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Remarks by CG Kamo 
at the Awards Ceremony of the Crown Prince Akihito Scholarship Foundation

June 15

Good Morning!

I would like to welcome you all here this morning. This is a special occasion for us. And this is very timely that the Crown Prince Akihito Scholarship Foundation is holding their annual Awards Ceremony today. We have exercised restraint in holding events of celebration or anniversaries at Official Residence of the Japanese Consul General since the outbreak of the tragedy in Japan. Today is the first time that we hold the event of celebration here at our Official Residence. I also would like to remind you that the Japanese recipients for the Imperial Decoration this spring have been announced yesterday. This weekend, they will announce the non-Japanese recipients, for that matter. So we have every reason to welcome you here.

I also want to thank the members of the Board of Trustees of the Crown Prince Akihito Scholarship Foundation for their dedication for running this important program successfully over the past 50 more years. This organization has been in existence for so many years for helping bridge Hawaii and Japan by promoting the intellectual exchange. This proud tradition has been carried on until today and will be carried on to future. The members of the Board of Trustees are illustrious community leaders. So this is arguably the most powerful group that we have in this local community, from Japan’s perspective. I would like to thank the Trustees for their time and talent in running this program so effectively and successfully.

Last, I would like to congratulate the recipients. They should be happy that they have won one of the most prestigious scholarships. One recipient, Ms. Madoka Nagado has been in Hawaii since last year. The other, Ms. Michelle Daigle, is going to Japan this summer. Both of them are worthy of praise for their respective work, but I would like to give special recognition to Ms. Daigle who is going to stay in Japan for studying in the near future. After Japan was struck with the tsunami, many have avoided visiting Japan from overseas. We have seen a set back in intellectual exchanges between Japan and the rest of the world. From this perspective, it is highly commendable that Ms. Daigle decided to study in Japan to pursue her research further. I hope that both recipients can make the most of this opportunity and get as much as possible out of this program. I wish them the best of luck.

Thank you.