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The Honolulu Festival Kick-Off Party Remarks

Yoshi Kamo

Consul General of Japan

March 11, 2010

Honorable Mr. Caldwell

President Tsujino

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good evening and ALOHA!

It gives me great pleasure to co-host this evening’s reception with my wife and the Honolulu Festival Foundation to commemorate this year’s 16^th Honolulu Festival.  As this is my first time to participate in the Honolulu Festival, I am genuinely looking forward to experiencing and seeing the colorful performances and cultural exhibits from the various countries of the Pacific and Asia .  I have heard from a number of people in the community that the reputation of the Honolulu Festival is unparalleled as it continues to showcase and perpetuate the diverse cultures and traditions of the Pacific Rim nations.

The Consulate is also co-sponsoring the movie showings of “Departures”(from 13:00 on 13th) and “Hula Girls”(from 10:30 on 13th), both of which we anticipate to be popular attractions.  I would like to welcome and thank “Departures” director, Mr. Yojiro Takita and Mrs Chitae Takita, for their attendance here this evening.  “Departures” have been receiving wide acclaim as the winner of the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2009 Oscars, and it still continues to draw much interest in the local community here in Hawaii .  As the winner of the Best Film Award at the 2007 Japan Academy Awards, “Hula Girls” has its strong connection with Hawaii culture as well as its music composed and performed by Jake Shimabukuro.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the many organizers, performers, exhibitors and volunteers who have donated their time and expertise in making the Honolulu Festival possible.  Hearty congratulations also go out to the Honolulu Festival Foundation for sponsoring this educational and entertaining extravaganza for the past 16 years.  I wish to extend my best wishes to the Foundation for a successful Festival for this and for many more years to come.

Put it simply, thank you JTB. We all love you. We are all indebted to you for your passion and dedication to making Honolulu uniquely Honolulu .

JTB has been active on many other fronts in our community. I have seen them in action at the Hokusai Exhibition at the Academy of Arts . They supported this Exhibition, one of the most exciting and successful ones we had in Honolulu by bringing Japanese tourists to the Exhibition. They innovatively included a visit to the museum in the tour programs they offered to the Japanese tourists. I have seen them in action at the Japan Wizards Competition held at Kapiolani Community College the other day. More than 200 high school students from Oahu and other islands gathered to compete with their knowledge of Japan , of Japanese language, and Japan related trivia. JTB has been a generous sponsor and organizer of this most exciting and popular event among young people, hence bridging Hawaii and Japan .

We are determined to make this year's Honolulu Festival a grand success. Let's work together. Let's kick off the great event in the spirit of Aloha! 

Thank you.