Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Voyage marks
100th anniversary
of Okinawan isle
immigration
Isle students and officials
By Leila Fujimori
will join Okinawans in
re-creating that first trip
Star-BulletinKINSHIP will soon take on greater meaning for Eric Oto of Waipahu.
The 17-year-old will travel to Okinawa to meet his kin for the first time from the town of Kin, from which his great-grandparents sailed in the early 1900s.
"I want to learn more about my heritage and culture and learn hands-on about the arduous journey to come to Hawaii," Oto said.
Oto, who never fails to mention being a quarter Okinawan when asked his ethnicity, takes special pride in his Uchinanchu (Okinawan) heritage, and especially descending from emigrants of Kin, from which Toyama Kyuzo, the "Father of Okinawan Immigration" hailed.
More than 100 years ago, schoolteacher Toyama persuaded the Japanese government to allow Okinawans to emigrate, overcoming objections that Okinawans were illiterate, lazy and unable to survive the rigors and stress of a new land.
The first 26 Okinawan immigrants arrived in Honolulu in 1900.
Oto and 18 Hawaii Kin club teen-agers, chaperons, 100 other Hawaii students and government officials will join 400 Kin residents, including 300 students, in re-creating the journey of early Okinawan immigrants who came to work on the sugar plantations. The voyage commemorates the 100th anniversary of Okinawan immigration.
This morning, about half the Hawaii group flew to Okinawa. They will tour the island, visit schools and take a cruise boat for Hawaii on July 6. The other half will leave Hawaii on the boat July 18 headed for Okinawa. The town of Kin will cover all travel, accommodations and meals for Hawaii participants.
Kin Mayor Katsuhiro Yoshida received a grant from the Japanese government to charter the passenger liner Nippon Maru, to relive the voyage of early emigrants.
Some 60 Hawaii students from Dole, Kawananakoa and Moanalua middle schools and Castle High School prepared for the trip by learning to bow and to sing and dance Hawaiian songs, which they will teach the Japanese students.
The Kin mayor told Kin Chojinkai, the Hawaii Kin club of 400 families, to select youths who will be the future leaders in Hawaii's Okinawan community and whose families are actively involved in the club, explained member Nancy Ige.
Ige said one family stands out -- the Toyamas.
"I've never seen a family like this; it seems like they're all involved," said member Nancy Ige.
Ige says Mary Toyama, a second-generation Okinawan, gets her five children who live in Hawaii, 10 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren involved in Kin club activities.
Tuesday night, Toyama and most of her family gathered with other club members at the Okinawan Center, preparing gift packages for the students to give to those they meet on their trip, as well as ti leaves, which will be used to teach Okinawan students to make leis.
"I have seven grandkids going, so I had to do my share," said the 72-year-old Toyama, who remains an active volunteer despite suffering a stroke and a heart attack.
Toyama said she wants her grandchildren "to see where their great-grandparents come from. They've heard so many stories, I want them to see what kind of a place it is."
When Dawnne Smith is sailing across the Pacific, she will think about what her great-grandparents went through.
"It must have been hard for them to come from a country where they knew no English and had to start a new life," the 15-year-old said. "I thought that was brave."
