By Chika Furusaki, University of Shimane
On December 11, 2018, Japanese students visited the Consulate-General of Japan in Honolulu, starting their short-term tour to strengthen the relationship between Japan and the United States.
They were 22 students from the University of Shimane and Yamagata University led by Professor Stephen Henneberry from Shimane and Professor Matthew Zisk from Yamagata.
They were invited to Hawaii by the Kakehashi Project, a program aiming for “building a bridge over” a river funded by the Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE) in order to promote friendship between Japan and the United States.
Mr. Koichi Ito, Consul General, gave the young future leaders a warm welcome with tea and cookies in an elegant room of the modern consulate building, which was surrounded by big trees. Wearing an aloha shirt, Mr. Ito gently encouraged them to enjoy their stay in Hawaii and to make the best use of the opportunity.
A special lecture on the function of the Consulate, the history of Japanese in Hawaii, and Japanese cultural heritage in Hawaii was given to the students by Mr. Takayuki Shinozawa, Deputy Consul General.
According to Mr. Shinozawa, a consulate is established in a city which has strong ties with Japan, while an embassy is placed in the capital of a country. Honolulu in the State of Hawaii is a significant city where 13 % of the residents in Hawaii have Japanese ancestry. The first immigration of Japanese into Hawaii occurred in 1866 from Okinawa, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Fukuoka, Niigata, Fukushima, etc. Therefore, a variety of Japanese culture is seen, such as branches of Izumo Grand Shrine from Shimane, Hongan Temple from Kyoto, bon dance festivals, and karate dojos.
The students asked many questions, and they learned about the interesting history of aloha shirts. To their surprise, aloha shirts were created from Japanese kimonos. Japanese immigrants remodeled kimonos into more comfortable work wear. The loose and airy shirts, which are the current aloha shirts, are a result of Japanese creativity to suit the needs of workers in plantations in a hot climate.
After interesting exchanges of questions and comments, Miss Chika Furusaki expressed their gratitude for the invitation, representing the students of the University of Shimane, and confidently declared they would do their best to promote friendship between Japan and the United States to kick off the beginning of their week-long tour in Honolulu.
