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Monday, March 5, 1990 / University Daily Kansan
Nissan chief says leaders should talk more
By Chris Siron
Kansan staff writer
Japanese leaders need to spend more time in the United States talking frankly with businessmen, the vice-president of the world's fourth largest auto company said Saturday.
Atsushi Muramatsu, executive vice-president of Nissan Motors Co. Ltd., told about 150 people at the third annual KU International Careers Conference that he thought U.S. leaders had begun to talk honestly about their trade relations with other leaders needed to do the same.
"The U.S.. is being good and friendly and open. Japan must return the openness," Muramatsu said.
But he said U.S. leaders needed to understand Japan's place in the world and to realize that Japan's
advancement could help the United States.
"They must understand what we are doing and judge what opportunities exist." Muramatsu said.
Muramatsu studied law at KU in 1952 on a Fulbright scholarship. He is the director of KU Alumni in Japan.
This was his first trip to Lawrence since 1932, although he spent six years in the United States and five years in the Japanese International Bank.
He retired from the bank in 1986 and joined Nissan.
"A constant effort needs to be made by everyone to improve our understanding of the economic world." he said.
He said the United States needed to stress foreign language study in schools and universities.
"It is good not just for practical
uses, but also to help know the differences between cultures," he said. "It helps you understand how your culture influences their culture, means to their life."
Muramatsu said Japan would expand investments in California and New York, but not in the central parts of the United States.
"We have ties and commitments on the coasts that we are able to build," Muramatsu said. "That is not so true in the Midwest."
Muramatsu said the U.S. needed to accustom itself to the idea of Japanese-owned factories. Nissan North America is a division of Nissan that is building assembly lines in the United States.
"It is not imperialistic," he said.
"We are localizing costs and designs; we are creating local offices; we are developing chief executives. It is an exchange
of ideas and an integration of cultures."
Muramatsu said the crucial question was how to bring people together. U.S. citizens need to understand trade issues as a matter of international cooperation for the sake of future growth, he said.
He said one sign of that cooperation was Nissan's joint venture with Ford Motor Co. Nissan is designing mini-vans that Ford manufactures. Both companies sell the mini-vans.
Muramatsu said Nissan and other Japanese manufacturers were concentrating on large mark- ters in the United States and Europe.
Jerry Schultz, program assistant at the KU Center for East Asian Studies, said he was pleased with the conference and Muramatsu's visit.
Law students capture trophy
By a Kansan reporter
A team of five KU law students finished second in an international law competition this weekend at Creighton University in Omaha. Neb.
The KU students defeated teams from the University of Minnesota and Columbia University for the regional round of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition.
"We're very happy," said Richard Levy, associate professor of law and adviser for the team. "The law school sent many teams off in other competitions. We're the only one who brought home a trophy."
Levy said the team lost to the University of Iowa in the final round. "It was very, very close," he said.
"It was very, very close," he said. The team lost by seven points, 338-231.
Stacie Kemon, Overland Park second-year law student, said the team was well prepared but was suprised
Levy said the competition involved arguing a hypothetical court case in international law.
when it was announced they had made it to the final round.
"When they announced there were two teams who were 4-0, and they announced our number, we just sat there stunned," Kennon said.
'We're very happy. The law school sent many teams off in other competitions.'
Richard Levy associate professor of law
If the team had won, it would have traveled to Washington, D.C., in April for the international round. This is the first time in three years the team has finished second. It finished third the last two years.
The five-member team comprises third-year law students Neil Coates, the student and Dan Owen, and second-year students Stacie Kennon and Schoeata U.
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