The University of Michigan and Japan's Auto Industry The Historic USJAC Conferences, 1981-1989

In 1981, the U-M Center for Japanese Studies launched the U.S.-Japan Automotive Conference (USJAC). Held annually until 1989, the USJAC facilitated reasoned dialogue between U.S. and Japanese business, political, and labor leaders against a backdrop of increasingly heated competition between the two countries’ auto industries. These conferences played a central role in fostering constructive dialogue between automakers and policymakers on opposing sides of the U.S.-Japan trade wars of the 1980s. As part of the U-M Center for Japanese Studies' 70th anniversary, this site gathers the published conference proceedings from each conference, from the inaugural conference in 1981 until the last conference hosted of 1989, as well as materials and recordings from the University of Michigan libraries and archival collections.