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Happy Konishiki
Kids making a
visit to Japan
A former sumo wrestler makes
By Treena Shapiro
the trip possible for 35
Leeward sixth-graders
Star-BulletinNestled in her seat on a United Airlines 747, 11-year-old Shanel Watson says she's nervous. She's never even flown interisland before, and now she's jetting to Japan.
But anticipation is stronger than apprehension. She's never seen snow, and skiing is ahead. She's going to Tokyo Disneyland, where she may ride her first roller coaster. She will be traveling on the bullet train, twice. And Watson, an aspiring singer, will perform "The Road that Never Ends" and "A'alae" for her trip's sponsors.
Watson and 34 other Leeward Coast sixth-graders left with seven chaperones yesterday for a weeklong, expenses-paid trip to Japan arranged by Salevaa Atisanoe, the Nanakuli native who wrestled in sumo tournaments under the name Konishiki.
This is the third year that a group of "Konishiki Kids" are making the trip. Essays, teacher and principal recommendations, athletic and academic achievements all played a part in the selection process, but Konishiki added another criteria: These students couldn't have traveled to Japan any other way.
Watson's mother, Esther, who saw her daughter off at the airport, described the opportunity as "the best thing in the whole world for the kids that's going." It's Konishiki's way of giving back to the kids of the Waianae coast, she said.Learning to give back like the retired wrestler is a key theme of the program.
"All of these kids are taught to do for their community," said Margaret Koyanagi, a committee member for Konishiki Kids.
When the students return home, they'll share their experiences with their schools, participate in community events, and in June will be helping out with a golf tournament.
The students also will be giving gifts to their Japanese counterparts at Karuizawa Tobu Elementary School provided in part by local sponsors Fuji Film, Local Motion, Big Island Candies, Maunaloa Macadamia Nuts and Marukai.
In the future, some hope to give back in a big way. Matthew Hines, 11, from Maili Elementary School, plans to be a scientist, the kind who "makes medicines to help people." In 10 years, he says, he may be working on a cure for AIDS -- although right now, the skateboarder is excited about going snowboarding.
Ikaika Tautua, 11, from Nanaikapono Elementary School, looks forward to seeing sumo. The students will be going to a tournament right after they check in at a hotel. Hawaii-born wrestlers Konishiki, Musashimaru and Akebono all will be there.
While he's fond of sumo, Tautua sees himself taking his Pop Warner football skills into the professional arena.
Beyond graduating from college, Jade Shigeta, 11, from Nanakuli Elementary, hasn't decided what she's going to do.
But Konishiki will be tracking her progress. He will establish a mentor relationship with the students by spending almost every day of their trip with them. And when they return to Hawaii, he'll maintain contact by e-mail, and call and visit them when he's in Hawaii.
That's part of his goal in offering this opportunity for the children: to keep them off drugs, and help them achieve academic and professional success -- success that he hopes will generate more giving.
