Friday, August 25, 2000
Diplomat stresses local ties
By Mike Boyer
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Japanese Ambassador Shunji Yanai's second visit to Cincinnati underscored the dramatic change in U.S.-Japan relations since his first.
He was keynote speaker and honored guest Thursday at a combined meeting of the Cincinnati Rotary Club, Japan America Society and Japanese Business Committee.
But more than 50 years ago, as a 5-year-old, he stopped in Cincinnati as his father, then the Japanese ambassador to Colombia, was being deported at the start of World War II.
“We've gone from being enemies to being allies and close trading partners,” he told the luncheon at the Omni Netherland Plaza Hotel.
Japan's ties with Ohio have grown just as dramatically since Honda's first investment in the Buckeye State in the 1970s.
Japanese companies have 270 locations in the state, including 183 manufacturers, employing more than 58,000. Greater Cincinnati is home to 100 Japanese companies, representing more than 40 percent of foreign investment here.
Mr. Yanai noted that last year 21 Japanese companies invested an additional $363 million in Ohio, creating more than 1,000 jobs. Ohio firms, meanwhile, exported more than $1 billion in goods and services to Japan.
The U.S.-Japan relationship has never been more important than today as Japan's tradition-bound economy tries to make the change to the New Economy, Mr. Yanai said.
“Japan must become a New Economy country just as the United States,” he said. “Since Japan is a land of tradition, this transition is not easy. We must replace the old keiretsu corporate network with new electronic networks and all the changes in thinking that entails.”
Mr. Yanai — who today visits Columbus at the invitation of Gov. Bob Taft, who led his first trade mission to Japan earlier this year — said Japan is making progress.
Real gross domestic product in Japan is projected to rise 1.8 percent next year, up from 1.4 percent this year and 0.9 percent last year.
“Business confidence is up, and corporate profits are markedly improving.”
On the downside, he said, Japanese consumer spending is flat, and unemployment is 4.7 percent — compared to 4 percent in the United States, and extremely high for a nation that used to take pride in its lifetime employment policies.
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