Japan’s cultures and traditions were out in the open last weekend at the Matsuri 2000 Festival, and deservedly so. The connection between Hawai’i and Japan – its history relived for two days at Kaua’i Memorial War Convention Hall – dates
Japan’s cultures and traditions were out in the open last weekend at the
Matsuri 2000 Festival, and deservedly so.
The connection between Hawai’i
and Japan – its history relived for two days at Kaua’i Memorial War Convention
Hall – dates back more than 100 years, starting with the welcoming to Japan in
1881 of King Kalakaua, the first Hawaiian head of state to visit that
country.
Conversely, Japanese immigrants to Hawai’i worked in sugar fields
here. On Kaua’i and elsewhere, Japanese have become influential community
leaders, as well as part of the state’s citizen bedrock. To make those ties
even stronger, a sister-city pact has been signed between Kaua’i Museum and
Immigration Museum on Japan’s Oshima Island.
Matsuri 2000 Festival was
sponsored by Kaua’i Japanese Cultural Society to help keep Japanese culture
alive in progressively more Americanized Japan descendants. The festival had
the same effect on non-Japanese who welcome the people as a vital part of the
island.
