Scotland's app industry is on a roll, seen when Gav Dutch of Kotikan - which has created apps for the likes of Skyscanner, FanDuel, and ScotRail - won the business category at the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland 2014 Awards and graciously credited "the Scottish tech community and those dedicated to growing it".

He said: "We've a long way to go to reach the critical mass of somewhere like Silicon Valley, but the momentum that has grown in the last few years gives me hope."

Meanwhile, Luke Heron of the hit virtual-to-real mail service ByPost has just released the Stocking Filler app on iPhone and iPad. This allows users to drag any six gifts from a constantly changing, curated selection into a stocking, enter a delivery address and, hey presto, the stocking fillers arrive in the post. "Genius, even if I do say so myself, said Heron."

Speaking at the Japanese consulate's annual reception, Finance Secretary John Swinney told the story of how an approach from consul general Kitaoka about a baffling piece of red tape occasioned a direct intervention from Swinney to sort out the problem - a great example of the usefulness of the Edinburgh consular corps.

Subtle Swinney is the ideal point man for the Scottish Government's Japanophilia - though even he was not able to wean Tokyo from its fear of Scottish independence.