Land of the rising sum: Japanese trade with - and investment in - North Carolina is a growth industry.

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It can be daunting dealing with Japanese companies, which operate under the mantra: "Business is war." But, as any Tar Heel executive who associates with the Japanese can tell you, it's a battle worth fighting.

The keys to winning are in the details. That's been the state's unofficial motto for dealing with the Asian economic giant. Take the state-funded North Carolina-Japan Center. It has done everything from starting a Saturday school for children of Japanese nationals to printing driver's license manuals in the foreign executives' native tongue.

These little things have helped sell the big things that drive the state's economy. North Carolina is one of only half a dozen states that post an even balance of trade with Japan -- thanks in large part to North Carolina flue-cured tobacco.

North Carolina exports more than $1.3 billion of goods a year to Japan. Nearly 20% of that is tobacco, both leaf and manufactured products, according to the N.C. Department of Commerce's latest estimates. All in all, North Carolina exports totaled more than $11 billion last year. Eleven percent went to Japan. Only Canada imports more Tar Heel products than Japan.

That's only half the relationship. Trade's twin -- investment -- is equally lucrative. Japanese companies increasingly pick North Carolina as the site for their North American headquarters and manufacturing operations.

The numbers have been climbing steadily the last five years. Since 1989, the Japanese have invested more than $2 billion in North Carolina, directly creating 8,000 jobs. The 156 Japanese companies doing business in the state, half of them manufacturing operations, employ about 10,000 Tar Heels.

Is North Carolina doing something that the rest of the country isn't? Or is North Carolina just blessed with products -- and people -- that the Japanese like?

The answer? It's a little bit of both. The Japanese value quality products and are willing to pay a premium to get them. Take tobacco. North Carolina grows the finest, and some of the most-expensive, tobacco in the world. As a result, Japan imports far more tobacco from the state of North Carolina than it does from any other nation in the world. Japan imported $245 million of leaf tobacco and finished tobacco products, such as cigarettes, from North Carolina in 1993.

"The Japanese have very strict quality standards and don't mind paying the farmer for that quality," says Tom Evins Jr., chairman of Wilson-based Standard Commercial Tobacco...