Students from Ogata Valley Junior High School
in Japan make ornaments for the Honolulu
City Lights celebration.

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Kids’ ornament
exchange bridges
cultures

By Kimberly Fu
Special to the Star-Bulletin

Do thoughts of toys, family gatherings and the scents of pine and fragrant cinnamon on keiki minds this time of year bring thoughts of Christmas to children of other countries? Come see the trio of Christmas trees near the entrance to the Honolulu Hale courtyard and find out.

"Christmas Through the Eyes of a Child" is the brainchild of City Planning Director Patrick Onishi and his department, who wanted to use the trees as a medium for cultural exchange between Hawaii and Japan.

The idea was that students from both areas would make ornaments for the planning department's tree, exchanging ornaments after Christmas.

Onishi said he saw the project as "a great partnership" and a prime opportunity to share knowledge of the different Christmas traditions. "The more we talked about it, we saw more enrichment opportunities for the students," he said. "We're overjoyed. We think that the ornaments were done with a lot of care."

His daughter, Dara Rei Onishi, a teacher at Ogata Valley Junior High in Japan, is coordinating the exchange on her end. Nuuanu Elementary Principal Eleanor Fujioka and student council advisor Linda Mitchell are spearheading the effort in Hawaii.

Fujioka said she was honored that Onishi, whose children are Nuuanu Elementary alums, chose her school. "It was a spur of the moment thing," she said.

Nuuanu students contributed about 375 ornaments, including stars, fanciful angels, crayon containers, dioramas and more.

Ornaments from Ogata school are made with natural materials, such as pine, and colorful papers.

Video clips of all the ornaments will be available for viewing on the Nuuanu Elementary School website: http://www.nuuanu.k12.hi.us, by late today or tomorrow.

Onishi said he hopes to make this cultural exchange an annual event. "This is ... an experience. Just seeing the results of it, we think it opens up new doors in creating partnerships," he said.

"It was very successful and we certainly see it as creating more opportunities."