Toyota's move to Plano and the DFW Japanese community (2014, credit)

[bcmccork]

Message to Toyota employees moving: Plano is the best place I have lived. Schools are great but demanding. Plano grads are sought by schools who recognize the quality of the system. Crime is practically non-existent. City (that is Plano central and west) are planned with good access. Lots of parkland and bike trails. Anything is available in a short drive. It gets hot in summer and sort of cold a few days in winter. Usually a breeze though. Traffic is not bad except rush hour. People are eclectic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Muslim, Hispanic, Black and the usual WASP. Small lots with large houses and fenced in back yards are norm maybe nearly half with pool. Bad thing about Plano are the streets are concrete and noisy (ground shifts so asphalt doesn't work). Frisco and Allen and maybe Richardson are also good alternatives, McKinney if you want land but it is more of a commute. New headquarters are at the border of Plano and Frisco with easy access to a couple of expressways.

[synchronicity]

Originally Posted by peterlemonjello

I really want a Mitsuwa!

We had one not far from my place in Chi. LOVED it and miss it greatly.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by Vicman

Since Toyota is moving to Plano, how do you think this will affect whatever Japanese community DFW will have? Oftentimes there are temporary Japanese employees who move to the U.S. for three to five years with their families before coming back to Japan. There are some possibilities:

• Japanese nationals may enroll their children in Plano ISD schools and the district may start having services and information available in Japanese in addition to Spanish and Chinese
• The part-time Japanese school might prosper. It holds its classes on Saturdays at Ted Polk Middle School in Carrollton: 学校紹介 I doubt there will be enough demand for a full-time Japanese school.
• Area services such as hospitals, doctors, etc. may have Japanese websites. In American suburbs with Japanese expats it's not uncommon to see businesses even having websites in Japanese
• There may be more Japanese grocery stores opening in the Plano area
• I do not know if Toyota owns the houses the temporary Japanese employees live in, or if Toyota contracts with third parties. If it's the latter it may affect the rental market. If it's the former, Toyota may buy houses and/or condominiums for its temporary Japanese national employees. I can imagine Toyota would only buy houses zoned to "good schools".

It would be interesting to see if this also affects the anime dubbing company Funimation, which is based in Flower Mound and was started by a Japanese-American man named Gen Fukunaga.

What Japanese community is in Dallas now?

Not at all.

Dallas (D/FW) has a tiny Japanese community to begin with. Maybe 2,000-3,000 tops in all of North Texas.

Most of Texas' Japanese population resides along the Texas Coast & Central Texas near all the Army bases.

[dollaztx]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Not at all.

Dallas (D/FW) has a tiny Japanese community to begin with. Maybe 2,000-3,000 tops in all of North Texas.

Most of Texas' Japanese population resides along the Texas Coast & Central Texas near all the Army bases.

If that is indeed the case then the more easier and likely it will be to have a significant change.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Not at all.

Dallas (D/FW) has a tiny Japanese community to begin with. Maybe 2,000-3,000 tops in all of North Texas.

Most of Texas' Japanese population resides along the Texas Coast & Central Texas near all the Army bases.

Texas has very few Japanese people period. The number were around 6,000 for DFW, 6,000 for Houston and the rest of Texas is negligible.

[Metro Matt]

Originally Posted by peterlemonjello

Texas has very few Japanese people period. The number were around 6,000 for DFW, 6,000 for Houston and the rest of Texas is negligible.

Texas' Japanese history began on the Gulf Coast in the rice fields. There are more Japanese along the Gulf Coast than in North Texas. Fact.

Central Texas also has a significant percent due to the Army bases in San Antonio, Killeen, & Fort Hood.

So what ever Japanese community D/FW has today one can safely say began in the Houston area as far back as 1900.

Dallas doesn't even have its own Japanese Garden, Consulate, or International Festival.

Japanese Texans | Texas Almanac

http://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/jicc/consulate-guide.html

[TrueDat]

Fort Worth has a Japanese garden.

Japanese

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

Originally Posted by Metro Matt

Texas' Japanese history began on the Gulf Coast in the rice fields. There are more Japanese along the Gulf Coast than in North Texas. Fact.

Central Texas also has a significant percent due to the Army bases in San Antonio, Killeen, & Fort Hood.

So what ever Japanese community D/FW has today one can safely say began in the Houston area as far back as 1900.

Dallas doesn't even have its own Japanese Garden, Consulate, or International Festival.

Japanese Texans | Texas Almanac

JICC - Embassy of Japan, Washington D.C. | U.S. Consulate-General Guide

That's ridiculous. Currently, both the DFW and Houston area Japanese communities are around the same size. Neither significant. Sorry if that bothers you, but it's fact. You can't spin this one. Also, the Japanese communities in Killeen in San Antonio are minuscule.

[dalparadise]

You guys realize that the entity moving to Texas is Toyota Motor Sales right? This is the portion of the business that deals with the marketing, support of the dealer network, finance, promotions, etc., not any of the R&D or design. It's probably the least Japanese piece of the business there is.

I'd bet on the Japanese influence on Texas to hover around zero as the result of this.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

Originally Posted by dalparadise

You guys realize that the entity moving to Texas is Toyota Motor Sales right? This is the portion of the business that deals with the marketing, support of the dealer network, finance, promotions, etc., not any of the R&D or design. It's probably the least Japanese piece of the business there is.

I'd bet on the Japanese influence on Texas to hover around zero as the result of this.

I would agree in terms of resident population. Where DFW will get a nice bump is the air travel market between DFW and Japan. That's good news for American Airlines.