So the sight of a posse of Japanese in suits on a recent visit to the ICC is striking. Even stranger, the group has not come to gawp at the stunning views across Victoria Harbour but to experience the state-of-the-art elevators.

They are here to see the latest kit of Schindler, one of the world's leading elevator suppliers. But they have also been invited to Hong Kong by the Switzerland-listed company as part of an attempt to rebuild its image in Japan after the apparent malfunction of one of its elevators resulted in a teenager's death.

“We want to show that we are not bad guys,” says Alfred Schindler, chairman of Schindler Holdings, whose products move 900m people a day in 135 countries. The company has struggled to sell its trademark elevators and escalators in Japan since the incident in June 2006 in a Tokyo housing complex.