FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM During the Japanese American Citizens League convention yesterday at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort and Spa, Nicole Inouye, left, and Karen-Liane Shiba set out small American flags to promote the campaign of Kenneth Inouye, Nicole's father, for JACL national president.

Panel shares insight
on minority women’s role

CORRECTION Sunday, August 15, 2004 >> Former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono is one of the few Asian-American women elected to statewide office in Hawaii. A page A3 article in Friday's early edition incorrectly said she was the first. Former Lt. Gov. Jean King was the first. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at corrections@starbulletin.com.

A former lieutenant governor, the president of a national cable channel, the person who introduced frozen pizza to the Japanese, and a Zen Buddhist priest all agree on one thing: Women can and should be as successful as they want to be.

For event info For information on convention events that are open to the public, visit the Web site at www.jacl.org or call the hot line at 921-5036.

The four Asian Americans are examples of people who have overcome the challenges of being minority women to achieve personal and professional success.

The panel discussing the role of Asian-American women in society yesterday was made up of former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, National Geographic Channel President Laureen Ong, JC Comsa Corp. Chairwoman Merle Aiko Okawara and community builder and Buddhist priest Puanani Burgess.

The discussion was part of the Japanese American Citizens League National Convention this week at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa. The convention marks the league's 75th anniversary and is being attended by U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and Japan's ambassador to the United States, Ryozo Kato. Mineta will deliver the keynote address at the convention's closing banquet tomorrow evening.

The JACL was founded in 1929 and is the nation's oldest and largest Asian-American civil rights organization. The five-day convention addresses topics such as hate crimes, affirmative action and the implications of the Patriot Act on minorities.

The four women who participated in yesterday's panel discussion brought diverse perspectives and stories of their journeys up the social and economic ladders.

Hirono, the first Asian-American woman to be elected to statewide office in Hawaii, shared her unlikely career in politics. She said that had she not had an example in her mother, a Japanese immigrant who risked everything to escape the abuse of her husband and bring her three children to Hawaii, she would not have had the courage to run for office.

Hirono also urged the women in the audience to vote. Last year, 20 million women did not vote, and Hawaii has the lowest female voter turnout in the United States, she said.

"It doesn't matter what you believe in and what party you support, it's important that you get out there and vote," Hirono said.

Okawara, who went to college with U.S. House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, spoke of the challenge of being a Japanese American woman in male-dominated Japan of the 1960s. Her company, JC Comsa Corp., grew from a one-woman endeavor to introduce frozen pizza to the Japanese to Japan's top producer of frozen foods.

Okawara acknowledged that although the times of overt racial and gender discrimination have passed, both still exist. But such challenges should not be deterrents to achieving success.

"We should forget petty discriminations and petty prejudices," she said. "Let us forget them and go on with life, and let us see the bigger picture."