Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Good morning, everyone. This is the Vermont House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development. It is Tuesday, 03/24/2026 at nine in the morning. So this morning, we are have a special guest with us this morning. We have the Japanese council general, Takahashi, with us coming up from Boston. I think this is the second time that we've had you with us.

[Consul General Takahashi (Japan, Boston)]: Yeah. Yeah.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: It's really a pleasure and honor for us to have you and to speak with you this morning. Welcome.

[Consul General Takahashi (Japan, Boston)]: Thank you very much for having us, and it is always great to be back to this very beautiful state of great mountains, you know, again, reminds me of my hometown, you know, our. Thank you also for your very, very kind gesture to pass as I believe in a couple of hours, know, I'll be a very, very special resolution to remember this, what we call a three eleven natural data sets actually, which hit my home free picture of U. A. So I'm from the region of the hardest hits by this pathway. As a representative Japanese of government and the representative of people that specific in the region of the country, once again, I'd like to extend my sincere gratitude to your your very kind gestures and friendship to extend your embassies and once again solidarity with our people of Japan. Thank you very much. And yeah, it's very meaningful for us to keep you updated on what is going on, not only in Boston area, but in Massachusetts in general, which has been really, really, I mean, our activity has been really, really developing in a very productive manner. And if you take a look at the materials, this is a summary for recent The contract in the area, well, first of all, we've been extremely pleased to see the development of the political relationship with the SOHO authorities, many of them the city of Boston, Massachusetts, and other neighboring states, state researchers in Mumbai, they have passed the special resolutions or issued special proclamations to discriminate the mandates and other special, I would say, and so on. Definitely it would be ideal to have something similar to this with the state of Taiwan in the future. In my view, it's impactful on the bilateral relationship, two sides, in many, many ways to have at least one annual gathering with all of the stakeholders and prayers in this area, so for our activities in the potential areas. And these very active development of the political operations with local authorities are backed by ABCA, mainly in Massachusetts, in business operations, between the two sides, especially in Greater Boston area, innovation related business activities, the updates. And now, in other markets alone, we have about two forty Japanese companies operating, which is I'm really pleased to share with you that so now, for the last decade in Japan has been the number of companies. And this is quite a new phenomenon based on the very rapidly growing startup ecosystem, mainly in the area of life science and biotechs. So the major players from our business circle very simple persons, and now pharmaceutical companies to begin with Takeda and Astrak, really big names. So I have been really excited to see this development and to make our role at the convener and in a connector, you know, we think the new size and New England circles. We did just launch a new sort of initiative. If I can ask you to take another look at this documents with the title of JNEXUS. JNEXUS means Japan's New England Nexus for innovation. The idea is, well, to create sort of platform everyone can have access to. Because still in my view, the literacy on the Japanese side has been at the embryonic stage vis a vis Boston ecosystem. My previous immediate interview report was in Israel, which I spent three years, two years before October 7, and then finally. Even with that, another set of nation, people are relatively not aware or what is going on in this part of the part in the area of innovation activities. And now we've got the new administration in Japan. Prime Minister Takahichi visited Washington DC last weekend, celebratory talk with the President. But the new administration has made a very, very strong commitment to what they call fundamental reinforcement of the national security capabilities, and another key word in all of the new lab equipment that is in the past, the revival of the technology driven implementation. And both of them, in my view, are super relevant to to this part of the world, you know, to our engagement, you know, local business and R and D people. So this is a sort of a new effort. You know, we have, you know, just started, you know, really create sort of, know, gain, you know, information platform that is infrastructure, you know, for for the future development, you know, of business and the r and d, you know, between the two sides. So of course, this is new wind applied effort. Definitely another idea is to really look into another potential preparations between the two sides. And Vermont has been relatively untapped in the sense of potential business activities and also R and D. I have passed one year and a half since my arrival. And for this year, my special attention goes to Europe, States and maybe together with Connecticut, which is geographically a little bit remote from our base in Boston and I do look forward to your future collaboration with you. And again, this is totally open to any of you, including the political figures. So if you have anything to disseminate to the Japanese stakeholders and prayers, you are more than welcome to join us in this sort of new effort to create opportunities for both Japan, a problem in So thank you very much. So this is just a tip of feedback from our side. Thank you.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: We look forward to a meaningful relationship with Japan. I'm sure Tim is with us this morning from the Agency of Commerce.

