Honolulu Festival triples participants from Japan

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

The eighth annual Honolulu Festival featuring Japanese performers and artists is expected to draw more than twice as many participants from Japan as in previous years.

Mayor Jeremy Harris said that "280 percent more people will be coming here to share the Japanese culture."

The mayor, happy to highlight an increase in visitors amid the state's tourism drought, announced the "bigger and better than ever" festival at a press conference at Honolulu Hale that opened with a performance by taiko drummer Kenny Endo.

Charin Tomomitsu, executive director of the Honolulu Festival Foundation, said 5,585 performers and artists from 19 Japanese prefectures will travel to Hawai'i for the March 8-10 event.

Attractions will include the Uozu Tatemon Matsuri, or spinning lantern festival; Uneme Giant Taiko Matsuri, or giant drum; Takasaki Daruma Mikoshi, or good luck float; and Akita Kantou Matsuri, or lantern pole festival.

New to the festival will be street jazz from Sendai and Osaka pro wrestling, Tomomitsu said.

Past Honolulu Festivals attracted more than 333,000 viewers, she said.

Harris said the increased interest shows the Japanese are finding they don't have to fear coming to Hawai'i after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Recent official visits to Japan by Hawai'i contingents have helped ward off difficulties experienced during the Gulf War, he said, when Japanese officials advised it would be inappropriate to visit Hawai'i at a time of war.

"This time we got the message out quickly, so now we're not having to deal with the appropriateness issue," Harris said.

Tomomitsu said Japan's economic woes also threatened to have an impact, but participants are finding ways to get around those.