Crafting the deal that would bring Toyota to San Antonio took years of work by many players. But none of it would have been possible without Naoko Shirane.
Naoko Mitsui Shirane and Henry Cisneros pose with Seishi Kashio, who was deputy mayor of San Antonio's sister city Kumamoto at the time, in this undated photo.In late 1984, Henry Cisneros, then mayor of San Antonio, got a call from Robert G. Marbut Sr. that would change the economic trajectory of San Antonio.
Mrs. Shirane, as she was always called, would be instrumental in creating a sister city relationship between San Antonio and Kumamoto, Japan, and forging long-term relationships with some of Japan’s biggest industrial leaders. That included Shoichiro Toyoda, the son of Toyota’s founder, whose wife was a cousin of Shirane’s.
A 2022 Toyota Tundra is unveiled during a ceremony at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas’ plant on San Antonio’s South Side on Dec. 3, 2021.Beyond its economic impact, the deal, which came with an initial $133 million in incentives from the city, Bexar County and the state of Texas, would ultimately change the way all three entities did economic development.
“But I will tell you, in a first-person, on-the-scene voice, that none of this would have occurred if Mrs. Shirane hadn’t worked within the Toyota system, within her family, with the Japanese elite, to make the case for San Antonio.” In the early 1960s, the couple helped found Up With People, a global organization that sought to foster multiculturalism and racial equality among young people through performance and song. It was through Up With People that she met Marbut, who served on its board.
“She created everything. She was the four-star general who created all of this.” She did so, Costello said, “to establish San Antonio’s bona fides as a city that understood long-term relationships.”Courtesy / Beth CostelloRetired County Judge Nelson Wolff, who also visited Japan when he became mayor, credits Shirane, and the development of those long-term relationships, with eventually landing Toyota.
Shortly before her death in 2013, the government of Japan honored her with The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays and Rosette, honoring her three decades of contributions to the Japan-U.S. relationship.Cisneros noted the investments beyond Toyota she helped bring to San Antonio, including Takata Seat Belt, Sony, Mycom International, Hyatt Hill Country Resort and Colin Medical Equipment.
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