Salesmen San on Safari

The Japanese rank among the world's most energetic--and peripatetic--salesmen. They have made Southeast Asia a virtual backyard for their products, have long had an important place in the U.S. market, have moved strongly into Latin America. Now they are busy tackling an even more challenging area: Africa. From Cape Town to Cairo, indefatigable Japanese are scrambling over the continent, taking orders, building plants and signing trade pacts. They are making TV sets in Ghana, spinning textiles in Nigeria, galvanizing iron in Ethiopia, building a nylon mill in Kenya and assembling Nissan and Toyota cars in South Africa. Hoping to improve the climate for Japanese exports, the Japanese government plans to extend more than $9,000,000 in industrial development loans to the east African nations of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Last week it dispatched an eight-man mission of engineers on a month's tour of the three countries to study projects for which the loan funds might be used.

The Japanese stake in Africa is still modest--only $7,000,000 in direct investments--and its sales to Africa of $608 million last year accounted for only 9% of Japan's total exports. Nevertheless, by combining courteous persistence, cut-rate prices, fat markups for local dealers and fast delivery, the Japanese are steadily firming their foothold. Japan's trade with Africa has nearly doubled in the past five years. Only in the former French colonies have the Japanese failed so far to make any real progress, primarily because of import restrictions favoring the French.

Never Argue. The Japanese are businesslike and colorblind, carefully steering clear of politics, even convincing many African nationalists that to trade with Japan is the best way to avoid entanglements with either the West or the Communists. They have even managed to keep racist South Africa as their biggest single customer on the continent while selling more and more to black Africa. Reason: South Africa badly needs trading partners, and the Japanese are happy to oblige. Last year Japan expanded its trade with South Africa 32% .

Japanese diplomats throw lavish, lantern-lit parties, make it a point to show up at all independence celebrations of emerging nations. Their sales have also benefited from the unexpected: Japan's National brand TV sets became an immediate bestseller in Nigeria largely because the name inspired patriotic fervor and many people thought that the sets must be a local product. "I never argue with them," says Mutsuhi Furuya, representative of the Japan External Trade Organization in Nigeria.

The copper-rich central African nation of Zambia is the focus of Japan's most intense trading drive. Last month a twelve-man Zambian trade delegation was swept through Tokyo with a platoon of geishas, even treated to a reception with the Emperor. The Zambians took away their first trade pact with Japan and promises of investments in a fertilizer plant, textile mill, transistor radio assembly plant, steel mill and luxury hotel. For its part, Zambia lifted all restrictions on Japanese imports.

Too Successful? So successful are the Japanese that they risk their own undoing. They are selling Africa far more than Africa can sell to Japan, thus creating a sharp payments imbalance. Japan sells ten times as much to Nigeria as it buys, three times as much to Kenya and Uganda, twice as much to Tanzania. In an effort to correct the balance, Tanzania and Uganda recently banned all imports from Japan. They want more Japanese investing, fewer imports--and the government loan was Japan's attempt to soothe their growing discontent. "The Japanese are not easy people to deal with," complains Gikonyo Kiano, Kenya's Minister of Commerce and Industry, who also has slapped stiff restrictions on Japanese imports. On the other hand, he adds, "They are most aggressive and able traders. I bought a Japanese car myself."

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