North Carolina Welcomes Historic Visitor in Japan Prime Minister Kishida

RALEIGH, North Carolina – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cemented economic ties and cultural friendship with North Carolina on Friday, checking the weather in Washington during his official visit to the U.S., checking out landmark Japanese companies that are building in the ninth most populous state and meeting with students.

In the meantime, Kishida had lunch at the governor’s mansion in Raleigh, a historic first for the head of a foreign country in the Tar Heel State. Japan is the largest source of foreign direct investment in North Carolina, where more than 200 Japanese companies have established themselves, employing more than 30,000 people, according to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and his office.

“I am honored to be here in North Carolina to showcase the strong and multifaceted ties between Japan and the United States,” Kishida said through a translator, inside the mansion’s ballroom, where about 60 people listened. The guest list included Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, Republican state House Speaker Tim Moore and executives from several Japanese and American companies in the region.

He called North Carolina “a state at the forefront of its time” and expanded his knowledge of its landmarks, mentioning Kill Devil Hills, where the Wright brothers made their first successful flight, as an example of the state’s ingenuity.

Until now, Kishida’s trip to the US has focused on global security. He met with President Joe Biden to discuss security concerns about China’s military, attended the first trilateral summit between the U.S., Japan and the Philippines and argued, in a speech to a joint session of Congress, that the U.S. remain involved in global security. .

But Kishida, who has been Japan’s prime minister since 2021, said before the trip that he chose to stop in North Carolina to show that the Japan-U.S. partnership extends beyond Washington, according to a translation posted on his website.

Kishida, Cooper and others traveled to the Greensboro area for visits Friday morning to a Honda Aircraft Co. production facility as well as the construction site of a Toyota Motor Corp. electric and hybrid battery plant. people.

Hours before Kishida and his wife arrived Thursday night at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, a subsidiary of another Japanese company, Fujifilm, announced an additional $1.2 billion investment in its upcoming biopharmaceutical manufacturing plant and other 680 jobs.

Chiaki Takagi, a professor of Japanese studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, said this week that the prime minister’s visit surprised her but that it could signal a “positive future partnership” between Japan and the U.S. and more Japanese workers coming. for the state.

“All of this will provide the region with opportunities to engage in a very active cultural exchange between Japan and the US,” Takagi said.

The lunch marked the first time a foreign head of state visited the governor’s mansion since record keeping began in 1891, the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources said.

“What better way to start than with one of our closest allies and friends in Japan, with whom we share so many common interests,” Cooper said at the lunch. “So today we make history by welcoming our wonderful friends.”

Cooper has a history of visiting Japan, making two trips to Tokyo in 2017 and 2023 during his term as governor. When it was announced that Kishida was coming to the U.S., Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, said over lunch that Cooper was the first to call to ask the prime minister to visit his state.

Guests dined on a three-course meal prepared by James Beard Award-winning Raleigh chef Ashley Christensen, which included Wagyu beef tenderloin and Carolina Gold rice pudding. Meanwhile, other members of the Japanese delegation and the governor’s staff listened to live bluegrass music while eating barbecue.

Kishida, Cooper and others went to North Carolina State University in Raleigh on Friday, where they met students ranging from high schoolers to adults studying Japanese. They visited the university’s Japan Center, which was established by former governor Jim Hunt and others in 1980 following a state trade mission to Tokyo. North Carolina State also has long, formal ties with the Japanese University of Nagoya.

Earlier Friday, Kishida’s wife, Yuko, and North Carolina First Lady Kristin Cooper shared a traditional Japanese tea at Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham.

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Associated Press writer Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh contributed to this report.