“A Very Excellent Trip” : Governor Linwood Holton’s Trade Mission to Japan and Australia

On April 12, 1972, at 11:00 a.m., Governor Linwood A. Holton and 24 representatives of Virginia’s state government and private businesses left from Richmond’s Byrd Airport to embark on a two-week trade mission to Japan and Australia.¹ The participants hoped to engage in “soliciting new business, expansion of existing trade associations and exploratory contacts.”² The official press release was quick to note that the participants were paying their own expenses.³ At the time, trade missions were a new concept; the first trade mission by a Virginia governor was just five years prior when Governor Mills E. Godwin, Jr., travelled to Europe.⁴ Governor Holton was the first Virginia governor to travel to Japan and Australia for a trade mission. Moreover, Holton’s mission was “the first occasion in which all sectors of the State Government in international business—Division of Industrial Development, State Port Authority, and Department of Agriculture and Commerce—are combining efforts with private industry in Virginia to achieve the maximum potential for trade and development opportunities between Virginia and a foreign country.”⁵

Why Japan and Australia? The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that “Japan is currently the biggest customer for coal moving through Virginia. (It brought some $362 million worth in 1970),”⁶ much of which passed through the Hampton Roads port.⁷ In fact, the Virginia Port Authority opened an office in Tokyo eight years prior to the mission.⁸ Other major exports to Japan included tobacco, grains, poultry, soybeans, and soybean oil.⁹ At the time that the trip was in the planning stages, Japan intended to reduce tariffs on certain goods that were imported from the U.S. in the hopes that the Nixon Administration would be able to pass a gold revaluation bill.¹⁰ Moreover, the yen was strong, and Japan had an interest in overseas investments. Virginia was not the only state to take an interest in Japan for all of these reasons.¹¹ The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that “Australia is a prime market for Virginia tobacco. (In 1970, Australia bought $10 million worth of leaf tobacco and an additional $4 million in tobacco products which were shipped out through Virginia ports.)”¹² Shipping and Trade News noted that “In the past two and a half years, [Fred G.] Kessener’s [International Trade and Development] department has been able to attract more than $100 million in manufacturing-capital expenditures from Western Europe and hopes to expand his activity to Japan.”¹³ In fact, Nissan had already established a distribution center in Portsmouth.¹⁴

The mission took several months to arrange. There were ultimately more requests for visits than could be accommodated. For instance, a student at Big Stone Gap High School asked if the Governor could meet her pen-pal in New South Wales whose brother had just died,¹⁵ and the president of The International Municipal Cooperation Committee of Roanoke, Virginia, Incorporated, inquired as to whether the Governor could also visit South Korea, since Wonju was Roanoke’s sister city.¹⁶ On November 29, 1971, a form letter to potential mission participants was approved, and it was scheduled to be mailed in December.¹⁷ Director of the International Trade and Development Department of the Division of Industrial Development Fred G. Kessener, who arranged the mission,¹⁸ visited Japan January 21 to 28 to make preparations¹⁹ and was also to visit Australia.²⁰ On March 17, a briefing and reception was held at the John Marshall Hotel for mission participants and their wives.²¹ Finally, on April 6, the Ambassador Nobohiko Ushiba visited Governor Holton to wish him well on his mission. Holton noted during this meeting that this would not be his first trip to Japan—he was stationed there towards the end of World War II.²²

After a brief layover at Dulles Airport, the party flew to Los Angeles and then to Honolulu on April 12.²³ During their time in Hawaii, the Holtons took a helicopter ride that included a view of Pearl Harbor.²⁴ The mission participants departed from Honolulu the following day and landed in Tokyo on the evening of April 14.²⁵

The mission participants were not given much time to recover from so much travel and so many time zones; a mission briefing at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 15. Participants were then free for the weekend. The Holtons spent the day sightseeing in Kamakura. In the evening, Governor Holton attended an America-Japan Society dinner for the U.S. governors who were in Tokyo for the Japan-U.S. Governors’ Conference. The next day, the Holtons toured Tokyo.²⁶

Each day of the mission was reserved for specific purposes, and the delegates did not attend every event together. For instance, Governor Holton met with government officials—sometimes with other members of Virginia’s government—while the other delegates had time for meetings that they wished to schedule.²⁷

The first day, Monday, April 17, provided a general overview for mission participants. Some delegates attended a briefing breakfast, while Governor Holton and several others met with the American Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Ambassador Robert S. Ingersoll, and other government officials.

