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Remarks for the NHK World TV Launch Reception

by Yoshi Kamo 

at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii

On February 16, 2010

Senator and Mrs. Inouye,

Executives from Japan

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Afternoon and Alo-ha!

My wife and I are delighted to join you here today at this reception in launching the NHK World TV services in Honolulu. We have just heard most encouraging words from our speakers before me, including the Senator on the prospect of our enhanced TV services. We have just seen an excellent audio/visual presentation on what is meant to subscribe to an English news program produced by the NHK.

I met with Senator and Mrs. Inouye last week in snow-trapped Washington D.C. where we had important conferences among heads of missions in the U.S.A., honorary consuls and representatives of Japanese American from various parts of the U.S.A. A heavy snow disrupted the air traffic badly and I struggled to get out of the capitol to be in time for an important event I committed to attend in Honolulu: the 9^th memorial service for the Ehime-maru victims. Luckily I managed. It is nice to know that Senator and Mrs. Inouye also safely returned from the cold to a sunshine paradise.

In Washington, we discussed topics of various kinds ranging from Toyota and the Japan’s new government. Among them was how we could successfully outreach American people at large by getting out messages of importance and urgency timely and effectively. Indeed, I think we have been discussing on the same subject in the past good twenty years. We always came up with a recommendation that Japan should operate an English News TV station. So when I hear that the NHK is now broadcasting NHK World TV, English News program included, in New York and a few other areas and will launch it in Hawaii this time, I can’t but appreciate that we have finally, belatedly though, come to this far.

NHK World TV is coming to town. It means more than just another English station becomes available to us. Japan’s TV news program excels in impartial reporting and universal coverage. It means we can enjoy the world famous NHK quality TV services in terms of programming, contents and technical prowess. Through this program you will be able to get to know more about Japan and Asia, thanks to NHK’s extensive coverage in the area. I am confident that this TV project will be an important new addition to the local media. It also makes Japan more visible to the outside of Japan. Japan’s images and messages are projected directly to U.S. household viewers. In short, I applaud this endeavor in its powerful potential to further strengthen the friendship and mutual understanding between Japan and Hawaii, the United States, and many countries of the world.

We are very excited to be part of the NHK World TV experience and extend our best wishes of success to the creators and supporters of this project.

Mahalo and thank you very much.