Mayor upbeat over building ties in Japan

More Japanese film production to Oahu.

A tourism summit.

And maybe even a fuel cell bus for Honolulu.

ON ASSIGNMENT Star-Bulletin reporter Crystal Kua is traveling with Mayor Mufi Hannemann and the Honolulu delegation.

These are some of the results Mayor Mufi Hannemann is hoping for after wrapping up a week-long visit to Japan with members of the City Council, a week that was about more than just transportation.

"It was very successful in terms of the initial impact that we made here," Hannemann said.

"We are making a statement just by the fact that we are here and making the outreach here and have come the distance," said Honolulu film commissioner Walea Constantinau.

Walea spoke after a lunch to pitch Hawaii as a film production site to 20 Japan-based film companies.

"Even if we got a small percentage of that, it would be tremendous for us in the sense of economic development putting people to work, but also in a larger sense about how we then become a part of what the viewing public in Japan views and feels," Constantinau said.

Out of the 20 companies, seven said they plan to use Hawaii in the future.

Hannemann, a one-time director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, said that the way they went about meeting with the companies was different from past delegations.

Instead of being merely ceremonial or just a function of protocol, Hannemann said they discussed issues important to the Japanese and government leaders in Hawaii.

An example of that unconventional approach could be seen at a reception hosted by the Oahu Visitors Bureau that brought together dozens of Japanese tourism businesses and agencies.

Instead of just listening to the mayor give a speech, they also listened to him sing.

"I think they're seeing different things. It's not just a speech; the guy is actually singing," Hannemann said.

"They usually come and then they leave ... but they hung around, and somebody said, too, they can't remember the last time they saw Japanese businessmen singing ('Hawaii Aloha') and holding hands," Hannemann said. "You've got to show the human side."

Hannemann said discussions with tourism officials led to things like plans to host a tourism summit involving the countries of Japan, China and Korea -- "Peace through Tourism" -- along with the Japan Association of Travel Agencies.

Hannemann said that the trip also focused on economic development, and in a side tour of Toyota's facilities, he got another idea.

Toyota officials told them about a fuel cell-powered bus that stopped being used when the expo ended.

"We've got to get that bus for the city and county," Hannemann said, as a way to promote the growth of economic opportunities like the story of Hawaii fuel-cell entrepreneur Dustin Shindo, who was also a part of the week's activities.