[Consul General Takahashi (Japan, Boston)]: We're seeing now, my friend. Hello, friend. Having Yes. Said that, now I check old friend of Princeton. Obviously, this is another tool, as I mentioned before, you can make use of the future. At the same time, think there is still room for the development. Of the very strong points vis a vis Japan, very strong, widely well known Japanese language educational institutions, typically with the language education, still constructed with the very best institutions to Japanese. Now they have also often to be a master's degree in courses to really train non Japanese teachers in the Japanese language. It is a very strategic agenda for us because the current generations are really aging. Are Japanese or Japanese Americans but really the ageing is a strategic issue for us. So we have been looking into possibilities to have another generations of the and I do encounter non Japanese teachers for the future of the Japanese foundation. So this is really the idea of the art in terms of the production of these really capable future Japanese teachers. Also, you know, definitely we are super interested in deepening of the sister state relationship with the prefecture of Torokturi, Peter Lynch, our friend, who are devoted to the expansion development of patients very, very seriously. And again, know, characterizing on this, you know, already established trust and friendship in people to the sides. I've been always thinking about something like in Japan Day, kind of a once a year occasion would be very much helpful to really elevate the visibilities of bilateral relationship and literacy of the economy and of the industries, educational industries, the Japanese in circles. So this is another agenda. And yeah, I've been always looking forward to the opportunities to turn on the electoral, with their government too, looking to the positive things for the future, possible events to pay the put us under the spotlight of this very bright future in North America. So business, academia, and sister stage relationships. So these are three pillars in the world I have always in my mind, we want to walk with you, to expand, looking forward to that.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: We did just pass in the House last week the sister state legislation. So now it's gone over to the Senate. So we're hoping that by May it'll go to the governor for his signature.

[Consul General Takahashi (Japan, Boston)]: All right, well, congratulations.

[Rep. Jonathan Cooper (Member)]: Thank you everybody.

[Consul General Takahashi (Japan, Boston)]: Yeah, we do look forward to that, definitely. We as well. Yeah. And thank you very much for working group, for your efforts to bake that kind of scheme and shifting. Property.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Any questions for the Council General?

[Rep. Jonathan Cooper (Member)]: Jonathan? I understand that Totori Governor Shinji Girard will be in, is he traveling to America's

[Consul General Takahashi (Japan, Boston)]: Yes, yes, so that is my understanding and yeah, if you are interested, of course, I mean, seriously, you know, can push the authority using our InChain. Well, the thing is, you know, they're gonna have the next round, next edition of the Japan U. S. Governance Council in New York City in October time, and many governors, including Governor Hilahi, thinking about participating in that event. So if he will actually join them in that conference, maybe there would be a chance for us to see the possibilities of inviting him to say the formal and that would be, you know, would be a momentous patient who wants to have sort of, you know, first of all, all in one kind of big event to be held in Bramant and again I do have ambition to see in Japan the kind of momentum out of the best possible places. So this is one of the possible scenario, but so far nothing has been really confirmed. But if you are unanimous inviting him in the case of his visit to The US, definitely I will leave a message to the authorities. That would be my pleasure. Thank you very much for mentioning that. And now we have, know, Rupa san, you know, with a very, very strong commitment to the development of the bilateral relations in Japan. He came all the way, you know, from the state of Vermont, you know, to attend, you know, to to Boston, you know, to to attend, you know, our National Day Singular reception, so such a honor. So thankful for your long standing conversation.

[Rep. Jonathan Cooper (Member)]: Yeah, so thanks very much for being here. I appreciate a lot of, you touched on a bunch of elements that are really important in terms of our bilateral relationship. You're talking about business, you're talking about academic kinds of things. And I think you mentioned or alluded to anyway, some other very important components of that relationship. Certainly spiritual, in terms of a lot of folks and groups in Vermont, who are very much in tune with some of the spiritual religious traditions. I think that's very pretty strong element. And then I'd also mention, we share democratic values, which I think are so important in terms of where we find ourselves in the world. But that was actually just a prelude to a question I had, which is in your opinion, which team in the highest levels of Japanese baseball

[Consul General Takahashi (Japan, Boston)]: would take the highest to

[Rep. Jonathan Cooper (Member)]: the top this year.

