Fukuoka was the first prefecture to tie Sister-State Relationships with Hawaii, and this year (2021) marks its 40th<\/sup> anniversary.\u00a0 Every year, the Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly members come to Hawaii to attend the Hawaii State Legislature\u2019s opening day.\u00a0 In 2017, Former Fukuoka Governor Mr. Ogawa made a special visit to attend the 35th<\/sup> Anniversary Ceremony.<\/p>\n By request of the Hawaii Fukuoka Prefecture Citizens Association, Hawaii Global Education Foundation (HGEF) applied for government subsidy to the Hawaii State Legislature in 2019.\u00a0 Once approved, we assisted this project to bridge Hawaii and Japan through interpretation, translation and overall coordination.<\/p>\n Did you know that there were three Fukuoka native Nikkei people from Hawaii, who left their mark in American history through their great accomplishments?\u00a0 All of their accomplishments were the \u201cfirst-ever\u201d for Nikkei people:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Governor Ariyoshi, born in Honolulu, carries roots in Toyomae City of Fukuoka Prefecture.\u00a0 After studying in the U.S. Military Intelligence Service Japanese Language School, he served as an interpreter for the U.S. Occupation forces in Japan.<\/p>\n After working as a member in the Hawaii State Assembly and Senate, he was elected as Vice-Governor in 1970, then in 1974, became the first Nikkei State Governor in the U.S.\u00a0 As there weren\u2019t set term limits at the time, he stayed in term for a record length of 12 years.<\/p>\n Fukuoka and Hawaii tied Sister-State relations in 1981 during his term, which is celebrating its 40th<\/sup> year anniversary this year, and still holds strong.\u00a0 Turning 95 in March this year, Mr. Ariyoshi is still hard at work bridging Japan and Hawaii to maintain friendly relations between our nations.<\/p>\n A bronze plaque was gifted to Toyomae City in commemoration of Mr. Ariyoshi\u2019s great accomplishments.\u00a0 It is currently on display in the lobby of the Toyomae City Hall.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Senator Inouye was born in Honolulu, with roots in Fukuoka Prefecture, Yame city.\u00a0 He was the first Japanese American to be elected as a U.S. Senator.\u00a0 After being elected 9 terms in a row, he was the oldest member of the senate. Later he was elected as the president pro tempore of the United States Senate, which is the second highest ranking official of the Senate.<\/p>\n While studying at the University of Hawaii, he was drafted into the 442nd<\/sup> infantry regiment, most know for being comprised of Nikkei soldiers.\u00a0 There he lost his right arm by a grenade explosion while fighting in the European front lines.\u00a0 After becoming Senator, he worked hard to maintain friendly relations with Japan and the United States.<\/p>\n Senator Inouye passed away in 2012 at the age of 88.\u00a0 When asked of how he wanted to be remembered, he replied \u201cI represented the people of Hawaii and this nation honestly and to the best of my ability.\u00a0 I think I did OK.\u201d His final words were \u201cAloha.\u201d The Honolulu International Airport was renamed the \u201cDaniel K. Inouye International Airport\u201d in his remembrance.<\/p>\n Yame City is a result of the 4 nearby cities and towns merging together.\u00a0 2020 marked the 10th<\/sup> anniversary of this merger, and we here at HGEF and the State of Hawaii thought it to be the appropriate occasion to gift Yame city a statue of Senator Inouye.\u00a0 Though the pandemic caused delays, the statue was finally built and unveiled in March of 2021.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Astronaut Ellison Onizuka was born in Kona on the island of Hawaii, holding ancestral roots in Ukiha City of Fukuoka.\u00a0 After studying aerospace engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, he entered active duty with the U.S. Air force as a Second Lieutenant.<\/p>\n Onizuka applied for the astronaut program in 1978, then was selected as crew in the year after.\u00a0 Later in 1983 he traveled to Ukiha city with his family to visit his ancestors\u2019 grave.\u00a0 He had a special lecture at the local Ukiha Middle School. \u201cWork hard for your dreams.\u00a0 They\u2019re bound to come true.\u201d\u00a0 Many students were inspired and encouraged by Onizuka\u2019s words.<\/p>\n His first space mission was on the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1985.\u00a0 He was the first to use chopsticks, eat sushi, drink Kona coffee, and play Hawaiian music in space.<\/p>\n In 1986, Onizuka was onboard the Space Shuttle Challenger which tragically exploded on launch, taking the life of all 7 crew members.\u00a0 A quote by Onizuka is left in the new standard U.S. passport today: \u201cEvery Generation has the obligation to free men\u2019s minds for a look at new worlds\u2026 to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation.\u201d<\/p>\n We donated a bronze plaque commemorating Astronaut Onizuka\u2019s great contribution to the world.\u00a0 You can find it displayed at \u201cMichi no Eki(Roadside Station) Ukiha.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Aside from castaway immigrants, the first of the Japanese immigrants bound for Hawaii were the people later known as \u201cGannen-Mono\u201d who took passage in 1868, the first year (Gannen) of the Meiji-era.\u00a0 The Meiji Government was initially unenthusiastic of emigration, but official government driven \u201cKan-Yaku Imin\u201d emigrations eventually begun in 1885. Many of you may … Continue reading “Fukuoka Native Immigrants: Celebrating their Legacy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiglobal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiglobal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiglobal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiglobal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiglobal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1655"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiglobal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1660,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiglobal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655\/revisions\/1660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiglobal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiglobal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiglobal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiiglobal.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
George Ariyoshi (First Nikkei to become a State Governor)<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Daniel Inouye (First Nikkei to become a U.S Senator)<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
Ellison Onizuka (First Nikkei to become an Astronaut)<\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
<\/h2>\n
\n<\/h2>\n
George Ariyoshi: Hawaii State Governor (Nikkei Nisei)<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hawaiiglobal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Picture1a.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/h2>\n
Danie K. Inouye: United States Senator (Nikkei Nisei)<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hawaiiglobal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Picture2-2.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/h2>\n
Ellison Onizuka: Astronaut (Nikkei Nisei)<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hawaiiglobal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Picture3-2.png\")
<\/p>\n