ニュー･ブラウンフェルズ経済セミナー 2006年4月18日在ヒューストン日本国総領事 加茂佳彦
Mayor Boyer, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is indeed a great honor and pleasure for me to be invited to take part in today’s seminar on Japanese business connections, organized by the New Braunfels Industrial Development Corporation and the Greater New Braunfels Economic Development Foundation. I am grateful to the organizers who have selected this historic Seekats Opera House as the venue of the seminar. I understand that the site of this beautiful building has been the center of major events in New Braunfels since the early 1900s.
Business seminars like these bridge gaps and build new connections. I appreciate the interest and initiative that the New Braunfels civic and business leaders have taken in building better business relationships with Japan by exploring the new horizons of opportunities to our mutual prosperity. I thank the seminar organizers for inviting the strongest and most talented resource persons to this seminar. With their expertise and good intentions, I am certain it will turn out to be very productive and successful and I myself look forward to hearing their thoughts and analyses and to being educated on various aspects of our economies and business relationships. I wish to thank Mr. Hitoshi Hasegawa, President of JETRO Houston, for his role in helping to build bridges in business interests between Texas and Japan, including this project. My appreciation also goes to the many sponsors and volunteers, as well. Their generous contributions have made this possible.
Economic relations between the US and Japan are some of the most important and beneficial ones of any kind. Our economies are the largest and second largest in the world and thus have been inter-related, competitive, and/or complimentary to each other. The Japanese economic slump over the last 15 years, however, has made the Japanese companies streamline their US operations, thus making Japan less visible and smaller in the US, while China’s spectacular economic development has made US businessmen shift their attention to China for their business opportunities. Now that Japan’s economy is back, it is high time that we reinvigorated our efforts in pursuit of the US-Japan business collaborations and mutual gains.
Before we embark upon our pursuit of business collaboration, it is better for us to throw away the conventional perceptions we have of the other, and examine the facts to learn from what is actually happening.American businessmen are sometimes blinded by the conventional perceptions that Japan is not the place to go for doing business; that Japan’s era has passed; that the Japanese market is unfair and thus difficult to crack; that Japan does not welcome foreigners.These are all unfounded allegations. On the contrary, Japan is still here to continue to grow.Japan has a fair and free market and Japan welcomes foreigners and particularly foreign investment in Japan.
From the point of view of the Japanese businessmen, there are common misperceptions of the US, as well. When Japanese think of overseas investment, they tend to choose China as their investment destination regardless of risks and constrains involved. The US market is often seen as matured and saturated and that leaves little potential to expand. They tend to underestimate the manufacturing prowess of the US. What is more, they fail to understand what an important position the southern states, including Texas, occupy in the US. The U.S. Southern States are the powerhouse of the US economy and enjoy the fastest growth. But when the Japanese businessmen think of the US, it is very often the East and West coasts, without paying due attention to the south central part of the U.S.
This seminar deals with business opportunities Japan offers to Texas. The prospects of capital investment in manufacturing, as well as portfolio investment in Japan will be extensively discussed by our expert lecturers later. So I will confine myself here to emphasize Japan’s favorable investment climate by referring to the following points.
The Japanese government attaches importance to having more foreign, direct investment in Japan. Statistics show that foreign investment accounts for only 2.5% of Japan’s GDP in 2005, the lowest among advanced industrial economies. The Japanese government intends to double this figure by 2010 by facilitating foreign investors in whatever way it deems necessary.
Japan has a mature economy, while China has an emerging economy. For foreign business, it may not be easy to penetrate into the Japanese market. Once they establish themselves there, however, they can enjoy a lucrative business outlook for many years to come. The Chinese market looks inviting and easier to penetrate, but it may not be quite so easy to secure long term success there.
Japan’s strength lies in technology and research & development activities. During Japan’s economic downturn, foreign capital came to Japan to shop Japan’s small to mid-size technology companies who were having balance sheet problems. The R&D area is still promising for the US-Japan industrial collaboration. There exists a great potential for mutually beneficial partnerships. You can count on Japan for its technology, legal system including intellectual property rights, corporate governance, civic infrastructure, market-economy institutions, friendship and trust.
Lastly I would like to share with you a newspaper article about the revival of Japan’s economy. The article whose title is “Look Who’s Back in the Passing Lane” portrays Japan in a positive, but objective manner. The Japanese way of organizing an economy is a bit different from that of the US, as the author of the article puts it. I think both the US and Japan can learn and benefit from the other’s perspective in this era of globalization. This seminar will help serve that purpose well.Thank you