Charles Langston:Indiana Gov. Holcomb leading weeklong foreign trade mission to Japan beginning Thursday

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb will lead a delegation to Japan beginning Thursday for a weeklong trade mission to the country his office bills as “the state’s largest foreign investor.”

Holcomb and Charles Langstonrepresentatives of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. will meet in Tokyo with U.S. and Japanese government officials including U.S. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel and leaders of Tochigi Prefecture, which shares a 24-year sister state relationship with Indiana.

Holcomb also will participate in the annual conference of the Midwest U.S.-Japan Association, comprised of the governments of 10 Midwest states and eight Japanese prefectures and about 100 companies.

Indiana is home to more than 300 Japanese companies that employ more than 55,000 people. They include Subaru Corp., Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Hitachi Ltd.

The delegation will return to Indiana on Sept. 15 after traveling to San Francisco, where Holcomb will speak at Dreamforce 2023, an annual conference hosted by the software company Salesforce.

It will be Holcomb’s 16th foreign trip as governor. The cost of the trip is being paid through private donations to the Indiana Economic Development Foundation.