County’s Japanese Firms Taking Heat : Business: Tokyo’s comments only fan flames of U.S. resentment, executives say. Damage control is planned.
Japanese-owned companies in Orange County, stung by what they perceive as growing anti-Japanese sentiment among consumers as well as criticism from their own American workers, are joining efforts to rebuild their sagging image.
Already coping with volatile issues of international trade during an election year, executives at many of the 160 Japanese companies in Orange County say they now face questions from their own employees about inflammatory comments made in Japan.
Last month, Japanese House Speaker Yoshio Sakurauchi infuriated the American public when he said U.S. workers were lazy, unproductive and illiterate. And Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa fueled the controversy when he suggested two weeks later that Americans lack a work ethic.
Takashi Kiuchi, chairman of Cypress-based Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc., said Japanese executives in the Southland are angry and embarrassed by “unsubstantiated” criticisms about the habits of American workers.
Yoshinori Taura, president of Mazda Motors of America Inc. in Irvine, said: “Those comments (from Tokyo) . . . are embarrassing not only to me but for the two countries.”
Japanese executives fear that these incidents could strain relations between American and Japanese employees and possibly spark racial incidents.
As recently as Monday, a shot was fired at the corporate offices of Mitsubishi Electronics in Cypress, shattering a window but injuring no one. The offices were closed for Presidents’ Day. It is not known if the incident, which police are investigating, was racially motivated.
Nationally, the controversy renewed a “buy American” push, especially in the automobile industry. Some companies began offering discounts to workers who traded in their imported cars for American models.
The Japan Business Assn. of Southern California, a Los Angeles-based group with 700 member companies, is drawing up plans for a public relations campaign to counter the negative climate. The association, which has collected $1.5 million for the campaign so far, will produce a video that will stress the contributions Japanese-owned companies make to communities in the United States--jobs, charitable activities and the like.
The video will be made available to Japanese companies to show to their employees and will be provided free to schools, community groups and others who request it. The association also plans to show the video to government officials in Tokyo to stress the “positive experiences” of Japanese companies operating in the United States, Kiuchi said.
Kiuchi, president of the Japan Business Assn., says the group will also encourage its members to become more involved in community activities. He blames Japanese executives themselves for adding to the current tensions, saying they “don’t mingle with Americans . . . and have a tendency to stick together.”
In some factories, Japanese executives say, the latest controversy has pitted Japanese managers against their American employees. While there were incidents of Japan-bashing in the past two decades, many executives say that the latest incident is reaching a hysterical level that they have not seen before.
Japanese executives say the degree of Japan-bashing seems more intense than previous incidents, perhaps because it coincides with events such as the 50th anniversary of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and the recession.
“Certainly, negative statements from Tokyo hurt us and it causes a lot of tension in the workplace and it makes our situation here difficult,” said Akio Kigoshi, a spokesman for Hitachi Chemical Research Center in Irvine.
“There’s a lot of myths about the customs and work ethics of both countries, but if you live in either of these countries, you’ll find that American workers and researchers work very hard,” he said.
Americans often wrongly perceive Japan as a nation of workaholics, says Steven C. Clemons, executive director of the Japan America Society of Southern California. Clemons, who met with several American managers during a recent visit to Japan, was told that some Japanese managers and workers are indecisive and lack motivation.
Hideharu Takemoto, chairman of Canon USA Inc., worries that his company’s effort to buy more American products could be damaged by trade tensions. His company, a subsidiary of the Tokyo-based electronics giant, had planned to start a trading firm in Irvine more than a year ago but delayed the opening until last summer. Now he fears that Americans will view the trading operation as a public relations ploy.
“We sincerely want to be active in the trading business,” he said.
Mitsubishi’s Kiuchi said his company’s employees have started writing and calling him in the past month, asking his opinion about the statements of Miyazawa and Sakurauchi. Mitsubishi Electronics has 1,000 employees in Orange County and 5,000 nationwide.
“They asked if I thought the same way,” Kiuchi said. “I said those Japanese officials are out of touch with reality.”
Kiuchi said many Japanese developed a negative attitude toward American workers in the 1970s and early 1980s, when Japanese companies first began to move manufacturing operations to this country. But they are not well-informed about major improvements in U.S. manufacturing since that time.
A recent national survey by the Japan America Society found that 76% of Japanese executives working in the United States said their attitude toward this country has become more positive since they began working and living here.
