Washington Secretary of State 2026 Japan Trade Mission, Tokyo

Last week, Economic Development Director Daniel Tappana traveled to Tokyo with the 2026 Japan Trade Mission’s Aerospace Track as a delegation member representing Snohomish County.

The 2026 Japan Trade Mission is a state-led economic delegation organized by the Office of Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs. This is Secretary Hobbs’s third trade mission to Japan since 2023, reflecting the state’s sustained, long-term commitment to U.S.–Japan economic and trade relationships. The 40-member delegation spans aerospace, aviation, sustainable aviation fuel, agriculture, creative industries (including Washington’s tabletop gaming sector), and sports and entertainment, with statewide coordination across the Washington State Department of Commerce, World Trade Center Tacoma, Clallam County Economic Development Council, Impact Washington (Washington’s NIST MEP Center), the Seattle Seahawks, and EASC.

The mission’s purpose is to open doors and facilitate direct executive engagement between Washington industry leaders and Japanese counterparts in markets of opportunity. EASC has participated in prior state-led international engagement and inbound delegations, but this mission represents the first time EASC has been positioned at the table directly with all four major Japanese aerospace primes — Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Subaru Aerospace, and Boeing Japan — in a coordinated state framework.
EASC’s strategic objectives for the mission are four-fold:

1. Reinforce executive-level relationships with each of the major Japanese primes — MHI, KHI, Subaru Aerospace, and Boeing Japan — through direct engagement rather than intermediated outreach.

2. Position Snohomish County as the natural North American counterparty for Japanese aerospace supplier investment, anchored in shared programs (737 MAX North Line, 777/777X, KC-46, 767 freighter) and decades of co-developed industrial relationships in Everett.

3. Gather intelligence on Japanese partner capital deployment timelines, U.S. footprint priorities, and how the primes are thinking about supply chain resilience and on-shoring.

4. Lay the foundation for follow-on inbound reverse-mission activity — bringing Japanese executives back to Snohomish County for site visits, supplier conversations, and partner introductions on home ground.

The Snohomish County aerospace and advanced manufacturing ecosystem benefits most directly — particularly the Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers in Everett, Arlington, Marysville, and the Cascade Industrial Center whose work programs are tied to platforms with Japanese content, including the 737 MAX (with the North Line announcement landing in Everett), the 777/777X, the KC-46 tanker, and the 767 freighter. Beyond direct aerospace, the broader region benefits from continued FDI signal-sending: when Japanese primes see consistent, executive-level state engagement, it reinforces Washington as a credible, durable place to deploy capital. Workforce partners (Workforce Snohomish, Impact Washington), local jurisdictions hosting industrial land, and the Tulalip Tribes’ economic interests also stand to gain from any follow-on supplier investment that materializes from this engagement.

The central message: Snohomish County is not one of many U.S. aerospace regions — it is the specific industrial geography where Japanese supplier relationships have been continuously co-developed for decades.

Supporting talking points include the 737 MAX North Line landing in Everett and what that means for sustained narrow-body work; the continuity of the 777/777X program and Japanese structural content; KC-46 and 767 freighter production volume; the integrated SnoPUD/state incentive landscape for new supplier investment; and EASC’s role as the single, accountable point of contact for Japanese partners exploring a Snohomish County footprint. 

The most valuable takeaway from Day 1’s back-to-back executive meetings with Hiroyuki Koguchi (MHI), Masataka Sudo (KHI), Yoshihiro Saito (Subaru), and Boeing Japan President Eric John was the consistency of the signal across all four conversations: the U.S.–Japan aerospace partnership is durable, but the next decade of supplier capital deployment is genuinely in play. Each prime is actively weighing where to anchor North American footprint decisions, and the executive-level access provided by Secretary Hobbs’s third Japan mission since 2023 gave Washington a distinct advantage in being part of those conversations early. The continuity of state engagement — three missions in three years — was repeatedly cited by the Japanese side as evidence that Washington takes the relationship seriously, in a way that single-shot delegations from other states do not.
Three concrete implications for Snohomish County emerged that should shape EASC’s next 12–18 months of work:

1. The 737 MAX North Line announcement landed with the Japanese primes as a credibility marker. The fact that Boeing is expanding narrow-body production in Everett — not relocating it — was a frequent reference point and reinforced the case for supplier co-investment in Snohomish County. EASC should make sure follow-on materials and the inbound reverse-mission program lean into this point.

