Washington Business Summer 2019 | Washington Business | Page 29

AWB led a groundbreaking trade delegation of 34 leading employers
from diverse industries and state officials to Japan from March
18-22. The delegation nourished relationships with critical Japanese
government agencies, connected with U.S. Embassy officials and the
American Chamber of Commerce in Japan. Notably, the trip was packed
with detailed policy discussions on international trade, infrastructure,
the 2020 Summer Olympics and the business of Major League Baseball.
The group also toured the Port of Tokyo, rode a bullet train, visited
Costco’s Japan headquarters and took in two baseball games between
the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics.
Sometimes the best meetings are just
across the ocean.
In March, AWB led a groundbreaking trade mission
to Japan, strengthening ties with the state’s third-
largest trading partner and witnessing baseball
history to boot.
The 34-member delegation included employers
from diverse industries and every part of the state,
as well as the directors of the state Departments of
Commerce and Agriculture. The group discussed
international trade, toured the Port of Tokyo and
rode a bullet train on Japan’s high-speed rail system.
And they were inside the Tokyo Dome for the season-
opening series between the Seattle Mariners and
Oakland A’s, including the retirement of Mariners
legend Ichiro Suzuki.
AWB Board Chair Tim Schauer called the trip —
AWB’s first foreign trade mission — an extraordinary
experience.
“This organization does it like no other,” he said at
AWB’s Spring Meeting. “These are working events,
they’re educational events ... The state of Washington
has a footprint in Japan that is really unparalleled.”
Officials from the U.S. Department of State, the
Japanese government and the American Chamber of