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To help attract such investments, Battle Creek Unlimited, a group of local business promoters, has set up a special school where the children of Japanese managers are taught in their native language. The city has sponsored exhibitions of art from Japan and invited the Japanese national hockey team to play in a Christmas tournament last year. "We make the Japanese feel welcome here," says James Hettinger, executive director of Battle Creek Unlimited. Hettinger says his organization is currently talking with 20 more Japanese companies about coming to Battle Creek.
Labor unions are ambivalent about the Japanese invasion. They welcome the new jobs, but have had trouble organizing workers at some Japanese plants. Not one of the 1,500 employees at the Nissan truck factory in Smyrna, Tenn. (pop. 8,800), has joined the United Auto Workers. Nonetheless, the threat of unionization has encouraged Nissan to pay wages that are very close to the $12-an-hour base rate for a typical U.A.W. member in Tennessee. Says Walter Whittemore, president of U.A.W. Local 737 in Nashville: "It will be up to the people who work for Nissan to join the union, and we believe they eventually will."
Although the U.S. has put out a big welcome mat for Japan, some economists think that a backlash may develop in the future. As the Japanese presence and power grow, opposition could come from competing American-owned corporations. Warns Roger Shields, the chief international economist for New York City's Chemical Bank: "There may be calls for protection against Japanese investments. Our companies will want to remain dominant on their own turf."
Besides setting its sights on the U.S., Japan has invested most heavily in the economies of its Asian neighbors. In Hong Kong, Japanese factories churn out such products as Yashica cameras and Seiko watches. Toyota, Nippon Steel, Toshiba and Nissan are important players in the Philippine economy. In Indonesia, Japan has invested in auto manufacturing, oilfields, coal mines and hydroelectric dams. Japanese companies are responsible for 25% of all construction in Malaysia.
Japan has established an especially close relationship with Singapore, which encourages foreign investments by giving tax breaks and providing a highly educated work force. Most major Japanese appliance manufacturers, including Toshiba, Sanyo and Hitachi, have plants in Singapore. Japanese companies have also gained strong footholds in the construction and shipbuilding industries. Says Katsushige Fukino, managing director of Nippon Electric's Singapore operations: "There is enthusiasm here for high technology and an active desire to become an industrially advanced state."
One of Singapore's attractions is that English, the first foreign language for most Japanese business people, is widely spoken. Because much computer software is based on English, Singapore could become a major force in that important segment of the electronics field. Japan's government has helped set up and finance the Japan-Singapore Institute of Software Technology to train local computer technicians.