China looms large in this edition, in particular the fallout of the ongoing trade spat between the U.S. and China on a variety of area industries, from semiconductors for smartphones (page 12) to cars (this page) to tile and stone distributors (page 1).
That last one is a case study in ingenuity: With imports here grounded, Gary Bedrosian and his family-owned company recently converted a plant in China to craft product for non-U.S. buyers on a simple, well-honed strategy: work harder.
Bedrosians Tile & Stone is one of five Business Journal Family-Owned Business honorees profiled this week.
This page’s story on Zotye USA’s new Irvine home notes the growing influence of China’s car industry in OC, but it’s not the only Asian country whose auto sector has deep ties to the area, notes Editor at Large Rick Reiff:
Your intrepid correspondent has returned from a two-week cruise around Japan that hit most of the tourist spots minus Tokyo.
Highlights included a day trip across the Korea Strait to the “Kingdom of Hyundai” in Ulsan, South Korea, and a tour of its sprawling, five-factory car plant, the largest in the world—even has its own ships and port.
Hyundai Motor America has about 500 employees at its North American headquarters in Fountain Valley. It has about 32,000 factory workers in Ulsan; it’s said that a third of families in the million-plus population city directly or indirectly has someone employed by Hyundai.
I dutifully confirmed the pronunciation of the company name. Yes, it rhymes with “Sunday,” sort of. But in Korea it’s said with a y after the h and a clipped second vowel: “HYUN-deh.” And Koreans pronounce sister company Kia with a hard g: “Gia.” Kia Motors America has some 400 workers at its Irvine base.
In northern Japan, the tour guide pointed out the Sapporo Dome, home of the marvelously named Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters baseball team, and noted that its former superstar Ohtani Shohei (family names go first in Japan) is now playing in the States for the Angels; she knowledgeably added that he was back in action following surgery.
The Angels’ world-famous slugger just hit for the cycle last week—the first Japanese-born player to do so in MLB; is the next Ohtani looking to play college ball in OC? If so, Cal State Fullerton with four national championships would be the most obvious destination.
Don’t count out Chapman University, though; the men’s team this month won its first DIII baseball title after sweeping aside Birmingham-Southern College in the finals.
Will this lead off to more baseball talk, and less lacrosse bragging, at this week’s Economic Forecast Update at Chapman’s Musco Center for the Arts? We’ll see. But do expect more serious discussions about fallout from the ongoing tariff battle at the June 19 event.
