Mission Draws Interest Of Japanese Manufacturers

Spokane’s trade mission to Japan sold some log homes and a few tons of pasta, but it also ignited interest about locating Japanese factories in the Inland Northwest, officials said Monday.

Speaking at the first briefing since returning last Friday, Spokane Mayor Jack Geraghty said the eight-day mission which he led rekindled relationships with sister city Nishinomiya and provided the trade group’s 22 members ample opportunities to sell the Inland Northwest as a place to do business.

The Spokane trade group was the first to Japan since 1992. It focused on Japan’s central Kansai Region, where Osaka, Kobe, Nishinomiya and other cities combine to produce a whopping 3 percent of all the world’s goods and services, a share equal to Canada’s.

Timely news about the expected appointment of former Spokane congressman Tom Foley as ambassador to Japan and Spokane’s recent ranking by Reader’s Digest as one of the best places to raise a family also stirred interest among the Japanese.

“It’ll be a wonderful stroke for Spokane if that (Foley’s appointment) happens,” Geraghty said. “They all wanted to know if we could get him to visit their city.”

The Spokane delegation was relieved that Japanese officials did not raise questions about North Idaho’s reputation as a magnet for racists. Jobs Plus, a Coeur d’Alene business recruiting agency, announced on Saturday that a Japanese manufacturer may not open a new plant in Kootenai County because of concerns about how employees would be treated.

Rich Hadley, president of the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce, said the trade mission resulted in the sale of four log home kits by Edgewood Fine Log Structures Ltd. of Coeur d’Alene and a cargo container of pasta by Buckeye Beans & Herbs in North Spokane.

But the most important outcome of the mission may not be known for years as delegates astonished Japanese business people with tales of low-priced land and raw materials in Spokane.

“They’re building into the ocean because they have no land,” Hadley said. “So having production facilities offshore - our shore - is of real interest to them.”

Hoping to capitalize on the trade mission’s initial contacts, Hadley’s 2,800-member organization Monday agreed to join the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan. As a gesture of good will, Nishinomiya officials presented Spokane with a second $1,000 contribution to assist in cleaning up from last November’s ice storm.

, DataTimes