Despite the early hour, about 150 people greeted the vessels and crews at the harbor on the southwestern side of Okinawa. A group of about 100 people from Hawai'i who live in Okinawa will tonight host a dinner reception for the crewmembers, Kathryn Muneno said.

Other activities planned include school visits, canoe tours, a workshop and a visit to the Marine Museum in Motobu, Okinawa. Crewmembers from the Big Island plan to carry messages from children of a Punana Leo school in Hilo. The children wrote their Hawaiian greeting in kanji (Japanese character) as part of a new program that teaches the students kanji as a strong basis to learn oral languages.

Hokule'a will likely depart Okinawa for Kumamoto on Friday or Saturday.

The canoe accompanied voyaging canoe Alingano Maisu from Hawai'i to Micronesia earlier this year, where the latter canoe was presented as a gift to the Micronesian voyaging community.

Now Hokule'a is proceeding on the second part of its voyage, named Ku Holo La Komohana (Sail on to the Western Sun), a goodwill mission to the islands of Japan.