As national conversation spotlights the United States’ relationship with Japan, Arizona has also been deepening its connection with the archipelago nation through the help of the University.
On Oct. 28, President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi signed an agreement pledging that bilateral ties between the two countries would reach a “new golden age.”
While Washington has centered Japan in its Indo-Pacific strategies for over a decade, Arizona has recently taken steps to strengthen existing economic and nongovernmental ties with the country, reflecting a long legacy of interactions.
The state established a new Arizona Trade and Investment Office in Tokyo in September, recognizing that Japan is one of the state’s top trading partners and a large source of foreign investment, according to the Arizona Commerce Authority.
“Arizona’s new trade and investment office in Japan represents an exciting opportunity to strengthen collaboration across high-tech sectors and expand growth opportunities for Arizona-based businesses,” Gov. Katie Hobbs said in a press release.
The ASU-affiliated McCain Institute also announced its 2026 Sedona Forum will be held overseas for the first time in Tokyo, citing Japan’s importance to the United States in upholding global security and democracy as well as the McCain family’s ties to the country.
Evelyn Farkas, the executive director of the McCain Institute, said that Arizona “has a really big role” in the U.S.-Japan alliance through its growing cooperation with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.
“For our other allies, like Japan and South Korea, that relationship with Taiwan that Arizona is building is also important, because they want the United States to demonstrate that we have a commitment to making sure that we stand with our Asian partners and allies,” Farkas said.
Farkas also recognized the University as a driving force behind this relationship.
“ASU is a serious power partner to the United States government in strengthening relationships with our allies and partners in Asia and elsewhere,” Farkas said.
She said University President Michael Crow helps facilitate investments from TSMC and other tech companies that promote the country’s economic ties with the Asia Pacific.
“He’s doing that by essentially ensuring that there’s an education system that’s feeding talented labor into the communities and into the state,” Farkas said.
The University hosted its third annual Japanese Open House and Job Fair on Oct. 30, attracting recruiters from Japanese companies like Kanken Techno USA, Asahi Kasei Homes, My Navi, Organo USA and more.
Bradley Wilson, a professor of Japanese at the School of International Letters and Cultures, said the college holds the fair because Arizona “is actually a really quickly growing center for industrial technology for Japan,” and that there are careers open to University students studying Japanese in Arizona and overseas.
“You can still stay near your family but utilize the knowledge that you’ve gathered in class to get jobs, so that market is really booming now,” Wilson said. “In the Japanese section, our primary goal is to train people to speak Japanese but also to be able to work as culturally competent people within the business world in both America and Japan.”
The cultural dimension of the Arizona-Japan relationship is fueled by the University’s study abroad and exchange programs. The University operates 19 such programs across the Japanese cities of Kyoto, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Akita, Fukuoka and Nagoya, according to the Global Education Office.
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Wilson heads a faculty-led summer study abroad to Hiroshima Shudo University that he said is one of the most popular summer programs at the University; last year, seats filled up completely in just five days.
“Most of our students who do this program, this short-term faculty-led program, are non-Japanese majors because their other majors don’t permit them to really go out of the country,” Wilson said. “This gets those students a chance to flex their Japanese skills in an intense language learning environment but also at a school where it’s in session, and people their age are going to school, and they’re able to build these connections.”
Wilson said almost all of the program’s alumni return to Japan either for additional study abroad or for employment opportunities, and there have even been marriages between University and Hiroshima Shudo students.
“It’s been a really important program in helping strengthen not only the bond between us and Hiroshima Shudo University, but also American culture and Japanese culture as a whole,” Wilson said.
Jayden Le, a senior studying tourism development and management as well as Japanese, went to Hiroshima last summer. He said some of the Japanese people he encountered thought he might be from places like California or New York, and didn’t know where Arizona was.
“We were basically their first impression,” Le said.
Le enjoyed connecting with Japanese students and sharing differences about their respective cultures. When one of the friends he made in Hiroshima came to visit Arizona, he hosted her and showed her the Grand Canyon.
Megan Hinsberg, a junior studying animation and Japanese, also participated in the Hiroshima program last summer and said it had a “huge impact” on how she sees the world.
She remembered shopping for a yukata, a light summer garment similar to a kimono, while on the way to a festival, and seeing a group of elderly women in the corner of the store as she was trying on different pieces.
They heard her speaking broken Japanese and called her over, asking how she liked the yukata and if she thought it was cute.
“It was such a simple moment, but it had such an impact on me,” she said. “They were so interested in me and why I was there, and how I was partaking in their culture, and it made me feel really appreciated and welcomed.”
Edited Henry Smardo, George Headley and Pippa Fung.
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Mia OsmonbekovSenior Reporter
Mia Osmonbekov is a senior reporter. She previously reported for Arizona Capitol Times, Cronkite News DC, La Voz del Interior and PolitiFact. She is in her 7th semester with The State Press working previously as the opinion editor and assignment editor.
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