Japan Conference to Focus on Economic Ties, Culture

We drive their cars, invest in their banks, watch their televisions and eat their sushi. Across America, the influence of Japan, the United States’ No. 2 trading partner, is well-known and unmistakable.

But behind the Sonys and Hondas are a people and culture that few Americans know enough about, especially in an era when economic ties between the two nations continue to bring us closer together, said San Diego State University professor Alvin Coox.

“It’s as if these excellent materials come from Mars,” Coox said Friday. “In fact, there’s a people and a country with a rich heritage. And they’re just about the best friend we have in the world today, as well as our best customers,” Coox said.

The second annual “Spotlight on Japan,” a nine-day conference on Japan’s business, culture and government that begins today, is an effort by SDSU, the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce and the Consulate General of Japan to begin changing that situation.

“We’re trying in a sense to put flesh on the bone,” Coox said. “The local community may be very friendly, but they don’t really know what is behind these nameplates.”

San Diego now has more than 1,200 firms exporting goods to other parts of world, up from just 103 in 1971. Thirty-three Japanese firms do business here, employing thousands of San Diegans. Sony Manufacturing Company of America, in Rancho Bernardo, produces 80% of the company’s televisions, said Michael Lewis, who is coordinating the business aspects of the conference for SDSU.

“The future linkages between San Diego and Japan are going to increase and the general public needs to become more aware of those linkages, in terms of business relationships, educational ties and cultural relationships,” Lewis said. The series of events includes an all-day conference today for teachers; a speech Monday by Akio Morita, chairman and chief executive officer of Sony Corporation; a lecture Tuesday by Stanford professor Seymour Martin Lipset, and a seminar on exporting Friday for small- and medium-sized business.

Japanese movies, drama and poetry will be presented throughout the week. The conference culminates with a two-day cultural fair in Balboa Park next weekend that includes martial arts and dance demonstrations, exhibits of Japanese cooking and calligraphy, and a children’s program.