My husband and I decided to move from Washington, D.C., to Ohio a year after we got married in 1998. It made sense to start a family here and enjoy the quality of life, good jobs and affordable housing conditions in Columbus.

My husband and I decided to move from Washington, D.C., to Ohio a year after we got married in 1998. It made sense to start a family here and enjoy the quality of life, good jobs and affordable housing conditions in Columbus.

I started my new career right away at one of the Japanese auto manufacturers and everything seemed to be going well. But, shortly after moving to Ohio, I had a serious problem with my immigration paperwork. The document that I had filed in Washington hadn�t been transferred as I moved to Ohio, which would have caused my work permission to expire. If I did not locate my documentation in time, I could have lost my job.

We had a mortgage and car payments just like other working couples. Someone suggested that I make a request through our local congressman. We wrote a letter to him asking for help in locating my file and saving my job. Soon, I heard back from the immigration office and my pending status was approved.

I was so thankful for our congressman�s prompt help. Sixteen years later, I see that same congressman, now our governor, running for the president of United States. In his campaign, he says, "Kasich cares about jobs.� I know he means it, because he cared about my job.

The fact is that Japanese companies are the biggest foreign investors in Ohio, creating 71,000 jobs. One of the other presidential candidates talks about Japan as one of the countries that takes jobs out of America. That's not the case in Ohio.

The Japan-America Society of Central Ohio is proud of our corporate members who are actually creating jobs in central Ohio. They are helping us achieve the American dream and making our state a better place to live and raise our children.

Akisa Fukuzawa

Executive director

Japan-America Society of Central Ohio

Bexley