Governor to Make Third Trade Visit to Japan

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - Governor Mitch Daniels will lead a Hoosier contingent of nearly 70 state, business and community leaders when he takes his third job-hunting trip to Japan in as many years next week.

Daniels will be one of several Midwestern governors to attend the Midwest U.S.-Japan Association conference in Tokyo as a part of the trade mission scheduled from September 7 to 14. He’ll also focus on continuing to develop relationships with companies that currently or will soon operate in Indiana, such as Honda, Toyota and Aisin Seiki, as well as call on new customers such as Japan-based SMC Corporation of America, which announced Thursday it would relocate its North American headquarters to Noblesville.

Since 2005, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) has completed 28 competitive projects with Japanese businesses. Those 18 expansions and 10 new Indiana locations include $1.3 billion in new capital investment and nearly 5,500 job commitments. In all, more than 220 Japanese companies operate in Indiana. They’ve invested over $9.3 billion in the state’s economy and employ more than 42,000 Hoosiers.

“As we’ve renewed relationships and established new ones in Japan, we’ve had success insourcing jobs and investment to Indiana, and that has helped drive our economic comeback,” said the governor.

Daniels will address attendees during the opening ceremonies of the 39th Annual Joint Meeting of the Midwest U.S.-Japan Association and the Japan-Midwest U.S. Association in Tokyo. The conference is September 9 to 11 in Tokyo. The conference was in Indianapolis in 2006. The Association, which showcases the Midwest’s business environment and works to inform Japanese companies about investment opportunities in Midwest communities, has 10 member states.

As with past trade missions, business, local and state elected officials and economic development representatives will accompany the governor. The IEDC and Japan-America Society of Indiana are working together to host events for mission delegates and Japanese businesses.

Following trips to Japan and Taiwan in 2005 and to Japan and South Korea in 2006, Indiana became home to a new Toyota plant in Lafayette that employs about 1,000 people. Honda is building a facility in Greensburg that will employ 2,000 people beginning in 2008. Suppliers to those companies, such as TS Tech and Tomasco, have announced they will expand or open manufacturing facilities in Indiana. The governor will meet with leaders of both of those companies during the trip.

In May, the governor and a delegation traveled to Germany and London, England. Several weeks after the trip, German-based transmission manufacturer GETRAG announced plans to build a new transmission assembly plant in Tipton County.

The trip includes meetings with several government officials, including Saitama Prefecture Governor Kiyoshi Ueda, Tochigi Governor Tomikazu Fukuda and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer.

In addition to participating in the Midwest U.S.-Japan conference on September 10, Daniels will pay a courtesy call to Masuda Manufacturing Co., Ltd., parent company of Tomasco Indiana LLC, which broke ground in the spring to expand its facility in Winchester. He’ll also meet with officials from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Mitsubishi Climate Control has a facility in Franklin.

On September 11, the governor will continue his participation in the U.S.-Japan conference, attend an Indiana agriculture event that will include representatives of Japanese food, biofuels and agricultural businesses, conduct a luncheon meeting with Toyota Chairman Fujio Cho and meet later in the day with Honda Chairman Satoshi Aoki.

The governor will travel to Nagoya, Japan, on September 12 for several courtesy and job-prospecting calls, including a meeting and plant tour at Aisin Seiki and make a thank you call to TS Tech Co., Ltd., a Honda supplier which is building a new production facility in New Castle that will employ about 300 people.

On September 13, Daniels will meet with representatives of SMC Corporation, which announced Thursday it would relocate its North American headquarters to Noblesville and build a new facility in 2008 that will house the headquarters and its primary engineering, manufacturing and distribution center. The facility will become the company’s largest outside of Japan. The trip will conclude with a Friends of Indiana reception at the Meiji Jingu Baseball Stadium where the Yakult Swallows and the Yomiuri Giants will play.

The governor and delegation will return to Indiana on September 14.

Members of the delegation are:

• Governor Mitch Daniels
• Nate Feltman, Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC)
• Chad Sweeney, IEDC
• Steve Akard, IEDC
• Kai Chuck, IEDC
• Andy Miller, Indiana State Department of Agriculture
• Beth Bechdol, Indiana State Department of Agriculture
• State Senator Sam Smith
• State Senator David Long
• State Representative Clyde Kersey
• State Representative Jim Buck
• Jane Jankowski, Governor’s Office
• Ben Ledo, Governor’s Office
• Don Babcock, Northern Indiana Public Service Company
• David Barrett, Gene B. Glick Co., Inc.
• Mike Beard, Indiana Pork Producers Association
• Brandt Burdick, National City Bank
• Stephen Corwell, Indianapolis Power & Light
• Michael Dellinger, The Indy Partnership
• Bill Dory, Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center, Inc.
• Kathryn Ertel, Jennings County Economic Development Corporation
• Mike Fincher, mayor of Logansport
• Scott Furgeson, mayor of Shelbyville
• Harold Force, Force Construction Company, Inc.
• Tamayo Fukumoto, Japan-America Society of Indiana
• Gary Gentry, Knox County Development Corporation
• Robert Grewe, Dubois Area Development Corporation
• John Hall, mayor of North Vernon
• Nubuo Hara, JP Morgan Chase Bank
• Takayasu Hara, Fifth Third Bank
• Yuichi Hasegawa, National City Bank
• Michiharu Homma, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak and Stewart, P.C.
• Bruce Hosier, mayor of Portland and Energize ECI
• Kyle Hupfer, ProLiance Energy
• Larry Ingraham, Ingraham & Associates, Inc.
• Hideyuki Kawashima, MJ Insurance
• Vicki Kellerman, Economic Development Corporation of Greensburg/Decatur County
• Christopher Kinnett, Perry County Development Corporation
• Jeffrey Knight, Old National Bank
• Mark Kosiarek, VAI Technology, Inc.
• Theresa Kulczak, Japan-America Society of Indiana
• John MacNab, MJ Insurance, Inc.
• Dennis Maloy, Hancock Economic Development Council
• Richard McConnell, Bose, McKinney & Evans, LLP
• Mark Miller, Cornerstone Environmental, Health & Safety
• Terry Mooney, mayor of Vincennes
• Cheryl Morphew, Johnson County Development Corporation
• Peter Morse, Barnes & Thornburg, LLP
• Terry Murphy, Muncie-Delaware Economic Development Alliance
• Mick Nakada, Force Construction Company, Inc.
• Marie-Christine Pence, Duke Energy
• Jeffrey Pittman, Ivy Tech Community College
• Joseph Plankis, Economic Development of Westfield
• Jim Plump, Jackson County Industrial Development Corporation
• Melissa Reese, Ice Miller, LLP
• John Sampson, Northeast Indiana Regional Marketing Partnership
• Dennis Sargent, National FFA Foundation
• Wayne Seybold, mayor of Marion
• Gina Sheets, Clinton County Economic Development
• Robert Sparks, Anderson/Madison County Corporation for Economic Development
• Randall Stephens, Chase Commercial Banking
• Don Stock, mayor of Frankfort
• Toyohara Tamura, Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance
• Danny Theobald, Shelby County Development Corporation
• Kip Tom, Tom Farms, LLC
• Greg Wathen, Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana
• Ayako Yamamoto-Girt, City of Anderson

Source: Governor's Office Press Release

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