Seattle visit nostalgic for Japan's ambassador to U.S.

When Ichiro Fujisaki first arrived in the United States in 1960 at age 13, he found himself thrust into a strange new world, starting public school in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood even though he spoke no English.

Next week he will visit the same school, Catharine Blaine K-8, as Japan's ambassador to the United States.

His father, then-Consul General Masato Fujisaki, had welcomed the Japanese Crown prince and princess (the current emperor and empress) to the Seattle Japanese Garden in the Washington Park Arboretum. Fujisaki plans to visit the garden and dedicate two trees to commemorate the 50th anniversary of that visit.

He will also speak to the Seattle Rotary Club on Sept. 15 and greet the Seattle Mariners and fans.

Before his current post, Fujisaki served as ambassador to the United Nations and to the World Trade Organization in Geneva. Here are excerpts from a phone conversation with him.

Q: What do you remember most about Seattle 50 years ago?

A: It was 15 years after the war. Japan was a very poor country at that time. For a Japanese boy to come to the United States and Seattle ... everything was shiny. Everything was so new to me, big refrigerators, drinking Coke every day and eating ice cream every day.

At that time, I didn't speak a word of English. I was put in public school at seventh grade. Slowly I picked up some English. My family drove around the vicinity of Seattle. At that time, Expo in Seattle (the 1962 World's Fair) was in preparation, and I remember the Space Needle was being built.

Unfortunately, at that time there was no famous baseball player named Ichiro. It was not easy for Seattle people to pronounce my name.

Q: What are your priorities for U.S.-Japan relations, and how do Seattle and Washington state fit in?

A: In Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, the U.S. is the No. 1 contributor and Japan is the No. 2. We are cooperating in many fields. We share common values like human rights, democracy, freedom of speech.

Most important, people like each other. Japanese say Americans are trustworthy, and Americans say they like Japanese. Not many countries in the world have those features together.

For that affinity, the cultural relations, grass-roots exchange and personal exchanges are so important. I'm trying to promote that as much as possible.

Americans were the ones who helped Japanese after the war to join the international community and try to help our economy. Of course, we have ups and downs but the fundamentals are very good.

The state of Washington is a very important state for us. It has been very friendly to our country.

Trade with Washington state is similar to the trade volume we have with the United Kingdom. ... I'll be visiting the Japanese garden [in Seattle] in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the crown prince's visit in 1960. For me it's very nostalgic.

Q: What about the decision to relocate the U.S. Marine base on Okinawa?

A: There are several elements in that agreement of 2006. One is to relocate a base from a contested area to the northern part of the same island, which is not inhabited as much. The other element is to move 8,000 Marines to Guam. We had a new party come into power last September that wanted to review what was agreed [to] by the previous administration. In the end, it was agreed this will be happening.

Q: China has overtaken Japan as the second-largest economy in the world. What has been the reaction in Japan?

A: China has about 10 times the population of Japan. Eventually it was foreseen China would overtake Japan's GDP [gross domestic product] if you have 10 times more population.

When you're talking about the economy, you have to talk about the content as well. Japan's contribution to the U.N. is next only to the United States. Development assistance is No. 2 next to United States.

In order to produce one dollar of GDP, if Japan needed 1 unit of CO2, the U.S. needs twice that, and China needs 12 times. As a result, 21 percent of CO2 [emitted] is from China, and 20 percent is from U.S. Japan is No. 5 after China, United States, Russia and India.

Innovation-wise, for patent applications or research and development expenditures, the U.S. is No. 1 and Japan is No. 2. From these we would like you to look at not only the sheer size of GDP but the content.

Q: What are the lessons from Japan's lost decade for the current U.S. economy?

A: It's rather presumptuous for Japan to tell Americans what they should be doing. One thing we learned through 1990s, through the lost decade, is that we needed the government to put in public funding and not change the course for some time.

The problem not only for the United States but other countries is when should we [stop] stimulus. This is a very difficult issue. Japan has huge government debt. We cannot always continue to exert a stimulus package. We have to tighten as well.

When I heard some pundit say this is a once-in-a-century tsunami we are experiencing, I thought it is a false description of the situation. The economy in my view is nothing but a self-fulfilling prophesy. If everyone thinks the economy is going to be bad, who is going to do the investing?

I think what's needed is to look at the future and not really grumble on what we had done wrong. As long as it could be used as a lesson, it's valuable, but what has happened has already happened.

For Japan it's important now to see what is needed in the future. When China is emerging, we have new challenges like environment or aging society. What can we do? That kind of attitude is more important.

Kristi Heim: 206-464-2718 or kheim@seattletimes.com