In this episode former Nashville Mayor Dean will talk with Consul-General Kayoko Fukushima of Japan. Nashville is home to the Consulate. Japan and the Nashville region have a long history of friendship and collaboration. Our economic connections go back decades with Japanese-owned companies like Nissan, Bridgestone and Mitsubishi making Nashville their North American headquarters. Over 19,000 Middle Tennesseans go to work each day in Japanese-owned companies.

Japan is the state’s and the region’s largest foreign direct investor nation both by job creation and capital investment. To put some context around exactly what that means, we would have to add up the jobs created by the next 4 countries to get close to Japan’s 19,000 jobs. The roots of our relationship may have been built on business connections but it is the people who have made this relationship flourish.

Consul-General Fukushima assumed her role as Consul-General of Japan in Nashville in December 2019. The Consulate of Japan in Nashville services the states of Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. This is Consul-General Fukushima’s third diplomatic posting in the United States. She has held a variety of posts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Tokyo and has extensive experience working with the United Nations having served as the founding director of the UN Women Japan Liaison office based in Tokyo.

Among the topics that may be discussed:

* The role of the Consul-General and the Japanese Consulate

* Japan-US and Japan-Tennessee relations — commercial, cultural and friendships

* JET (Japan Education and Teaching) Program

* Impact of Japanese economic and cultural influences on Nashville

*The new social media work at the Consulate

*The Tokyo Olympic Games set for July 23, 2021

* Consul General Fukushima’s goals for the time she will be posted in Nashville