
The is
Japan's diplomatic facility in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
. It is located in Suite 3000 at
2 Houston Center, which is located at 900 Fannin Street in
Downtown Houston
Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10, Interstate 45, and Interstate 69. The ...
. The consulate serves Texas and
Oklahoma.
the consul general is .
History
At one point the consulate was located in Suite 5300 and later Suite 2300 in the
Wells Fargo Plaza (formerly the First Interstate Bank Plaza).
For a decade ending in 1993 the consulate refused to pay "user fees" billed to the consulate by the
City of Piney Point Village in the
Greater Houston Area. The consul general residence is in Piney Point Village. The Japanese argued that this was a tax and that diplomatic facilities should not be taxed. In 1993 the city announced that the consulate owed the city around $14,000
United States dollar
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
s. The Japanese argued that international agreements exempted consulate facilities from taxes, while Piney Point Village said the annual fees were for user services. James Baker, a Piney Point Village alderman, threatened to suspend garbage pickup services and expose the Japanese consulate to ridicule. In September of that year a
U.S. State Department letter stated that consulates should pay legitimate user fees, and that consulates do not have to pay for fire and police services. The consulate paid almost $12,000, including $4,500 in interest, to the city. According to Vice-Consul Takaki Takinami originally the city charged $14,915.52 before changing the invoice and deducting police and fire costs. , who was the outgoing consul-general, agreed to pay $4,500 annually.
[Tolson, Mike.]
Japanese consul coughs up Piney Point's fees
" ''Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...
''. Wednesday December 15, 1993. Section A, Page 36. Retrieved on January 13, 2009.
Gallery
File:2HoustonCenterSign.JPG, 2 Houston Center, the location of the consulate
File:Wells_Fargo_Bank_Plaza,_Houston,_from_base.jpg, Wells Fargo Plaza, the former location of the consulate
See also
*
History of the Japanese in Houston
This article discusses Japanese Americans and Japanese citizens in Houston and Greater Houston.
As of the 2010 U.S. Census, there were 3,566 people of Japanese descent in Harris County, making up 1.3% of the Asians in the county. In 1990 there we ...
*
Diplomatic missions of Japan
This is a list of diplomatic missions of Japan. Japan sent ambassadors to the Tang Chinese court in Xi'an since 607 AD, as well as to the Koryo and Joseon dynasties of early Korea. For centuries, early modern Japan did not actively seek to expan ...
References
External links
Consulate-General of Japan in HoustonConsulate-General of Japan in Houston
{{DEFAULTSORT:Consulate-General Of Japan In Houston
Asian-American culture in Houston
Japan
Houston
Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...
Japanese-American culture in Texas
Japan–United States relations
Downtown Houston