Japan Firms: We’re Employers, Too

Like the nation, California is saddled by a growing trade deficit with Japan, the state’s leading trade partner. The deficit between Japan and California surged to $12.7 billion last year, up from $8.2 billion in 1983, according to figures compiled by Security Pacific National Bank.

However, one Japanese trade organization is trying to put the best face on this situation. The Japan Business Assn. of Southern California, representing major Japan-based corporations doing business in the Southland, recently released results of a survey of 109 Japanese exporters that showed that Japanese firms operating in California accounted for $3.9 billion, or 13.5%, of the state’s exports to other nations in 1983.

The trade group said the Japanese firms’ contribution collectively would rank fifth on Fortune magazine’s list of the top 50 U.S. exporters, behind General Electric at $4.2 billion and ahead of United Technologies at $2.3 billion.

Much of these exports were farm products, the organization said. “There are some who believe that Japan never buys U.S. agricultural products,” Kosuke Iwatake, president of the trade group and senior vice president of the trading firm C. Itoh & Co., said in a press release announcing the figures. “I am very pleased that this research proves that, on the contrary, we are one of the key exporters of California agricultural products.”

The trade group added that these Japanese export contributions have created more than 100,000 jobs in California. “We want Californians to realize that Japanese firms contribute not only to the state’s economy in exports but as a major employer as well,” Iwatake said.