Smyrna History: Japan’s Partnership Powers Smyrna Nissan and 200 Companies Fueling Tennessee Jobs

Japan’s Quiet Powerhouse: 200 Companies Fueling Tennessee Jobs and Growth – A Story Worth Telling in a Documentary from Smyrna’s Roots.

The stories we read, watch, and hear often leave a lasting impression on our lives. They inspire us to become who we are, guiding our journeys and opening our minds to new possibilities. Some stories move us so deeply that they don’t just touch our hearts—they help shape our future.

The story of the partnership between Smyrna, Tennessee, and Japan deserves a full documentary—one that traces its journey from Sewart Air Force Base’s postwar forgiveness and reconciliation, through the arrival of Datsun and the Nissan Motor Manufacturing plant, to the Omni Hut restaurant where management often gathered for evening meals. This narrative, born from wartime healing and transformed into an economic powerhouse, belongs on the big screen to inspire the next generation.

In my opinion, there’s not another place in America that has a closer relationship with Japan than Smyrna, Tennessee. The bond runs so deep that Smyrna has a sister city in Zama, Japan, commemorated by Zama Park across from the Smyrna Train Depot—a living symbol of the friendship that grew from those early days of reconciliation to today’s thriving partnership.

Who could have imagined that a Japanese company would one day rise near the site of a WWII air base in Smyrna, Tennessee—transforming a former military ground into common ground, lifting entire families out of poverty and securing a better future for the next generation?
The transformation of Smyrna from a small Southern town into a thriving community is closely linked to Nissan’s arrival in the 1980s. It’s more than just an economic development success story—it’s a human story about opportunity, dignity, and the American Dream being extended to working families who needed it most.

I remember the days before Nissan, when job prospects were limited and young people often had to leave town to find good-paying work. When Nissan opened its doors, it didn’t just bring jobs; it brought careers, benefits, and a pathway to the middle class for thousands of families.

“I remember clearly the night I learned Nissan was coming to Smyrna. It was a Wednesday night. I hadn’t been home from church but a few minutes when Mr. McClary called me. I kept my horse at his farm. He said, “Guess who just left my house? The governor and some Japanese people. Nissan is coming to Smyrna.” I was a State Farm agent with my office on Lowry Street. I decided that week to buy a lot on JS Young Road and build an office. It was a great investment. My office on Lowry Street was next door to the Nissan employment office. I served donuts every morning to the folks standing in line, which helped my business tremendously.

Then one day, I met the switchboard manager. We connected, and when one of the managers was moving here, she gave me their name and number.

That was a goldmine. Next I met Eddie, Mr. Marvin Runyon’s (the CEO) limo driver. Another goldmine. My agency was growing like crazy. I moved to my new office around the same time the Nissan plant opened. I remember the riots and protests. Once those were over and the dust settled, Eddie invited me to invitation-only functions. Nissan was a blessing coming to Smyrna,” said local Historian Marty Luffman, owner of Marty Luffman State Farm Agency Nissan Drive.

Today, Japanese investment has quietly become one of the strongest pillars of Tennessee’s modern economy, reshaping communities from the factory floor to Main Street. More than 200 Japanese-owned companies now operate across the state, making Japan Tennessee’s leading foreign investor. These firms—including global names like Nissan, Bridgestone, and DENSO, along with a wide network of auto suppliers, manufacturers, and service companies—have put down deep roots in communities from Smyrna, Murfreesboro, Franklin, Memphis, Jackson, Chattanooga, Clarksville, Knoxville, Cookeville, and beyond.

Smyrna, Tn: A Japanese Auto Maker Finds a Home

The numbers tell a compelling story. Together, Japanese companies employ roughly 50,000 to 60,000 Tennesseans in well-paying manufacturing, engineering, logistics, and professional jobs. These aren’t just jobs but long-term careers, offering benefits, skills training, and advancement opportunities that support families and sustain local small businesses. Japanese firms have invested approximately $20 billion in Tennessee facilities and operations—a commitment that shows up clearly in the state’s tax base through property, franchise, excise, and sales taxes that help fund public schools, roads, first responders, and other essential services.

Yet the beginning wasn’t smooth. The groundbreaking for Nissan’s Smyrna plant in 1981 was meant to signal economic progress but instead highlighted deep labor tensions. Union supporters jeered Gov. Lamar Alexander as he was escorted by state troopers through a crowd of about 1,000 protesters who shouted insults at Nissan executives planning a $300 million investment and 2,000 jobs at the company’s first U.S. plant. Alexander later said he was shocked by the crowd’s rudeness. The protest, reported by Kentucky’s Daily News on February 4, 1981, stemmed from Nissan’s use of a South Carolina contractor employing some non-union labor, underscoring the clash between traditional labor disputes and the realities of global manufacturing.

For me, the story reaches far beyond business statistics. As a 13-year-old working at the iconic Omni Hut Restaurant for $1.50 an hour, I often listened to Major James Walls—who had been at Pearl Harbor during the December 7th attack. Major Walls and Sally would often give me rides to work and paid their son and my friend Lonnie and me $20 to mow his three acres with a push mower. I never sensed in him the bitterness toward Japan that some World War II veterans carried.

My late mother once reminded me of something I told her years ago: “Our small town is going to change when the Datsun plant opens.”

Years later, I worked at the Nissan plant in Smyrna from age 25 to 33. Those years shaped in me a deep understanding of manufacturing, community, and the power of economic interdependence.

Recently, when I was invited to lunch with Consul-General Shinji Watanabe of Japan—Japan’s top diplomat for Tennessee and four neighboring states—the experience felt almost surreal. Sitting across from him, I noticed a picture on the wall of the Smyrna Train Depot, which I believe was a gift from Smyrna Mayor Mary Esther Reed. Seeing that picture and thinking back to our once-small town was deeply moving. I couldn’t help but reflect on how profoundly intertwined Tennessee and Japan have become.

Ironically, our conversation focused not on past success but on future uncertainty. The consulate shared serious concerns about how tariff policies could affect the roughly 200 Japanese companies located in Tennessee. Their worry extended beyond corporate balance sheets to the thousands of Tennesseans whose livelihoods, communities, and public services depend on a strong, stable partnership between Japan and Tennessee in the years ahead.
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Nissan and Datsun History: Originally published in New York Times, Nov 4, 1980

SMYRNA, Tenn. – This little railroad town, where once the greatest excitement was the Dixie Flyer passing through each morning, Is throbbing with speculation about how residents and the local econony will be affected by what is touted as the largest single industrial project in Tennessee history.
Since Oct. 30, conversation has been dominated by the announcement that day by the Nissan Motor Co. of Tokyo that it would build a $300 million truck assembly plant just outside the city limits. The decision in Smyrna’s favor, over a competing location in Atlanta, had been anticipated for a month, but no one in this middle Tennessee municipali-Ly of 8,700 people could be quite sure until the Datsun manufacturer said it publicly. Since the announcement, the phone at City Hall has been almost ringing off the wall with calls from those seeking jobs in a factory that will not begin operating for three more years. When it is operating.. the plant will employ about 2,200 workers.