Pacific Basin

In increasing numbers they have been coming from places such as Hong Kong, the Philippines and China. California--a long-time favorite of Japanese tourists--is fast becoming the preferred destination of travelers throughout Asia. Buoyed by their burgeoning economies, more and more residents of the Pacific Basin can afford overseas travel. Anticipating the growth of "California fever," officials at the California Office of Tourism are now developing plans to establish promotions in various Asian markets while at the same time developing new programs to entice an even larger portion of the Japanese travel market.

The second annual Pacific Basin Development Conference in Maui, Hawaii, on Aug. 17-20 will be attended by 100 American real estate developers and leaders of Japanese real estate investment firms in the United States and Japan to explore potential joint ventures. Featured speakers will be Taizo Watanabe, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, at the Japanese Embassy in Washington, and Jim Deane, prominent California home builder.

A Pacific Basin Development Conference is planned for Aug. 26-30 at Wailea, Maui, as a forum for builders and developers to explore the development opportunities throughout the Pacific Basin, under sponsorship of the Los Angeles Times. Proceeds from the conference will benefit the Southern California Building Industry Assn.

The U.S. dollar fell in early tading this morning in the Pacific Basin and its continued weakness helped push Tokyo and Hong Kong stocks down, dealers said. By noon in Tokyo, the dollar had dropped to 137.50 yen and 1.7307 West German marks in spite of big dollar-buying by the Bank of Tokyo to prop up the currency. The Tokyo stock index ended the morning session 106.80 points, or 0.9%, after the morning session at 23,122.

The Pacific basin economies are booming these days--as a subject for consultants, seminars, lectures and books. Endless flyers tout conferences on business opportunities in the Pacific. In one recent three-week period, the University of California, Berkeley; the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and Gov. George Deukmejian each sponsored a conference on the subject.

The departure of a major tenant could create problems at some ports. When executives at Overseas Shipping Co. announced plans to abandon a large operation at the Port of Los Angeles, however, a difficult situation was actually resolved. The predicament arose when port officials decided to ask one tenant to vacate its site to make room for Overseas. The tenant, which was to be moved when its lease expired this summer, challenged the plan. The dispute over space was settled only when Overseas decided to discontinue its operations at the port.

It's almost midnight. I've just returned from a power dinner at Vincent Ingram's. It was stag, still an acceptable form of gathering among Kiwis. Present were the Catholic bishop, the prime minister, the leading tradesman, the New Zealand representative, member of Parliament Vincent and me. I'm writing not to tell you of the rapport but to relay the after-dinner tales of local Prime Minister Jeff Henry.

Strong aftershocks and a second sizable earthquake rattled Japan through the night after the island nation's worst quake in recorded history, but the tsunami waves that drowned hundreds in northeast Japan mostly spared other countries around the Pacific Rim. Tsunami warnings had been issued for the entire Pacific basin after the 8.9-magnitude earthquake that toppled thousands of buildings and sent a 30-foot wall of water across the coastal area...

Wang Wenlin and his family have eked out a living for decades farming and herding sheep and cattle on the vast, unforgiving Inner Mongolian steppes. But the opening three years ago of a nearby colliery and railway line to transport coal across his grazing land has squeezed Wang's livelihood. "My animals only have so much land to graze," said Wang, who earns about $9,000 a year. "In the winter, I'm cut off from the closest city. When it's windy, we get covered in coal dust because it's an open mine.