LIHU‘E — One of the things six students “learned” during a visit to the Mayor’s Office was how to do the shaka, a popular local hand gesture. The instruction, led by Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr., is an aspect of the
LIHU‘E — One of the things six students “learned” during a visit to the Mayor’s Office was how to do the shaka, a popular local hand gesture.
The instruction, led by Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr., is an aspect of the three-week intensive English and Experiential Learning program being undertaken by six students of the Oshima National College of Maritime Technology, more commonly known as Oshima Shosen, or Merchant Marines.
Kaua‘i Community College is hosting the six students who are accompanied by two faculty members, Professor Masahiro Sugimoto, the first engineer of the college’s training vessel the Oshima Maru, and Professor Mitsuhiro Kota, a physical education instructor and soccer coach, said Eric Anderson of KCC who coordinated the visit to the Mayor’s Office Tuesday afternoon.
During the visit, Art Umezu, the Kaua‘i Film Commissioner and Japanese interpreter for the Mayor’s Office, said about half of the passengers on the first boat of Japanese immigrants to sail to Hawai‘i in 1885 were from Oshima, Japan.
The historical anecdote by Umezu ties in with the students’ second- and third-week curriculum, which includes Japanese-American history, Polynesian voyaging, marine science, hula and other aspects.
Anderson said this is the first study tour for the Oshima Shosen group, and during the first week, the group will be focusing on fundamental speaking, listening and writing skills before moving into a combination of lectures and hands-on learning in different subjects.
Students, during their Kaua‘i stay, are keeping journals of their experiences as well as interviews with people they meet.
Anderson said although this is the first study group, Kaua‘i and Oshima are no strangers, Oshima Shosen being located in the town of Suo-Oshima, Yamaguchi Prefecture on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea in Japan.
Suo-Oshima is Kaua‘i’s sister city and in 2013, Kaua‘i will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the sister city relationship with Oshima.
The college was established 115 years ago as a Merchant Marine training institute, its current president of the college, Masayoshi Kubo, being a graduate of Oshima Shosen and visiting Kaua‘i in the late 1960s as a cadet on the Japanese training vessel, the Kaiwo Maru.
Oshima National College of Maritime Technology is one of five national maritime colleges in Japan, which have signed an exchange agreement with KCC, Anderson said.
The agreement was initiated by KCC Professor Dennis Chun following his visit to Japan as a crew member aboard the Hokule‘a voyaging canoe.
All five maritime colleges are five-year programs, which includes a three-year high school and two-year college program.
The six students visiting are in their third year of the program, two specializing in shipping technology and navigation and the remaining four working in information science and technology, or logistics.
