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After spending a few days in Washington emphasizing global security concerns, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will tour North Carolina on Friday to highlight a different interest: his nation’s title as the state’s largest foreign investor.
Kishida, who has been Japan’s prime minister since 2021, is scheduled to visit two Japanese companies and North Carolina State University after arriving Thursday night, according to Gov. Roy Cooper’s office. Meanwhile, Kishida plans to have lunch at the governor’s mansion, a historic first in the Tar Heel State.
“Well, this puts North Carolina in a global showcase,” Cooper told reporters Thursday. “For the prime minister to come and recognize North Carolina when he could have gone to any of the 50 states is a big deal.”
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Kishida said at a news conference before his visit that he chose to stop in North Carolina to show that the partnership between Japan and the United States extends beyond Washington, according to a provisional translation posted on the prime minister’s website.
To kick off the tour, Kishida and his delegation plan to visit a promising Toyota Motor Corp. electric and hybrid battery plant in Liberty and Honda Aircraft Co. headquarters in Greensboro.
Chiaki Takagi, a professor of Japanese studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, said the prime minister’s visit surprised her but could signal a “positive future partnership” between Japan and the United States and more Japanese workers coming to the state.
“All of this will provide the area with opportunities to participate in a very active cultural exchange between Japan and the United States,” Takagi said. “And it’s good to know that Greensboro will be the place.”
Japan is North Carolina’s largest source of foreign direct investment, according to the governor’s office. About 30,000 state residents work for Japanese companies, Cooper said.
One of those companies, Fujifilm, announced a $1.2 billion investment in its biopharmaceutical manufacturing plant in the state hours before Kishida landed.
The luncheon will mark the first time a foreign head of state has visited the governor’s mansion since records began being kept in 1891, said state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources spokeswoman Michele Walker.
Kishida met with President Joe Biden on Wednesday to discuss security concerns about China’s military and publicly reaffirm the US-Japan alliance. In a joint address to Congress on Thursday, Kishida advocated for the United States to remain an involved player in global security. He called China’s actions the “biggest strategic challenge” to the international community. Beijing has strongly rejected Kishida’s actions during his visit.
Later on Thursday, the first trilateral summit between the United States, Japan and the Philippines to respond to Chinese “bullying” in the Indo-Pacific was held at the White House.
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