"Navigating Cultural Connections: Hokule'a's Voyage to Japan" will open at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the JCCH Community Gallery.

The Island Insurance Foundation is donating $50,000 to help the Japanese Cultural Center co-sponsor Hokule'a's current voyage.

The check will be presented by the insurance company to center officials at the grand opening of the new exhibit.

The exhibit, which runs until June 1, focuses on eight different prefectures in Japan the Hokule'a is scheduled to visit: Ehime, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kanagawa, Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Okinawa and Yamaguchi.

Five of these port cities are emigration prefectures, where large numbers of Japanese migrated to Hawai'i. More than 85 percent of the Japanese population in Hawai'i can trace their origins to one of these five prefectures.

"Today, cultural influences and exchange between Hawai'i and Japan are numerous," said Brian Niiya, JCCH resource center director, who led the exhibition research, in a news release. "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 the hula and Hawaiian music. Such ties continue to bind these two lands on opposite ends of the Pacific."

Admission is $3 for Hawai'i residents, $5 for nonresidents, and free for JCCH members.

Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday.

For more information call 945-7633 or visit www.jcch.com.