HONOLULU — The Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule‘a may sail to Japan in early 2006 on a voyage to honor Japan’s role in Hawaiian history, officials said. Tentative plans call for the canoe to leave Hawai‘i in February 2006 on a
HONOLULU — The Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule‘a may sail to Japan in early 2006 on a voyage to honor Japan’s role in Hawaiian history, officials said.
Tentative plans call for the canoe to leave Hawai‘i in February 2006 on a 5,000-mile voyage that would end in Hokkaido, Japan, in July of that year, according to Polynesian Voyaging Society chairman Nainoa Thompson.
Two major goals are to visit the island of Satawal in Micronesia to honor navigator Mau Piailug, and to visit the villages of early Japanese immigrants to Hawai‘i, Thompson said. Another goal would be to mark the 125th anniversary of the meeting between King David Kalakaua and Japanese Emperor Meiji during Kalakaua’s historic world tour.
