In a quick response to the quality issue, you're absolutely right that quality, quality, quality is everything. As I said, they have a sense of perfection in things, whether it is the freshness of the fish for the sushi or whether it is the J grade. I think you've probably heard about the J grade. J stands for Japan. They require a quality that other markets, including our domestic market, doesn't require. Quality and appearance are absolutely everything to the Japanese, and that's a message for anybody who is selling, whatever the commodity or whatever the finished product is, in that market. That's point one.
On investment, what has happened over the years is interesting. Traditionally, the Japanese came into Canada. The trading relationship was dominated by the huge Japanese trading companies, companies like Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Tomen. There was a whole array of those companies. They would invest small amounts in a large number of companies, a lot in the natural resource sector, but not only in the natural resource sector. To be perfectly frank, we were a trading nation but we weren't really a nation of traders. They were the people who were trading, because they were buying a product in Canada. They were responsible for the shipping of the product. It all tied into the distribution system in Japan that was horrendously complex and controlled, largely, by these trading companies.
The distribution system has broken down in Japan, and that's been a very good thing. There are far fewer levels in the distribution system. That has brought prices down significantly. I go back to Japan three or four times a year. Prices now are nothing compared with what they were when I was in Japan several years ago, and that is a factor of their distribution system.
The hold of the trading companies has changed a bit. The trading companies, those large companies, have now basically become investment companies. This is what you're seeing in the energy area and in some of the natural resource areas, where they're not taking small minority investments. They're interested in larger investments, in many cases majority investments, and in other cases minority investments.
In terms of the agreement but more broadly, we're going to need what is seen by them as a predictable and as a welcoming investment environment. I think there should be an investment chapter in the agreement that reflects that.
This is not to say we have an issue currently on investment, because there's a lot of Japanese investment flowing into Canada and there will be more. This is part of the wave of Asian investment that we're all seeing, hearing, and reading about.