Japan trip to likely yield economic benefits
By BILL RICHMOND
City editor
A recent economic development trip to Japan created useful inroads on a variety of levels according to Winchester Mayor Steve Croyle. Croyle, County Economic Development Director Greg Beumer and Tomasco officials Eric Fields and Tim Peterson went to Japan Sept. 19-26 to strengthen ties with the local manufacturer and promote economic development.
"Our three objectives going into this were to build on our relationship with Tomasco and the Masuda family (Yasuharu Masuda is president of Tomasco, Indiana, parent company Masuda Manufacturing)," Croyle said. "To create a dialog and share information with our newly designated sister city Otaki, Japan, and to seek other economic development opportunities for Winchester. We feel very good about the results of the trip on all points."
Croyle said they spent a considerable amount of time getting to know Masuda Manufacturing Chairman Akiho Masuda.
"We learned a lot about each other," he said. "For me, the watershed moment was after our farewell supper we were saying our goodbyes when he embraced me and said some very kind words. I believe the action was from the heart and if our trip had not been so successful that would not have happened."
As part of the objective to establish a sister city relationship, Croyle met with Otaki mayor Tajima and visited many of the city's departments and service centers.
"We toured their parks, emergency notification center, fire and EMS services and an elementary school," he said. "We had a very good dialog with officials there. We presented them with a resolution from Winchester City Council supporting the sister city relationship. It was warmly received by the mayor and city administration.
"We are in the process of sending a follow-up letter to the Otaki mayor detailing how we would like to proceed with this initiative. We will ask him if he would like to come and visit Winchester."
Croyle, through discussions with the Otaki mayor identified many similarities in their departments and funding structures. He said the fire trucks seemed to be somewhat smaller than those in the United States but the difference is likely a result of their narrower streets and higher costs.
"The elementary school was eye-opening," he said. "There were no school buses - it was up to each student to be responsible for getting to class each day. Also, there were no janitors, each child came to school with the utensils to help clean the classroom as a way of learning responsibility. It was a nice, pleasant eye-opening visit."
He said that prior to the group's visit, Winchester did not have a viable economic development presence in Japan.
"We were able to discuss with Hiromi Hamuki, director of the Tokyo office of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation the benefits of doing business here in Winchester and explain what the community has to offer," he said. "I told him about our New Market Tax Credits, Shovel Ready sites and tax abatement structure.
"We put ourselves on the radar screen for job opportunities that may develop. Before, we would not have been considered for these options. We discussed these issues with him in detail and asked what we could do to help our chances of attracting development from Japan. I thought our conversation was beneficial and it gave us a sense of direction and focus to help encourage future investment."
He said one of the key benefits of the trip was getting a better understanding of Japanese culture and how they do business. He summed their business philosophy with the notion that business relationships in Japan are based primarily on trust and understanding.
"The fact that we made the effort to gain this understanding," he said, "made a huge influence and strengthened our position as we move forward to build on our relationships with Japanese companies."
