City of Yokohama Los Angeles Office Opening
—Aiming for a City that Contributes to World Peace and Development—
The city of Yokohama established an office in Los Angeles within JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) on October 30th. It has closed the office that it opened in New York in 1994 and moved its foreign base to Los Angeles on the West Coast. The principal reasons for moving at this time were,
1. The information technology and biotechnology enterprises are concentrated in the state of California.
2. For companies that have their main offices in the city of Yokohama, this is where most come to gain access to the entire U.S. market. (Among the total of 160 companies that have established operations in America, 80 firms have done so on the West Coast and within that number, 71 have done so in California.)
3. Most American enterprises that have been attracted to Yokohama are from the West Coast.
4. Los Angeles is convenient in order to promote exchanges with Sister Cities San Diego and Vancouver.
In addition, Yokohama City University also opened an office in Silicon Valley on November 1st. It will work in conjunction with the Yokohama office in Los Angeles on things such as cooperating in technological research, attracting enterprises and collecting information.
Upon this occasion of the establishment of this office, Mayor Hiroshi Nakada, of Yokohama came to the United States from Japan. Mayor Nakada paid a courtesy call on Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, expressing the wish that since the city of Yokohama has a concentration of such things as information technology, biotechnology and digital content enterprises, it would be desirable to use the opportunity of setting up the Los Angeles office to deepen economic exchanges.
Following this, he visited the New Otani Hotel to attend a reception. There, Kazuo Kodama, Consul General of Los Angeles and Doug Erber, president of the Japan America Society extended words of greeting.
Five regions that had established independent offices in Los Angeles, including Tokyo and Nagoya, have closed them one after another, making the independent Yokohama office the only regional office in operation.
According to Mayor Nakada, “With competition among cities growing intense, Yokohama is developing as a city with vitality and competitive strength. So along with promoting cities from places like Europe, the United States and Asia to come to Yokohama, it is also important to promote exchanges and cooperation between cities for our mutual benefit. The Los Angeles office will attract enterprises and tourists to Yokohama, while it will fulfill the role of doing things such as facilitating investment in Yokohama and exchanges between cities. That is appropriate for the planning that went into it as an active foreign base in this age of globalization.”



International Pastry Culinary Academy; Los Angeles
Fukushima Prefecture Tourist Products Shop to open
A get-together to celebrate the establishment of the Los Angeles Fukushima Prefecture Tourist Products shop, and the planned opening of the International Pastry Culinary Academy was held on October 27 in Little Tokyo. The International Pastry Culinary Academy is operated by the Tanaka Educational Group, which has its main offices in Kodaira in Tokyo. The soon-to-be-opened International Pastry Culinary Academy will offer four courses: a Japanese Cooking course that teaches Kappo Cuisine; a Western Cooking course where students can learn about foods of the world; a Confectionary course for students to learn about the world of Western and Japanese pastries, and also a Food Business course to learn about restaurant management.
The Tanaka Educational Group is currently administering five technical schools: West Tokyo Chef’s Technical College; International Confectionary Technical College; International Confectionary Technical College, Kodaira Campus; International Business Technical College; and the International Healthful Plants Science Technical College.
About ten years ago, the Tanaka Educational Group bought a building in Los Angeles that was used as a bank at the time, and it came to be used as an overseas training institute. It evolved into a site for education-culture exchange, and as a base for language training and volunteer activities where students can come into contact with different cultures, and where the local society is also welcomed. “We would like to not only have Japanese people learn, but also to have many of the local people here in Los Angeles learn about Japanese food; and we would like to make use of our experience in Los Angeles up until now, so we decided to open the International Pastry Culinary Academy,” says Keisuke Tanaka, the founder of the Tanaka Educational Group.
Also, Tanaka was appointed “Hometown Ambassador” by Fukushima Prefecture, which is his birthplace, so a Fukushima Prefecture Tourist Products Shop will be set up in the International Pastry Culinary Academy. Items such as Fukushima specialties will be on permanent display, and it will be possible to get to know about things from Fukushima Prefecture.
At the get-together, Kazuo Kodama, the Consul-General of Japan here in Los Angeles, and Yuhei Sato, the Governor of Fukushima Prefecture both attended as honored guests. At the meeting site, there were demonstrations that introduced handmade soba and Japanese-style confections.
The International Pastry Culinary Academy will open in the spring of 2008.


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