In 1987, the Japan Center for International Exchange initiated a project series under the theme of strengthening the regional underpinnings of the Japan-US partnership. This volume, a result of the second study undertaken as part of this project from September 1988 to August 1989, focuses on seven American states with varying degrees of economic and historical interaction with Japan. Topics include the growing economic presence of Japan on the regional level; the role of Japan in the internationalization of American states; and noneconomic interactions with Japan on the regional level, including activities by primary and secondary schools, universities and colleges, nonprofit organizations and private individuals, sister-state/prefecture and sister-city relationships, and state and municipal governments.

The study makes the point that a strong correlation exists between Japan’s growing economic presence in a region and a rise in regional interest in the socio-cultural dimensions of Japan. However, noneconomic ties and exchanges are increasingly being promoted at the regional level. Cited as examples of this trend are increases in Japanese language and culture classes at schools and universities, as well as marked improvement in sister-state/prefecture and sister-city relationships in recent years.

Conducted against the background of an increasingly acrimonious atmosphere in the Japan-US relationship, the study concludes that while progress toward regional bilateral exchange is encouraging, a tremendous and long-term investment in the development of these relations, as well as in the human resources needed to sustain them, remains an imperative.