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Remarks by Consul General Yoshi Kamo for the 28^th Okinawan Festival in Honolulu

September 4, 2010

Good Morning. Aloha!

Thank you very much for inviting me to the opening ceremony for the 28^th OKINAWAN FESTIVAL. It is my great honor to be part of the official party today at this center stage, along with our civic leaders. I know why they come. They are desperately hunting for best Okinawan food.

The Okinawan Festival is Honolulu’s proud tradition to demonstrate Hawaii’s diversity and harmony by showcasing the cultural richness of Okinawa. Okinawa DNA has been an important element to enhance the character of Hawaii, meeting place of the East and the West.

This year is full of anniversaries. We celebrate the 110th anniversary for immigration from Okinawa to Hawaii. We celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the sister-city relationship between Honolulu and Naha. We celebrate the 20^th anniversary for the establishment of the Hawaii Okinawa Center. We celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the youth exchange between Hawaii and Okinawa. If we simply add up these numbers arithmetically, we have 200, 200 years of interactions between the two. That is perhaps why we have here today Mayor of Naha and his delegation from Okinawa. Welcome to the Festival. I hope that Hawaii and Okinawa will go hand in hand in many more occasions in many more years to come.

Okinawa is very special to Hawaii, so is to Japan. Okinawa is the only prefecture whose population is growing in Japan. Okinawa symbolizes youthful strength that Japan so badly needs. Okinawans are equipped with challenging spirit that we admire. My hope is that someday the Okinawan Festival will make a special tour to Japan to show the Japanese how to make things better and enjoy life.

Congratulations, organizers. This is your day. Folks, enjoy your festival!

Mahalo!