[Consul General Takahashi (Japan, Boston)]: I'm from the same town at Soheihotan in I don't know. Yeah. Okay. You know, the town is as snowy as it is. You know? And, yes, what a baseball classic. You know, I'm not necessarily happy about the achievement they made for this round, but still, you know, it's probable to see the very successful achievement by the Venezuelan. It's very, And, yeah, I mean, you know, now the best team on the planet, like it or not, looks like Los Angeles Dojos has almost become the Japanese team, out of the six starters for the over us, okay, you know, three Japanese. You know? Maybe, you know, they even can, you know, compose, you know, whole in a rotation, you know, all the pictures, you know, fighting in a Japanese. So definitely, you know, we have all the Japanese people have been paying strong attention to them. Right. But, you know, at the end of consul general in Boston, of course, we do have Yoshida san, actually, you know, who played, you know, his role as a slugger, you know, for the Samurai Japan, that is a national top 10 of the Japan, you know, in playing a world class team. So, I'm always ready to root for the Red Sox. And speaking about the Red Sox, sports diplomacy is really, really important. Now if you turn the page, the second page from the last, another very strong and relatively undiscovered bonds between New England and Japan, that actually the American baseball was introduced by one of the Vietnam Mainers more than one hundred and fifty years ago, and so three years ago our professional baseball team did celebrate one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the introduction of American baseball to Japan, But actually almost no one in Japan is aware of this history and of this gentleman. But more surprisingly, when I got here, literally zero the main is aware, was aware of this history. And that ignited engine of us to go for the commemoration of this very, very, especially in the current context of The US Japan operations, a meaningful historic sort of discovery, historic bonds between the two sides, Masataka Yoshida, right here, Hikil Levy accepted my idea to go to the, well, amazing, moving part of the story is, you know, Horace Wilson's father is still there. I mean, in the same house where Horace Wilson was born, the house was more than 200 years old, you know? And with the great grand nephew of this first Wilson's family are still living there. It's such a beautiful story and that brought a national TV broadcasting station, made a special coverage together with one of the biggest Japanese daily papers. So there's huge attention from the Japanese public. And now the mainers, including the politicians and business circles and academia, they are fully engaged in the establishment of the physical sort of monument of these horrors, boys and gentlemen to really celebrate our special bonds through sports. So sports is very, very meaningful.

[Rep. Jonathan Cooper (Member)]: Another passion, thank you very much.

[Consul General Takahashi (Japan, Boston)]: Thank you very much for the question. And then we do, I mentioned it before, in Japan is very familiar with the name of Park Hong itself because our very, very popular current. I am so proud of that, the name should be proud of that too. For that kind of Japan Day event, Japan Day reception, definitely we do need a balance color. Yeah. Ladies, first I'd like to apologize for being late. Not a problem. Yeah, and the point is it's always on our websites, so that everyone can have access to this updated information, And we have also posted a so called Japanese PR list on the same page on website so that anyone who is interested in starting research and development activities can have access to these

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Any other questions for Council General? Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you very much for

[Consul General Takahashi (Japan, Boston)]: having us in the lunch And I'd like to make it to Council's annual event to get together for updating activities together with you to see for the next windows of opportunities to expand our operation. Thank you, Chris.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: You're always welcome.

[Consul General Takahashi (Japan, Boston)]: Thank you.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: So we're on the floor at 10:00. Most of the day is going to be spent there. If there is if we're out before by three or 03:30, we'll be back to take a look at H337, which is the rounding cash transactions in the penny bill. I think we're talking at the end of last week with the small retailers, their interest in having us try to put something in place to retailers on how to deal with that issue. So we'll take a look at that. It may be done by 04:15, 04:20, so everybody can get to their places that they need to go by 04:30. So any questions? K two eleven is up today. Again, everyone that presented last week did a great job. Tony did an excellent job. Edye, Jonathan, Emily, everyone that presented last week did a wonderful job. Michael, you did a great job on yours too. So keep up the good work. And so we'll hopefully be back this afternoon. If not