Navigating Cultural Connections: Ho¯ku¯le'a's Voyage to Japan

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Kaimuki, Hawaii
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Navigating Cultural Connections: Ho¯ku¯le'a's Voyage to Japan
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Type: Exhibition
Date: Friday - 6/22/2007
Time: Tuesday to Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Location:
Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i
Gallery Theater, First Floor
2454 South Beretania Street
Honolulu, Hawai'i 96826
Ph: (808) 945-7633
Cost: See below

Exhibition Name: Navigating Cultural Connections:
Ho¯ku¯le'a's Voyage to Japan

Exhibit March 3rd until Friday, June 1.

Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Description of exhibition:

A powerful symbol of Hawaiian culture and identity, the Ho¯ku¯le'a set forth on a five-month journey to Micronesia and Japan in January. The trip, the seventh since its first voyage in 1976, celebrates the historic and contemporary cross-cultural connections that was established in 1881 when Hawai'i's first state leader, King David Kala¯kaua, met with Emperor Meiji of Japan.

"King Kala¯kaua sought friendship with Japan and initiated a chain of events that led to large-scale migration of Japanese subjects to Hawai'i," explained Brian Niiya, JCCH Resource Center Director, who led the exhibition research. "After Hawai'i was annexed by the United States in 1898, the tenor of the relationship changed eventually leading to war. In the postwar era, a new symbiotic relationship has emerged built around tourism and cultural exchange."

The exhibition will focus on the eight different Japan prefectures--Ehime, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kanagawa, Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Okinawa and Yamaguchi--that the Ho¯ku¯le'a will be visiting because each has historic ties with Hawai'i and/or the United States.

Five of the port prefectures--Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Okinawa, Kumamoto and Fukuoka--are emigration prefectures, where large numbers of Japanese migrated to Hawai'i and other parts of North and South America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Niiya explained in the case of Hawai'i, more than 85% of the Japanese population in Hawai'i could trace their origins to one of these five prefectures in 1924--the year when further Japanese immigration to Hawai'i was curtailed. A sixth prefecture, Kanagawa, included Yokahama, the port out of which nearly all Japanese migrants sailed out of prior to 1924.

Along with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were the victims of the atomic bomb that ended the Pacific War, the other port prefecture is linked to Hawai'i through tragedy that has developed into friendship. In 2001, the Ehime Maru, a fishing training vessel from Ehime prefecture, was mistakenly sunk by an American submarine off the coast of O'ahu killing nine students. In each case, friendship and cultural exchange has blossomed from tragedy.

"Today, cultural influences and exchange between Hawai'i and Japan are numerous," said Niiya. "Many aspects of contemporary local culture in Hawai'i have been shaped by Japanese influences. Japanese visitors make up a high percentage of annual visitors to Hawai'i and contribute greatly to the local economy. And there is a continuing fascination in Japan with various aspects of Hawaiian culture such as hula and Hawaiian music. Such ties continue to bind these two lands on opposite ends of the Pacific."

Cost/Entry Fee: Free for JCCH members; $3 for Hawai'i residents; $5 for non-residents.
Public contact information: Phone: (808) 945-7633, fax: (808) 944-1123.

Name of sponsoring organization: The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, strives to share the history, heritage and culture of the evolving Japanese American experience in Hawai'i. The Center features a Community and Historical Gallery, Resource Center, Kenshikan martial arts do¯jo¯, Seiko¯an Japanese teahouse and Gift Shop.

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Kaimuki, Hawaii Event Calendar Item

Kaimuki, Hawaii
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