West Virginians Go It Alone In Nagoya

[Mulboyne]

Daily Mail: Nagoya choice made sense
Most states with trade offices in Japan have them in Tokyo but West Virginia's is in Nagoya. The reason relates to a story Sen. Jay Rockefeller loves to tell..."All states, when we first went over there, had their trade offices in Tokyo because that's the financial capital," Rockefeller said. But for West Virginia, Tokyo presented two problems: First, because so many other states already had offices there, none were very special. Second, "the cost of real estate is so overwhelming." Rockefeller, who was senator at the time, said, "The first decision I made was, we couldn't afford to be in Tokyo but we could not afford not to be in Japan. "We literally looked for the place most bombed, most crushed in World War II," he said. "It was Nagoya, because that's where they were making everything. Nagoya was clobbered." But it would not have been acceptable to just haul off and open an office in Nagoya, he said. That would have made West Virginia stand out, which is not a good thing. "Japan is not a country that goes against the grain," he noted. Rockefeller cited a Japanese proverb: "The nail that sticks up will be hammered down." "So I couldn't just do it," he said. "I visited three ex-prime ministers and two other high officials to ask their permission. It doesn't make sense in Western ways but makes all of the sense over there because you were deferring to their wisdom."

[jim katta]

very interesting post that shows how you can make things work if you observe the different ways of doing business in japan. nice anecdote.

[Mulboyne]

Daily Mail: Manchin gets VIP treatment in Japan

OSAKA, JAPAN - It's good to be the governor -- or just to be with the West Virginia trade mission...Manchin started the casual evening by offering a toast. "It's my first trip to Japan -- and Gayle's," he said. "We are very appreciative to everyone involved. "I think it will be a productive seven days for West Virginia -- and for the Japanese," he said...Alexander Almasov, the U.S. consul general, briefed the group on the Osaka area's economy. Almasov said Japan's retail sector blossomed in Osaka but has recently begun to be eclipsed by Tokyo, the center of Japan's finance and government. "In recent years, it's as if Chicago and New York lost their economic weight to Washington, D.C.," he said.

I think I'd want a consul general with a better grip on comparative economics