Home Japan and New Hampshire New Hampshire's historical ties with Japan go back at least as far as 1905, when, under President Theodore Roosevelt, the treaty ending the Russo-Japanese war was signed in Portsmouth in September of that year. In commemoration of the state's role in resolving the hostilities, Japanese Ambassador Jutaro Komura bequeathed $10,000 to New Hampshire to be used for charitable purposes. Subsequently, the state legislature established a three-man board of trustees headed by the secretary of state to oversee the disbursements. The interest income from this fund has been duly distributed each year to charitable causes, but the principal has remained intact and is known as the Japanese Charitable Fund. Currently, cultural exchanges between Japan and New Hampshire are small in scale, with the Japan-America Society of New Hampshire playing a pivotal role. Under the Nichinan-Portsmouth sister city relationship, mayors, municipal officers, and others associated with the program visit each other's cities at least once a year. Economic ties are also modest, but growing. A handful of Japanese companies operate in New Hampshire at present; most of them are originally American companies that have been acquired by Japanese corporations. There are also a number of American manufacturing companies in the state with Japanese marketing connections, and they are increasing steadily. In the early 1990s, Japan was the state's second largest export market, after Canada. | |
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