The
Japanese ambassador to the United States visited Kentucky for
the first time yesterday and brought good news.
"The Japanese economy is now back on track after struggling
for 15 years," His Excellency Ryozo Kato said during a luncheon
sponsored by the Japan America Society of Kentucky and the Kentucky
World Trade Center. Kato said the Japanese economy was turned
around largely by domestic spending, which is also a major driver
of the U.S. economy. Japanese companies have eliminated excess
production capacity, paid down debt, and banks have sharply reduced
non-performing loans, Kato said. Corporate earnings are up, hiring
has resumed and "salaries are increasing after seven years
of declines." Japan is committed to continuing economic reforms
so the recovery will not lose steam, he said.
Japanese
companies employ 600,000 Americans, including 37,000 in Kentucky.
"As far as foreign investment goes, Japan is now the No.
1 investor in Kentucky," Kato said.
"Even our habits and lifestyles have intertwined," he
observed, with Americans eating sushi and Japanese eating KFC
chicken dinners. Kato said Japan, the oldest democracy in Asia,
and the United States agree on most issues. They are working closely
together on establishing peace and security in Asia and the Middle
East, and on countering the spread of bird flu. But
differences remain over some defense and economic issues, and
over methods to stop terrorists without deterring tourists.
The economies of the U.S. and Japan represent 40 percent of the
world's gross domestic product, Kato said, so the two countries
have a lot of clout in solving world economic problems if they
stand together.
On
a lighter note, Kato was given the key to the city of Lexington
by Mayor Teresa Isaac and commissioned a Kentucky Colonel by Gov.
Ernie Fletcher yesterday.
He observed that "it seems my responsibilities to Kentucky
are very large and very heavy now."
