Minoru Ben Makihara
Senior Corporate Advisor Mitsubishi Corporation

Washington, D.C., April 13, 2005

Good evening, and thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, Rich, for your kind words. Also many thanks to Ambassador and Mrs. Kato for hosting this wonderful dinner. I also would like to thank Senator Chuck Hagel, for the insightful remarks he delivered earlier. Kikuko and I are delighted to be here tonight, among so many treasured friends.

With your indulgence, I would like to offer some brief remarks on US- Japan relations during the course of the last 30-odd years. Don’t be alarmed – I won’t attempt to be comprehensive, but will touch instead on just a few of the things that happened during my time in Washington, and on some conclusions I’ve drawn from my experience.

As some of you may know, I had the privilege of opening Mitsubishi Corporation’s Washington DC office in April 1971, when there were only a few Japanese business representatives in the capital. I have to admit that on arrival I was unsure of my mission, which was left to me to define, but I soon found myself immersed in the rapidly moving activities of this city.

My initial stay was certainly full of major events:

That very June, the treaty providing for the reversion of Okinawa to Japan was signed in satellite- linked ceremonies in Tokyo and Washington.

In July it was Henry Kissinger’s secret visit to China, followed by Beijing’s invitation to President Nixon to make a state visit soon thereafter.

Then in August, President Nixon discontinued the convertibility of the dollar into gold, and by year’s end, the yen – long pegged at 360 to the dollar – fell roughly to 300 to the dollar.

Throughout that period, I was impressed by the warm welcome that I received. Compared with my own country, I found the US to be virtually “barrier free.” I was told that with a valid purpose and given time, one could meet almost anyone, including even the President of the United States!

In the meantime, I established my residence and headquarters in the quiet surroundings, or so I thought, of the newly opened Watergate complex. Soon thereafter, however, in June 1972, a break-in occurred on the 6 th floor of the Watergate office building, while our office, by sheer coincidence, happened to be located right underneath on the 5 th floor. No, I didn’t hear the burglars banging-around upstairs, but still, my office became a very popular sightseeing spot for visitors from Japan!

If I may now fast-forward a decade or so, I had another opportunity to work in Washington in 1985 and 86, and to observe from that vantage a new phase in US Japan relations, marked by Japan’s arrival as an economic power.

August 1985 witnessed the signing in New York of the “Plaza Accord” among the United States, Japan, UK, France and Germany on the influencing of exchange rates. I once again found myself watching the yen climb in value, this time roughly from 240 to the dollar to about 180 by 1986. Indeed the yen had doubled in value in only 15 years. If I had had any business acumen, I would have shorted the dollar.

In retrospect, Japan by then was riding on an emerging bubble, but at the time there was a belief in some quarters that Japan would soon eclipse the United States as an economic power. With land prices in Tokyo reaching dizzying heights, some calculated that the value of the Imperial Palace and its surrounding grounds should exceed that of the state of California! Trade friction was often fierce, ranging from automobiles to high tech items – a far cry from 1971, when textiles were central to the debate. Nevertheless, even during such turbulent times, strategic cooperation between the United States and Japan continued to be close.

Moving forward yet again, Japan’s bubble economy has come and gone, and after the so-called lost decade, the Japanese economy, basically led by the private sector, is regaining its confidence.

With the power and influence of Asia – now spearheaded by China and India – on the rise, we feel that Japan has a role to play in bringing the region together and providing a link with the western world. Towards this end we are accelerating FTA negotiations within the multilateral framework, and discussions are starting concerning the possible revision of our constitution, to allow Japan to participate in peace-keeping security operations, a topic which until recently was “off limits”.

In the meantime, Washington – compared with the time when I first arrived – has certainly changed on the surface, in some respects. It is physically no longer “barrier free”, and it is increasingly time- consuming to move around. But for all the changes that have occurred and which seem to be in the offing, what strikes me in a most reassuring way, is the overall good health and underlying resiliency of the US-Japan relationship.

We are both, I believe, pragmatic nations. We believe in the market economy and the principles of democracy. We cherish what former Ambassador Mike Mansfield famously called the “most important bilateral relationship, bar none.” Your tradition welcomes people from other countries and cultures, and I hope and trust that it will forever do so, because in that “open system,” I believe, lies the great strength of the Unites States.

So many people who have contributed to that relationship are in attendance here tonight. For all that you have done I am grateful. I thank you for your recognition, and although with some trepidation, I accept with pleasure the Asia Society Washington Center Leadership Award. Thank you.