John Lowe in Tokyo: a bit of a jolt

John Lowe played a key role in developing our Japan sales when he was posted to Tokyo in the 1980s after we finally received permission to launch the Reuter Monitor after years of official stalling.

We had a sales agent, Quick, who did little or nothing to sell any of our products and thought we would never be able to hire Japanese sales people of our own. John helped to prove them wrong. We attracted high quality staff who stayed with us for many years.

His (shall we say) straightforward manner gave our people in Tokyo a bit of a jolt but the revenue line went shooting up. John was more at home with the free-wheeling foreign dealers community, very active at this time.

It will come as no surprise to those who knew him that from time to time he confessed to finding Japanese ways a bit puzzling, but this did not stand in the way of a successful mission. ■