Nissan Stadium naming rights honor the relationship between Tennessee and Japan

The Titans recently announced a 20-year naming rights deal when their new stadium opens in 2027.

Drum roll please: It will continue to be called Nissan Stadium. This may not seem like a big deal to the average Tennessean, but I assure you, it symbolizes a critically important partnership.

First, Nissan is one of more than 200 Japanese companies that call Tennessee home. They’ve collectively invested more than $21 billion and employ more than 60,000 Tennesseans, according to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD).

Second, the United States and Japan have a history that serves as a diplomatic role model. Less than 80 years ago our countries were at war.

There is hope Japan and South Korea can set aside past their painful pasts, too, and along with the U.S., help stabilize the region.

View from a diplomat: Record number of Tennessee graduates chosen for Japanese exchange program

How my latest trip to Japan was different from the time I was there at 18

This fall I made back-to-back trips to Japan and South Korea and got a handle on how our countries count on each other. I’d been wanting to see Tokyo again as a adult; I was just 18 when I left Vanderbilt sophomore year to work as “Cinderella” at Tokyo Disneyland, then got a gig touring the country as a back-up singer/dancer for the Japanese pop star, Anri.

With my grown daughter at my side, I had the soul-filling joy of not only seeing Anri perform, but I got to share my immense gratitude for the experience she granted me all those years ago. It was truly a magical trip.

A few weeks later, I spent ten days in South Korea on a journalism exchange, the same week North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was on a train to Russia to meet with President Putin, reportedly about providing Moscow weapons for its war in Ukraine.

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We six American journalists were mesmerized by the experience, inspired by the hospitality and personality of South Koreans, and dazzled by the modern marvels they continue to erect across the country.

And I loved impressing my colleagues, who were mainly from D.C. and NYC, when they witnessed the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea’s fondness for Tennessee:

Tracy: I’m from Nashville.

Ambassador Goldberg: “Nashville?? I love Nashville! I’m going there in October. We have huge investments in Tennessee.”

How can I and others continue to support the partnership of Tennessee with Japan and South Korea

South Korean companies have collectively invested $5.4 billion in our state, with another $3.2 billion project slated for Clarksville.

So here is what I keep asking myself: How do I use the experience I had as a college kid in Asia, help Tennessee as a middle-aged adult?

I’ll continue to add context to the news stories I report, such as the impact of adding a direct flight from Nashville to Tokyo. I will support non-profits like the East-West Center, which organized my fellowship to Korea, and the U.S.- Japan Council, a national organization which strengthens U.S.-Japan relationships.

But what more can I, can we do?

You may have no personal ties to Asia and no plans to travel there. But perhaps now, every time you walk into or drive by the new Nissan Stadium, you’ll see the magnitude of this connection between Tennessee and Asia and think, we are stronger and more successful together.

Tracy Kornet is the evening news anchor at WSMV-TV, a board member of multiple Nashville nonprofits, and a frequent emcee of community events. She is now a council leader for the U.S.-Japan Council and was recently the keynote for the Japan-America Society of Tennessee Women’s Leadership Forum.  

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee-Japan relations: Nissan Stadium naming rights make sense