporters to Japan, such as ship and boat builders, and in industries which include potential customers, such as shipbuilders and repairers, for Japanese ship machinery makers.
The Ship Machinery Department at JETRO Sydney is comprised of a Director and a Research Officer. The Director is appointed from the Ministry of Transport (M.O.T.) in Japan, usually for a period of three years.
The Department is partially funded by JSMEA, and the Director represents and reports to JSMEA as well as to the M.O.T. The current Director, Mr. Morifumi Tanaka, is an engineer with considerable maritime experience during his years in the M.O.T. He has been in Sydney for almost two years now and has been very active. Almost too active!
The Research Officer is Ms. Denise Roberts. Her educational background was in history and political science, but after some nine years in the Department, she has become quite knowledgeable about maritime and other transport issues.