2. Japanese partners are increasingly evaluating sub-state geography, not just “the U.S.” or “Washington State.” This favors regions like Snohomish County that can present a coherent, named industrial geography (the Cascade Industrial Center, Paine Field, Arlington Airport) with specific available land, utility capacity, and incentive structure. Generic state pitches no longer land — specificity wins.

3. Workforce continuity is the Japanese primes’ top non-cost question. Multiple conversations returned to the depth and durability of the regional aerospace workforce. This reinforces the case for EASC’s Workforce Snohomish partnership and for positioning Impact Washington’s NIST MEP capabilities as part of the FDI value proposition.

Throughout the trip, EASC made important connections for Snohomish County.

Japanese aerospace primes (Day 1): Hiroyuki Koguchi, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries — opened the door for an EASC-led inbound site visit to Snohomish County tied to the next phase of supplier conversations. Masataka Sudo, Kawasaki Heavy Industries — agreed in principle to a follow-on briefing on KHI’s North American supply base posture, to be coordinated through Boeing Japan. Yoshihiro Saito, Subaru Aerospace — productive exchange on shared 777/777X content and Subaru’s U.S. footprint considerations. Eric John, President of Boeing Japan — reaffirmed the value of EASC’s role as the local economic development point of contact for Japanese suppliers exploring Everett-adjacent investment, and signaled willingness to help coordinate prime/supplier introductions on follow-on activity.

U.S. government and trade infrastructure (Day 3): JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) executives — established a working contact for surfacing Japanese investor inquiries that align with Snohomish County’s value proposition. U.S. Embassy Tokyo — useful background on how SelectUSA and the Commercial Service can support follow-on engagement; relationship to maintain alongside the EASC SelectUSA Snohomish County Day program.

Washington State delegation peers: Secretary of State Steve Hobbs and senior staff; State Representatives Chris Corry and Sharon Tomiko Santos; Washington State Department of Commerce international team; Impact Washington (NIST MEP); Clallam County EDC; World Trade Center Tacoma. The five days of shared programming meaningfully deepened working relationships across Washington’s economic development infrastructure — particularly with Commerce and Impact Washington, both of which are direct collaborators on EASC’s FDI and BRE pipeline.

Two moments stood out. First, the breadth of the delegation itself — 40 members spanning aerospace, agriculture, sustainable aviation fuel, creative industries, and sports/entertainment — created cross-pollination opportunities that a narrower aerospace-only mission would not have produced. The visit to MUFG Stadium (Tokyo National Stadium) and the University of Tokyo Warriors football clinic with former Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril reframed how soft-power assets — sports, design philosophy, creative industries — serve as connective tissue for the hard economic conversations. The Japanese tabletop gaming publishers’ dinner on Day 3 was a particularly vivid example: it surfaced relationships that pure aerospace programming would have missed entirely, but which expand Washington’s broader brand in Japan in ways aerospace primes notice.

Second, the U.S. Embassy reception on Day 4 — hosted in honor of the Secretary of State’s Office, Boeing, and the Seahawks — produced informal conversations that were arguably as substantive as the formal program. Several Japanese executives used the more relaxed setting to surface follow-on questions about Snohomish County industrial sites, workforce, and incentive structure that did not come up in the daytime meetings.
In the coming months, as we maximize the impact of the trip, EASC would like to encourage trustees and partners to follow the Office of the Secretary of State and the participating delegation organizations — Washington State Department of Commerce, Impact Washington, Clallam County EDC, and World Trade Center Tacoma — to track follow-on engagement and amplify the relationships this mission opened.

Snohomish County companies with active or potential Japanese partner relationships should contact EASC to be included in the inbound reverse-mission program now being scoped for the coming year. Contact Daniel Tappana at DanielT@EconomicAllianceSC.org.

-Daniel Tappana is EASC's Director for Economic Development.
Image credit  WA Office of the Secretary of State