Japan-Kentucky partnership endures, worth celebrating

The Japanese term for what we’re trying to create every September during the Japan Festival in downtown Lexington is “shinwa.” The rough translation is “friendship” or “fellowship,” and at the Japan-America Society of Kentucky, creating that sense of connection between the people of Japan and Kentucky has been our goal for 30 years.

Based in Frankfort, JASK is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization created in 1987, the same year Toyota became only the third Japanese-owned company to put down roots in the state.

Then-Gov. Martha Layne Collins and others recognized the need to create a Kentucky-based organization that would help build a strong and enduring relationship between Japanese and Kentuckians because the potential economic benefits to the commonwealth were tremendous.

They also understood that while the Japan-Kentucky connection is based on mutually beneficial business opportunities, it also has to foster cultural and educational ties. Toyota and the many Japanese companies that have followed it are run by people who have to adapt to a different culture and language, often with their spouses and children as well.

Fortunately, Kentuckians are hard workers who value friendliness and hospitality — all traits they share with folks from Japan. That’s given us a strong foundation to build on, though to cultivate an intercultural partnership strong enough to last generations, people on both sides need to continually invest time and effort learning about and connecting with one another.

Today, more than 200 Japanese companies call Kentucky home and are key players in two of our state’s signature industries: automobiles and bourbon. Japan is now Kentucky’s leading international trading partner, accounting for 47 percent of all foreign investment in the commonwealth (Canada is second with 11 percent).

Japanese companies employ over 45,000 Kentuckians and have contributed billions of dollars to our economy. The relationship has endured through dramatic changes in the global economy and the domestic politics of both the United States and Japan. Certainly, the current issue with tariffs is a concern to both auto manufacturers and the spirits industry,

JASK established the Japan Festival in 2008, attracting a modest but encouraging turnout in Jacobson Park. In 2017, we welcomed more than 12,000 people downtown. This year, we hope to exceed that as we present another day of music, dancing and taiko drum performances, along with Japanese food and cultural activities including a kimono booth, Sumo and a Ninja Warrior Obstacle Course.

The festival is JASK’s biggest public event, though we provide other opportunities for economic cultural connection throughout the state, including the Shinnenkai (New Year’s party) at the Governor’s Mansion, our annual Golf Classic at the University Club, presented in partnership with the Japanese Consul-General, who’s based in Nashville.

We recently sponsored a sushi-making class at School Restaurant and will be offering Japanese classes this fall. We’ve recently received a two-year grant from the Japan Foundation to sponsor a full-time teacher from Japan to teach Japanese language and culture in Kentucky schools and community centers.

I’m proud that JASK is one of many organizations that has contributed to the Japan-Kentucky relationship, and I’m confident the relationship will outlast current challenges and hopefully emerge even stronger.

That confidence comes from what I’ve seen over the last three decades in boardrooms, on assembly lines and in front of the festival stage at Courthouse Square: Kentuckians and Japanese, coming together, making connections.