Business Notes Trade

In Tokyo and Osaka last week, train and subway riders were confronted by 100,000 pictures of Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone on posters bearing an unusual message: LET US TAKE IT UPON OURSELVES TO USE FOREIGN PRODUCTS AND EXPAND IMPORTS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES. The signs are part of a $600,000 campaign by the Japanese government to follow up Nakasone's April 9 television speech, in which he urged the public to help reduce a $46 billion annual trade surplus, most of it run up with the U.S.

Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry, which is spearheading the import drive, called in top executives from the country's 60 largest corporations for an hour-long pep talk on buying parts and materials from abroad. In addition, MITI is urging retailers to promote foreign goods and is planning to sponsor import fairs.

The Prime Minister set an example by spending $280 on imports at a Tokyo department store. But the results must have disappointed American manufacturers: Nakasone bought an Italian jacket and tie, a French sport shirt and a British dart board.