Speech for the Greater Seatlle Delegation

2007.05.16

 

 

Ladies and Gentleman,

 

  I would like to express my whole-hearted welcome to the members of the delegation from the Greater Seattle Region. Having eagerly prepared for your visit, I hope that you have had a comfortable and meaningful stay in our city.

 

           I am a new mayor with new ideas and you are the first US delegation I have had the honor of receiving here in Kitakyushu. Your visit corresponds with a new era for our city. I would not consider our meeting a simple coincidence, but a big chance for each other.

 

           For tonight I have invited those very active in the city, particularly in the areas of business and academics. In my conviction, the most important point for both the Greater Seattle Region and our city is to have a close and multi-layered network between us. I would be very happy to see, in the near future; many opportunities emerge from this occasion.

 

           When I hear the words “Greater Seattle”, I immediately think of several things.  I think of Ichiro playing for the Seattle mariners. I recall that Boeing Jets take me all over the world.  When I open my laptop, I find the name “Microsoft”.  Nintendo of America has their office in Redmond, near Microsoft.  I always buy classical music CDs from amazon.com.  I love the movie “Sleepless in Seattle”, I enjoy Starbucks’s coffee and I highly appreciate the mineral water of Mount Rainier. All come from the Greater Seattle region, and I feel that I may owe a good part of my everyday life to Seattle.

 

           Before we start dinner, I would like to take this opportunity to express my vision and ambition for the future of this city and to reiterate our commitment to strengthening relationships with the Greater Seattle Region.

 

           More than 100 years ago, the Japanese Government decided to set up the first state-owned modern steel factory, Yawata Steel Works, in Kitakyushu. It was a decisive turning point for our then-small town. In the same year as US Steel was established, the way was paved for Kitakyushu as an industrial city. We have pride in having supported the development of Japan for a long time with steel and other products.

 

           However, these premises were all of a sudden overthrown because of the G7 Plaza Accord in 1985, known for triggering the long decline of the city. Since our city’s industry was export-oriented, the yen’s extreme appreciation, ignited by the Accord, heavily struck all industries of the city. Since then, our city has suffered a heavy economic stagnation owing particularly to a slump in the steel industry. Having seen our position plummet to an incredibly low level, I have set economic recovery as a political duty for myself.

During this low point in our economic history, my predecessor, first elected to office 20 years ago, had launched the very ambitious “Renaissance” plan in order to rebuild the city.

Without going into the details of the “Renaissance” plan, I will simply say that we struggled through this period with a variety of ambitious measures.

 

At the time, we tried to find a recovery model applicable to Kitakyushu for the purpose of enacting the “Renaissance” plan, and we fixed our eyes on the experiences of Pittsburgh, which had faced nearly the same economic troubles as we had. At that time, some analysts said that an economically recovered Pittsburgh might be among the most comfortable US cities. We endeavored to follow the same path.

 

     Now it is clear that Pittsburgh’s recovery faces difficulties, and may be far from reaching expected outcomes. As for our city, we have engaged in huge investment projects under the “Renaissance” plan for the past 20 years, however, I have heard many voices during the electoral campaign asking for more “heartful” policies, close to needs of the local people. Though the word “heartful” is not frequently used in such a context, I adopted this as the main slogan of my election to mean more stress on polices regarding social security, education and child raising. To finance all my projects successfully, we need a prosperous economy. From this standpoint I would like to make sure that, to attract investments, our city would never be content with only lazily opening doors of the municipality with heavy document requirements. Since I took office in February, I have put forth my best effort to arrange favorable conditions for investors, and I am determined to become the foremost salesperson of our city.

 

The City of Kitakyushu is supporting the creation and advancement of industry for the next generation, as well as the inauguration and development of venture companies.

As an example, the City of Kitakyushu is currently working on a “Creative IT Venture Development Program” in cooperation with Microsoft’s Tokyo office

    Three local companies were selected to partake in this program.

     Mr. Shoji, the president of Lantech Software Corporation, whom received the highest award for his work, is present for dinner tonight. The company’s employees are now taking training courses at Microsoft’s headquarters in the U.S.

We, as a local government body, eagerly anticipate that this partnership and mentoring will be further advanced locally in the future.

 

 

Let me further elaborate the main characteristics of our city.

I can list five advantages for the City of Kitakyushu as a center of manufacturing.

The first advantage is accessibility to Asia. 

  The second advantage is its accumulation of industrial technologies.

  The third advantage is reinforced industrial infrastructure.

The fourth advantage is intellectual infrastructure and human resource cultivation.

The last advantage is the fact that the City is located in the lowest-risk area for earthquakes.

  Thus, this City has a great potential as a center of manufacturing.

If your business plan includes Asia, please consider investment in the City of Kitakyushu.

 

 

Before ending my remarks, I must put an emphasis on my determination to deepen our relationship with the Greater Seattle region. This is not a mere bureaucratic message, but my strong political will as the mayor. Your presence here in Kitakyushu is always very welcome. If you have any inquiries regarding our city, please feel free to contact me. As the foremost salesperson of our city, I repeat, I will do my best to welcome your companies here in Kitakyushu.

 

  Thank you for your kind attention and patience.