Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir will leave for Japan next weekend on the first official visit to that country by an Israeli diplomat of his rank. He will take with him high hopes that his trip will lead to a significant warming of relations with Japan in the areas of business and commerce as well as diplomacy.
Shamir, who also is Deputy Premier, will be accompanied by several prominent Israeli industrialists, among them the directors general of Tadiron, Israel’s electronics giant, and El-Op, another high-tech company.
While in Tokyo he will confer with Foreign Minister Shintaro Abe and Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. There is a possibility he may be received by Emperor Hirohito but there is no final word on that yet.
Japan traditionally has been cautious in its political and economic relations with Israel, mainly because it is totally dependent on the Arab Gulf states for its oil. The coolness extends to the commercial sphere. Japan’s top auto-makers, Nissan, Toyota and Isuzu, have remained aloof from the Israeli market for fear of encountering the Arab boycott.
Nevertheless, Japanese cars are popular here and the Suburu Range, manufactured by one of the smaller companies, is the best-selling vehicle in Israel. Recently, another Japanese car-maker, Daihatsu, ignored the boycott and began selling to Israel. The boycott has not deterred the major electronics companies, Sony, Sanyo and Sharp, which have been selling their products in Israel for years.
Shamir will be returning to Israel before Rosh Hashanah. He will leave again shortly after the holiday to accompany Premier Shimon Peres to the opening of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
