Makiki Christian Church and Moana Pacific Towers

Aloha! It’s been a while since my last blog. With the 15th Annual Honolulu Festival over and post-festival projects completed, it was time for a mini vacation. A week in Tokyo and Yokohama did the trick. It was fun visiting friends and relatives while my husband worked during the days. My husband and I were able to spend the evenings going to our favorite restaurants and dining on Japan’s wonderful cuisine. I am back and ready to continue my quest to write articles pertaining to Honolulu, Hawaii and the Honolulu Festival.

Many of my articles have to do with the multi-cultural aspects of Hawaii. My Japanese heritage makes me lean towards topics that have to do with the Japanese influence in Hawaii. My goal is to expand my knowledge to become better versed in other cultures such as Chinese, Filipino, Korean and Hawaiian. But for now, please be patient as I talk about the things that I know most about.

I noticed on my way to dinner last night the contrast of two separate buildings on Pensacola Street. We passed the Makiki Christian Church and I could see the twin Moana Pacific Towers in its background.

The church was built in 1932 in the shape of a Japanese castle. It resembles Kochi Castle of the city of Kochi in Shikoku Prefecture.

Kochi is the home of Reverend Okamura, founder of the church. There are two golden dolphins atop the castle tower, Christian symbols used in feudal Japan. The church ministered to the Japanese immigrants who came to Hawaii in the late 19th century to work on the sugar plantations.

The Moana Pacific Towers is a condominium project built in 2007. There are 48 floors in each tower, utilizing floor-to-ceiling windows that span from wall to wall. It is a very modern building with panoramic views and great amenities.

I thought it was quite interesting that here we have two buildings so close to each other and yet from two totally different eras and cultures. The design of the church doesn’t really fit into any Hawaiian landscape that I know of. I bet there were many challenges in getting the design approved over 70 years ago. Yet the people of Hawaii accept it without any questions. It's been there for years and hopefully it will always be there. The more I thought about the contrast of the two architectures in such proximity, the more I realized how unique Hawaii is. There are probably many other examples of Hawaii’s diverse society. All of us who live here could make more of an effort to appreciate and understand our history, traditions and diversity. We can take more time to enjoy precious moments and smell the plumerias.


Honolulu Festival

Makiki Christian Church

Honolulu Festival's Watanabe guest speaker at HTA's 2009 Festivals and Events Seminar on May 15

Festivals are very important to Hawaii year round. Not only do they attract the local residents, creating activities and opportunities to have fun and learn new things, but they add to the visitor experience. The Honolulu Festival Foundation is proud to be part of the annual calendar of events in Hawaii. The Hawaii Tourism Authority, better known as HTA, puts on a seminar once a year for those who are interested in learning the latest about putting on festivals and events. This year's seminar was held at the Hawaii Convention Center on May 17. The topic was "Re-Invention for Changing Market Needs." The main speaker was John "Mitch" Dorger, CEO of the Tournament of Roses, held in Pasadena each New Year's Day. He talked about the challenges of managing change and staying ahead of the market. There was also a very informative and positive presentation regarding sponsorship by Sylvia Allen.

One of the keynote speeches during lunch was presented by Tatsuo Watanabe, Secretary of the Honolulu Festival Foundation and General Manager of Customer Service for JTB Hawaii, Inc. He talked about "Market Demand for Cultural Tourism: East-West Perspectives on Festivals." I am sure that the topic was of interest to many in the audience. The Honolulu Festival has been successful in bringing participants and spectators to Hawaii from Japan, other Pacific Rim countries and the mainland U.S. for fifteen years.
It is important that all of those involved in organizing festivals in Hawaii continue to improve and change based on the needs of the current market. Every effort counts particularly during today's economy. Aloha.


Honolulu Festival

Kuwayama Family from Japan at the Honolulu Festival

It was Saturday of the Honolulu Festival. Very busy all day long so I stopped to take a break. I had been planning all morning long to buy the okonomiyaki for lunch. All the tables in the dining area were taken so I joined the table of a Japanese family,a young couple and baby boy. They looked like they lived in Hawaii. Got around talking to them and found out they were visiting for two weeks from Shinagawa, Japan. Two weeks...pretty nice. Interesting to find out that the young man's mom grew up in Hawaii but moved to Japan, got married and still lives there. They were visiting the mom's mom, his grandmother, who is 95 years old and lives by herself in Moiliili. They wanted her to meet her great grandson Koichi. I thought that was so nice. So I took their picture and promised to post it on my blog. In the meantime I emailed them the picture and got such a nice note. Thought I'd share that with all of you:

Thank you for sending us the photo!
We couldn't find it on the Website
so we're very happy to receive it via email.

We had fun at the Honolulu Festival.
Our 95 year-old grandmother loved the parade,
and kept standing in the crowd watching it for 2 hours!

Mahalo!

From the Kuwayamas in our Shinagawa home

I guess it is these sort of experiences that make me feel good about the Honolulu Festival. I hope that the Kuwayamas come back next year! Aloha.

Honolulu Festival gets ackowledgement from Honolulu City Council

The City Council of Honolulu presented two honorary certificates on Wednesday March 18 — one to the Honolulu Festival Foundation and one to Keiichi Tsujino for their work on the 15th Annual Honolulu Festival. Mr. Tsujino, president of the Honolulu Festival Foundation, was not able to attend. However David Asanuma and Tatsuo Watanabe of the Honolulu Festival Foundation were there to receive the certificates. The people in the photo are(l to r): (back row) Charles Djou, Donovan Dela Cruz, Todd Apo, Nestor Garcia, Duke Bainum; (front row) Tatsuo Watanabe, David Asanuma, Rod Tam and Gary Okino.

92.3 KSSK Perry and Price Show from John Dominis

Honolulu Festival and Manoa DNA were invited to the Perry and Price Show at John Dominis on February 28. We were able to talk a bit of the upcoming Honolulu Festival on the weekend of March 14-15, 2009. And Manoa DNA, who will be performing at our Festival, was kind enough to perform two numbers for the audience.
We all got to enjoy the wonderful entertainment of Perry and Price. Karen Keawehawaii sat in for Larry. She's hilarious. Sweetie Pacarro kept the show moving along. And Michael Perry, such a smooth voice.
Thank you for always supporting the Honolulu Festival every year!




Honolulu Festival