The Hilo-based Japanese Community Association of Hawaii will host its biennial Shinnenkai new year’s celebration and installation banquet Saturday in the Moku‘ola Room of the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel.
Festivities begin with no-host cocktails at 4:30 p.m. followed by the formal program and dinner at 5.
The Honorable Consul General of Japan Yasushi Misawa will be the guest speaker. Misawa, 53, most recently had the title of deputy director-general in the Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau, until his appointment to Consul General of Japan in Honolulu last year.
In attendance will be special guests from Hawaii County’s sister-city, Shibukawa City, Japan, and include: Deputy Mayor Morio Tanaka; City Council Chairman Hiroyuki Nakazawa; and Junichiro Kato, general manager of Shibukawa City. Other guests include Takahiro Omori, chairman of Ikaho Hot Spring Tourism Association, Nobuaki Ito, the association’s executive director, and Akira Iijima, former branch manager of Ikaho Overall Office, and Isao Kobayashi from Kobayashi Travels.
The contingent will be in Hilo to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the sister-city relationship of Shibukawa City (formerly known as Ikaho) and Hawaii County.
County Councilman Aaron Chung will be installing JCAH’s new president, Ivan Nakano; first vice president/treasurer Mike Miyahira; second vice president Jon Arizumi; recording secretary Jane Miyasaki; Naomi Menor, Japanese secretary; Lillian Watanabe, auditor; and Janice Higashi, immediate past president.
The Japanese Community Association of Hawaii is a nonprofit organization formed in 1974 to perpetuate and promote Japanese culture. The association sponsors a number of cultural events such as the Kodomo No Matsuri (Children’s Day Festival), the Nikkei Kigyo (honoring long standing, multi-generational Japanese-American businesses in East Hawaii) and Bunka No Hi (Japanese Cultural Day in Hawaii).
JCAH welcomes new members and is open to anyone interested in Japanese culture and relationships with friends in Japan. For more information, call 969-6437, email jcahawaii@yahoo.com or visit www.jcahawaii.org.
