Washington To Japan: Buy Our Apples

GOV. GARY LOCKE'S first stop on his 12-day Asian tour is in Japan. That's the state's top trading partner, and you'd expect his trade delegation to find the markets there stacked with Washington apples, right? Guess again.

TOKYO - Mountains of wooden pallets and empty fruit boxes rise out of the foggy dawn as Japan's largest wholesale fruit and vegetable market comes into view.

Forklifts, motor scooters, bicycles and small three-wheeled trucks rattle through the cavernous Ohta Market with all the precision of carnival bumper cars.

Into the chaos comes Washington state Agricultural Director Jim Jesernig; the director of the department's Japan office, Scott Hitchman; Apple Commission Chairman Don Heinicke; and Wheat Commission Chairman Christopher Shaffer.

They marvel at the bounty of international produce.

Displayed on tables, in trucks, in boxes and in the arms of the fruit dealers are Hawaiian papayas, New Zealand kiwis, Chinese bamboo shoots, bananas from the Philippines and tomatoes from Korea.

There are Japanese Tsugaru apples so big and beautiful that, for a second, it looks as though Heinicke might cry.

But there are no Washington apples here at the Ohta Market today.

Three years ago, 450,000 cartons of Washington red and golden Delicious apples were shipped here. Two years ago, there were 50,000 cartons. Last year, there were 12,000.

This year, Washington growers - who harvest 60 percent of

America's apples - won't ship any apples to Japan, the state's largest international trading partner.

"It's just not worth it," said Heinicke.

The problem, he says, is a long list of rules the Japanese impose on growers before apples can be imported. Because of what the Japanese say are threats of diseases the apples can carry, Washington growers must follow extensive spraying programs and pay for three annual inspections by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They also must pay for visits by Japanese apple inspectors that can last more than two months.

Also, the Japanese will allow only red and golden Delicious apples in the country - apples the Japanese don't like much.

Before other varieties are allowed in, another long set of protocols would have to be negotiated.

"It's all kind of ridiculous. They say you can sell all the red and golden Delicious you want because they know no one will buy them," Heinicke said.

Said Jesernig: "This, in my mind, is the most ludicrous barrier that comes up in this protectionist scheme."

It's also the best example of the difficulty of doing business in Japan. Gov. Gary Locke, here on the first stop of a 12-day Asia mission, said it was a prime topic of discussion in his meetings.

Japan buys many goods from Washington state. Last year, 9.6 percent of all U.S. exports to Japan came from Washington, and agricultural exports are increasing by more than 30 percent.

Washington is the United States' top apple-growing state, and the fight over restrictions on apples rankles state leaders.

Locke says the rules for importing fruits should be based on science. If it's OK to send Delicious apples, he says, the same should be true for other varieties - apples that Japanese consumers might actually like.

But Japan disagrees. That was made clear again by Hisao Azuma, Japan's vice minister for international affairs in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

Azuma was clearly unhappy this week when the office of the U.S. Trade Representative filed a formal complaint over the apple issue with the World Trade Organization. During a meeting at the ministry, Azuma handed Washington officials a copy of the notice, which read: "Japan's requirement operates as a significant import barrier. . . . "

While Locke has wanted to be only positive in his meetings, he conceded the protest could make it difficult in the short-term to reach any new agreements.

Washington's disappearing Japanese apple trade touches on more than just concern for the pests that so worry the Japanese.

There is a social question, too. As Japanese farmland disappears to development, imports are seen as a threat to remaining family farms.

And there is a matter of taste. A public-relations blitz accompanied the first Washington apples three years ago when Japan lifted its decades-old ban on importing them.

"At first, consumers were very interested, but the taste and price were not competitive," Akiru Kashiwazaki said at the Ohta Market. He is managing director of Matsusho, one of the top produce wholesalers.

Fruit is often dessert, or given as gifts by the Japanese - not lunch-box and snack fare. That explains the melons at Ohta, which are packed like jewels and retail for $60 apiece. They bear a label that says: "Best eaten on morning of October 10."

"Japanese sophistication is very severe," Kashiwazaki tells the state delegation - a nice way of saying the Delicious apples just aren't.

Hitchman, the state's agricultural director here, says later that he is convinced the apple protocols are designed "to make it difficult to provide a quality product."

Such frustrations are not unique to apples - or to Washington state, said American business people who crowded breakfast, lunch and evening receptions to hear Locke speak.

H. James Fitzgerald, president of Weyerhaeuser Asia, said the wood-products company has learned what's important in 35 years of doing business with the Japanese.

"You have to provide exceptional quality. That's what they insist on," he said. "And for us to say, `Our quality is good enough, they should like it,' isn't good enough.

"We have to listen to our customers."

David Postman's phone message number is 360-943-9882. His e-mail address is: dpos-new@seatimes.com