WAILUA — When the Japanese delegation of 20 people arrived to celebrate Gannenmono, A Legacy of eight generations in Hawaii celebrating 150 years, Toru Hosokawa was among the gathering at the Lygate Beach Park main pavilion Tuesday evening hosted by Kauai Yamaguchi Kenjin Kai.
“He’s not here to play golf, or visit,” said Art Umezu of the county’s Office of Economic Development. “Instead, Mr. Hosokawa was more interested in seeing the flood damage because he is doing a fundraiser for disaster relief in Japan on June 16.”
Umezu said Hosokawa, a member of a Rotary club in Japan, is no stranger to helping Kauai.
“When the buoy from Iwaki came ashore following the earthquake disaster in Japan, we were short of funds in getting the buoy installed at the Port Allen Marina as a memorial,” Umezu said. “Mr. Hosokawa came personally and gave Kauai the needed funds to complete and dedicate the memorial.”
Cheryl Shintani, president of Kauai Yamaguchi Kenjin Kai, said when talks first started about Gannenmono, she did not realize its significance.
“I didn’t think too much about it,” Shintani said. “But the event is significant because it was the start of the Japanese migrations.”
In 1860, two Japanese ships visited Honolulu with Kaishu Katsu, John Manjiro Nakahama, and Yukici Fukuzawa on board. These three men were involved in a friendship treaty proposed by King Kamehameha IV between Japan and the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Eight years later, the shogun government based in Edo Castle surrendered in May, 1868, to start the process of restoring the Imperial Court to power. This symbolized the start of a new era, Meiji, and on May 17, 1868, the ship Scioto departed from Yokohama, arriving at Honolulu on June 19 with 150 Japanese immigrants.
“What I didn’t realize was that of these first group of people, they did not intend to labor in the fields,” Shintani said. “Instead, they were interested in business. Of the original group, some worked here and returned to Japan while others left Hawaii for the Mainland. The core that remained created the influence Japanese had in Hawaii.”
The significance is also enhanced by the visit of the royal couple to Oahu, their first official visit to the United States as part of a yearlong celebration of the 150th anniversary of the first group of Japanese immigrants to the Hawaiian Islands.
“This year, the Kauai Buddhist Council temples celebrate and honor the 150th anniversary of the first arrival of the group of Japanese immigrants to Hawaii since 1868,” said the Rev. Kosen Ishikawa of the Koloa Jodo Mission.
For some of the Japanese governmental and business contingent to Kauai, Tsugumasa Muraoka, the governor of Yamaguchi Prefecture, and Masaaki Yonemoto, mayor of Waki County, Iwakuni District, this was their first trip to Kauai, Shintani said.
“Mayor Takumi Shiiki of the Suo Oshima County has been here before,” Umezu said.
It’s too bad King Kaluakua was not mean enough for the good of all Hawaiians by sending these Japaneses immigrants back to Okinawa and Japan after their 3 year contract with the sugar plantations. They overstayed their work obligations and began to engage in their own form of discrimination, racist policies of hiring their own race over others especially Hawaiians and the reason why they are over representatives in State, City governments where they represent 67% of the workforce, yet only comprises of 17% of Hawaii’s general population.
The only way a group of people get this way is through neopotisum, cronyism and racist policies..
Had the Hawaiian King sent them back, many would have been incinerated by the Americans during the atomic attacks, yet do you even hear any of these Japanese descendants express any appreciation towards the Hawaiians? No, and to make matters worst, the State is considering placing all non-Hawaiians in the same category as “public” so that in case the Federal government does recognize the claims of Hawaiians for compensation in both land and money, they would be included, even thought historical fact proves they were never classified beyond the immigrant status as work contractors that expired after 3 years.