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CG Kamo’s Remarks

At the United Japanese Society of Hawaii’s 
Annual Installation Banquet

June 19, 2010

Good afternoon and aloha!
It is a great honor and pleasure for me and my wife to be here today to celebrate the newly installed officers led by Gary Kobashigawa of the United Japanese Society of Hawaii. Thank you, Russ Saito, for your inspirational remarks. In order to cover up the lack of preparation I suffer for today’s remarks, I would like to look to this beautiful program we have before us, prepared by Dennis Kanemori and the other members of the Installation Banquet Committee, in the hope that I will survive the first several minutes in my talk.

Look at the front page of your program. There you see the character WA in the center. Do you know what WA means? Yes, you do, for there is an English footnote there. It says that WA means unity, harmony, togetherness, peace. Wonderful! I think that WA captures the spirit of Japanese mindset very well. I don’t know whether WA is the particular theme for this year’s Banquet or the established motto of the Society. In any case, it is gratifying to note that the spirit of WA permeates in this Ballroom as we get together to celebrate the Installation Banquet. 

Another small thing that I want to mention is that we see a round mark at the top of the front page. It features an oval shaped seal in the center. This seal is made up of two Kanji characters ‘Ren-kyo’, United Japanese Society of Hawaii. As this ‘Ren-kyo’ seal looks terrific, I hope you save it for many more years to symbolize this great organization.

The United Japanese Society of Hawaii has been a central pillar of the Japan-related organizations in Hawaii, serving as the umbrella organization for many kenjin-kais and has been making great contributions to the expansion of the friendly and cooperative ties between Japan and Hawaii, as well as the preservation and perpetuation of Japanese culture and tradition from generation to generation.

It is my great privilege to have been included in many of their events since my arrival in Honolulu last year. In fact, my job calendar is revolving around the UJSH events throughout the year. They are almost dictating me what to do next. Looking at their event calendar attached to the program, I was surprised to learn how faithful I am to the United Japanese Society of Hawaii. I attended Nenchosha no Kai, Tsukimi no Kai, Japanese ship visits, just a few weeks ago we welcomed the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force Training Squadron visiting Honolulu, for instance, Shinnen Enkai, Hanashikata taikai, and this Anuual Installation Banquet. It seems I missed the 2009 King Kalakaua birthday celebration. For some reason, I failed to receive the invitation. 

I would like to take a moment to remember the late President of UJS, Ms. Lois Yasui. In her capacity as president, she had done a great job, in discharging her responsibility. She made a contribution to the success of the visit of Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan to Hawaii last July. She is greatly missed.

Once again I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to Mr. Gary Kobashigawa and the newly elected officers and wish all of them the best of luck in their future endeavors.

Thank you very much.