Japanese(日本語)  

       Home | About Us | Visa | Consular Services  | JET | Education | Japan Info | Culture  | Foreign Policy  | Employment  | Links 

  JASH New Year Party 2011 Kampai Toast

  By Yoshi Kamo, Consul General of Japan

January 27, 2011

Good evening! Aloha”

明けましておめでとうございます。

This is a great evening. Are you having a good time? We have just enjoyed a Kagamiwari Ceremony and wished out luck for the New Year.

You know I have my speech adviser. It’s my wife. She always tells me never speak too much. That is why my speech tends to be long.

But today she is not here. So I will try to make my speech shorter.

I can go straight to perform my duty of proposing a toast right away, but as this is a great opportunity, I would like to get out a couple of messages before I conclude. 

I am most delighted to join you at this JASH New Year’s party at Washington Place. It is a privilege I don’t want to miss out and an opportunity I do want to make the most of. My appreciation and excitement comes partly from the fact that we are gathering at Washington Place. It is our privilege to be invited to Washington Place, for it is one of the most beautiful and historical homes in Hawaii. The Mansion is full of stories and legacies. From a Hawaiian Monarch to the Governors of the State of Hawaii, this home served as a center stage for their illustrious plays and dramas in the Hawaiian history. Taking this opportunity, I wish to express my hearty appreciation to Governor Neil Abercrombie for allowing us to use this beautiful Mansion.

Washington Place can be a natural venue for JASH parties. The missions of JASH include the promotion of grass roots human exchanges between the peoples of Hawaii and Japan. In my view, there was a big bang, in terms of magnitude and influence, in the development of our bilateral relationship. A sweet Hawaiian song called Aloha-Oe brought about this big bang. The song really brought us closer, for one of the first songs we learned at Japanese schools was Aloha-Oe. For many Japanese, their first exposure to Hawaii was the Aloha-Oe song. And the song was composed just right here on the core wood piano you saw in the salon of this Mansion by Queen Liliuokalani some 130 years ago. Therefore, you may agree now, that it is not a bad idea for JASH to have their Shinnen-kai party at Washington Place, one of the birthplaces of friendship and goodwill between us.

JASH is deeply Japanese, but uniquely Hawaiian. Another flagship mission of JASH is to expand the joy of appreciation for Japanese culture and heritage to the wide spectrum of local people in Hawaii. The Japanese culture is certainly one of the salient ingredients to Hawaii’s cultural mix which defines what Hawaii is about. Arguably JASH embraces the most diverse membership among the local Japan related organizations in Hawaii. With many non-Japanese members in its hold, JASH goes strong in promoting cultural diversity and building bridges between Hawaii and Japan.

Ed Hawkins is always busy as President of JASH. His dedication to his work is highly commendable. Currently he is assisting the visiting Mayor of Nagaoka, Mr. Mori and his delegation in coordinating their Honolulu program so they can make necessary preparations for the upcoming fireworks event in March. I want to thank Mayor Mori for his passion for bringing the famous Nagaoka fireworks to Honolulu for the first time. I hope this will kick start the subsequent long lasting relations of goodwill and friendship between the two great cities of Nagaoka and Honolulu.

With these notes, now I would like to propose a toast to JASH and to all the members of JASH for the most healthy, prosperous and fruitful new year.

Kampai!