TOKYO — Liz Truss traveled with a small jar of Stilton cheese — the kind you find in the 18th-century London department store Fortnum & Mason — when she flew to Tokyo to ink Britain’s first post-Brexit trade deal five years ago this week.

For Truss, then Britain’s trade secretary, this was personal. In 2014 she famously called it a “disgrace” that Britain didn’t export more cheese. In the final weeks of the talks with Tokyo, she had fought hard to open up market access for Stilton and cheddar.

As a token of her appreciation for liberalizing the Japanese market, Truss presented then Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu with the pot of Silton as they signed the deal on Oct. 22, 2020.

While it was largely a rollover of the EU trade deal with Tokyo that Britain had access to as a member of the bloc, it also sliced Japan’s cheese tariffs (from 29.8 percent in the case of cheddar) to zero by 2033.

Buxton Blue, Swaledale Ewes, Teviotdale Cheeses and five others also now have their brand names protected in Japan.

Yet five years on, Japanese consumers aren’t buying British. The value of U.K. cheese exports has shrunk 66 percent since Truss signed the deal, as a weak yen pushes up prices.

No British food explosion

“There’s been no explosion of British food,” said Mark Spencer, as he showed off the Clawson Blue Stilton cheese he’s had flown in via airfreight to Tokyo on the well-stocked shelves of The British Shop. He opened the shop in May near Tokyo’s bustling Shibuya Crossing to showcase British food.

“British food is not very well known in Japan. It was a real struggle when we opened up here to even find British products,” said Spencer, who is also the founder of Hobgoblin Pubs and owns the biggest British pub in Tokyo.

“We use this as more like a showroom for our imported goods,” Spencer said over a cup of PG Tips tea, surrounded by customers eating scones with jam and clotted cream next to shelves full of Jaffa Cakes (¥680), Marmite (¥1,296), and Clawson Blue Stilton (¥1,296 per 100g). “We can bring the department stores, the supermarkets and all those kinds of people down here,” he said as he works to expand his importing business.

Spencer’s longtime contract with Costco (the American big-box warehouse retailer has more than 30 locations in Japan) has him importing shipping containers full of Wyke Farms cheddar. “Stilton and stuff like that. That’s flown in. That has a shorter shelf life,” he said.

Liz Truss’ trade deal “was good,” he added, noting “there’s a lot of stuff that’s tariff-free” thanks to it. “It’s just a nightmare importing anything into Japan. They have what’s called non-tariff barriers,” he said.

The flake in the soft serve ice cream at The British Shop? “We have a German flake,” Spencer said, shaking his head. “You can’t have a Cadbury’s Flake,” he explains. “There’s an emulsifier inside it that’s not approved for Japan.”

Despite the challenges, Spencer says he’s “on a mission to expand British food and British products.” Next, he’s going to try importing Victoria sponge.

Volatile business

Overall, British food and drink exports to Japan have been volatile. “The story for cheese exports, unfortunately, shows a clear decline in recent years,” said George Hyde, the Food and Drink Federation’s head of trade. “U.K. cheese sales to Japan peaked at £2.2 million in 2019 but have fallen every year since, and were down two-thirds in 2024 despite tariff advantages.”

A major factor is the weak Japanese yen compared to the strong British pound. Since Truss signed the trade deal in 2020, the pound has risen 47 percent in value against the yen. In August, inflation in Japan stood at 2.7 percent — its lowest point since November 2024.

Japanese tariffs on multiple British cheeses remain obstructively high, at 25, 14, and 18.6 percent. This is because they will be lowered over 15 years, following the trade deal coming into effect at the start of 2021.

“When combined with the fact that we typically export the more premium — and therefore expensive — cheeses to Japan, the impact is even higher,” said Hyde. “All this means that British cheeses will feel relatively expensive to Japanese consumers compared to similar products they’re shopping for.”

Luxury cheeses

British cheese is a luxury good in Japan. Yet, even Fortnum & Mason doesn’t display its pots of Stilton and other British cheese alongside the tea, scones, clotted cream, jam, preserves and biscuits on its stand in the bustling food hall of Japan’s legendary Mitsukoshi department store.

Hidden away on the store’s third basement level at the “Cheese on the Table” stall, you can find Red Cheddar (¥972, £4.78), Stilton (¥1,080, £5.31), and Clotted cream (¥2,376, £11.70) alongside other European varieties. 

For ordinary Japanese people, “the image of the production of the cheese is France, Italy, not Britain,” said a Japanese official, noting the U.K.’s best-known export is Scotch whisky. “In this sense, I think the promotion for this British cheese would be necessary.”

“There’s ambition among U.K. food and drink manufacturers to increase their trading with markets outside the EU, like Japan,” said Hyde. “We want that ambition to be met with action from government, by doing more to promote U.K. food and drink abroad, alongside gaining tariff reductions to these nations.”

“We’re backing cheese exporters through our Dairy Export Programme, showcasing the sector to the world and bringing over 40 international buyers to the U.K.,” said a government spokesperson.

“On top of that, we have a specialist on hand helping the UK’s cheese exporters to sell more in the region, including Japan, and our Trade Strategy will help them to sell even more products across the globe.”

The reporting in Japan for this piece was part-funded and organized by the Foreign Press Center Japan, a non-profit organization part-funded by the Japanese government and with close links to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.