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A celebration of Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday at the Buckhead Club Wednesday briefly took a poignant turn as dignitaries reflected on the role of former President Jimmy Carter in fostering bilateral ties.
Without the foresight of Mr. Carter during his term as Georgia governor in the early 1970s, the state wouldn’t be marking a half-century of formal friendship with Japan this year, said Mary Waters, deputy commissioner for international trade, during opening remarks.
The 98-year-old former president has been on hearts and minds around Georgia and the world this week after The Carter Center, the nonprofit he established to fight disease and promote democracy around the world, announced Saturday that he would enter into hospice care in his hometown of Plains.
Mr. Carter’s single term was marked by a foreign policy focused on engaging with the world as a trusted interlocutor rather than a domineering superpower.
That stance led to a handful of watershed moments, still criticized by some, like the handing over of the Panama Canal to local management, normalizing ties with China and brokering a peace deal between Egypt and Israel. Mr. Carter’s efforts to end international conflicts and push for human rights, both in and out of office, led to a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
But his achievements in Georgia show that his international focus started before entering the Oval Office. The state opened its first-ever foreign trade and investment office in Tokyo in 1973, a gesture of goodwill and economic diplomacy still paying dividends today, as more than 40,000 Georgians owe their jobs to the more than 600 Japanese-affiliated facilities operating in the state.
A Japanese consulate in Atlanta reciprocated the push a year later, and next year on Feb. 28, the consulate will celebrate its 50th anniversary.
Mio Maeda, Japan’s new consul general in Atlanta, praised Mr. Carter as a steadfast friend of Japan who has left his mark in the country through multiple visits.
“We are most shocked to hear the sad news and just want to say that our hearts are always with him,” Mr. Maeda said briefly of Mr. Carter’s declining health in a speech marking the emperor’s birthday as a moment to ponder the friendship between Japan and the four states in the consulate’s jurisdiction.
“I commit myself to strive for building a stronger, deeper, more resilient relationship between Japan and the Southeast,” Mr. Maeda said.
Mr. Carter’s warmest Japan relationship may be with YKK, the zipper company, which broke ground for a factory on 54 acres it had purchased in Macon in December of 1972.
During a recruitment process that started with Carter assistant Cloyd Hall, the then-governor met with YKK founder Tadao Yoshida, developing a rapport and respect for Mr. Yoshida’s business philosophy, known as the Cycle of Goodness.
Their interactions led to a sister-city relationship between Kurobe and Macon and many future collaborations, as YKK became the first of hundreds of Japanese firms that would find fertile ground for manufacturing in the Southeast.
Jessica Cork, vice president of community engagement and corporate communications at YKK Corp. of America, added that the relationship is much more than a historical footnote — it’s a living, breathing friendship that may be more vibrant than ever as the allies face shared geopolitical challenges.
“As Japan prepares to host the G7 and begins serving as a non-permanent member of the Security Council, I have never been more optimistic about the Japan-U.S. relationship,” Ms. Cork said in offering a toast at the birthday celebration. “Government officials tell me that the bilateral relationship is closer and more candid than at any point in history.”
One example of goodwill: The traditional Japanese bell tower inaugurated last year on the grounds of The Carter Center.
In her role as chair of the Japan-America Society of Georgia, Ms. Cork was one of the primary players in a community-led campaign that raised more than $300,000 to build a home for the Peace Bell, which had been given to Mr. Carter by the Japanese consulate in the 1980s.
Before raising a glass, Ms. Cork quoted the former president’s words during a visit to Konu-cho, the city in Hiroshima prefecture where the bell was forged, in 1994:
Although many years ago we were divided by war, we are now united by peace. There is no friendship between two peoples on earth as important as between Japan and America. We have many differences in our geography, and in our culture, and in our history, and in our language, but the things that bind us together are much more important than those that are different. The people of Japan and of America are dedicated to peace and to freedom. We also committed … to human rights and assisting others in the world who are in need.
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