The entire delegation attended a luncheon at the Tokyo American Club and then met with the Anzai Group—Japanese businessmen who promoted trade missions between the United States and Japan—to discuss the Japan/Mid-Atlantic U.S. Association. The delegates’ wives joined the event in time for a reception and dinner.²⁸

Tuesday, April 18 was Virginia Port Authority Day, which included meetings with Ports and Harbor Director Takemasa Okumura and others, as well as a tour of the harbors along Tokyo Bay: Tokyo, Kawasaki, Yokohama, Taura, Uraga, and Yokosuka. After refreshments at the Yokosuka Officers’ Club, the Holtons attended a dinner with those who were involved with the Virginia Port Authority.²⁹

Division of Industrial Development Day was on Wednesday, April 19. The day began with Governor Holton and others from state government meeting with the Japanese Minister of International Trade and Industry. The Governor then proceeded to a tour of a Sony plant. A luncheon at the Tokyo American Club brought together representatives from Japanese trading, manufacturing, and banking firms³⁰ and included an address by Governor Holton.³¹

Virginia Agriculture Day followed on Thursday, April 20. The day began with a briefing at the U.S. Embassy by David Hume, who was the Agricultural Attaché, and those who were involved with soybeans, poultry, and feed grains. Governor Holton, several members of state government, and representatives from the Virginia State Chamber of Commerce met with the Japanese Minister of International Trade and Industry, Munernori Akagi. After all mission delegates and those with whom they were meeting had lunch, some of the delegates attended the Food Show at the U.S. Trade Center. The Governor held a press conference while delegates visited Kinokuniya Supermarket.³²

On Friday, April 21, the mission group and their wives hosted a lunch at the Tokyo American Club with the Anzai Group with whom they met on the first day of their mission. They then departed for Hong Kong en route to Canberra, where they arrived via Sydney on Sunday, April 23.³³

The work of the Australia portion of the mission began in earnest on Monday, April 24, with a briefing for all delegates and their wives at the U.S. Embassy. Governor Holton and U.S. Ambassador Walter Rice proceeded to meet with Prime Minister William McMahon before a luncheon at the Canberra-Rex for those who were involved with trade and industry and their wives. The Holtons then attended a dinner that was hosted by Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck.³⁴

Tuesday, April 25, was a holiday in Australia—ANZAC Day—which limited mission-related activities for the day. The delegates took that opportunity to travel to Sydney. The next day, they began with breakfast with members of the American Chamber in Australia and an address by Governor Holton at the Menzies Hotel. Delegates visited the Maritime Services Board while Governor Holton visited the Governor of New South Wales. Most members of the delegation reunited for lunch with members of Australian shipping companies at the American Club, while those who were involved with banking met with their Australian counterparts at the Menzies Hotel. The entire delegation then participated in a harbor tour. That evening, the Holtons and some members of the delegation and their wives attended a reception hosted by Consul General Norman Hannah.³⁵

After a luncheon at the Menzies Hotel with Australian government officials and those who were engaged in business on Thursday, April 27, the only engagement for the delegation was a meeting with the Meat Board and a tour of an abattoir on Friday, April 28. Governor Holton left the mission after the Thursday luncheon and arrived in Richmond the following day before departing for the Republican Governors’ Conference at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.³⁶ The other members of the mission left Australia on Sunday, April 30, and arrived in Richmond on Monday, May 1st.³⁷

The women who traveled to Japan and Australia with their husbands participated in official events such as luncheons or dinners that were open to all mission participants, but they mostly had their own parallel schedule that included sightseeing and meeting with other women, such as a group of diplomatic and American wives hosted by Inger Rice, who was the wife of U.S. Ambassador Walter L. Rice.³⁸ Shopping was a highlight. First Lady of Virginia, Virginia “Jinks” Holton, noted to Chester Chu of Chester Company, Ltd., in Hong Kong that she looked “forward to receiving the dress your company made for me. I found it hard to believe that it was ready for a fitting at 5:00 when I had only selected the material and style at noon!”³⁹ Ultimately, there were more options than there was time. For instance, Jinks Holton lamented, “I was so sorry that we could not return to Kamakura for the demonstration of Japanese cooking and flower arranging.”⁴⁰

International business partnerships can take years of cultivation, but there were at least two immediate achievements from this mission: poultry sales and greater use of the Hampton Roads port. On March 12, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported, “One member of the mission—George Heitz, Rockingham’s general manager—said he hopes he can use the trip to acquire contacts that would result in additional sales of Virginia poultry products in Japan and all over the Far East.”⁴¹ Indeed, the Rockingham Poultry Marketing Cooperative in Broadway sold 800,000 pounds of chicken.⁴² Governor Holton attributed this “to the recent lifting of import poultry restrictions by the Japanese government.”⁴³ Moreover, Governor Holton noted in one of the many thank you notes that he signed following the trade mission that “The consortium of Japanese shipping lines assured Adm. Holmes the Port of Hampton Roads in Virginia will be a major container load center for their large new ships capable of carrying two thousand containers and that services will begin in September” of 1972. He also noted that two Japanese companies may build assembly plants in Virginia.⁴⁴ And the Governor? He said that he “would be just as happy never to see a 747 again, as when you step on one you know you are in for a long ride”!⁴⁵