The Hawaii Shima Fukuoka Kenjin Kai welcomed the Year of the Dragon with its annual Shinnen Enkai and general membership meeting last month at the Hilo Meishoin Social Hall. The dragon symbolizes life and growth and is said to bring the five blessings of life: riches, harmony, virtue, longevity and completing an allotted life span.
The Hawaii Shima Fukuoka Kenjin Kai welcomed the Year of the Dragon with its annual Shinnen Enkai and general membership meeting last month at the Hilo Meishoin Social Hall. The dragon symbolizes life and growth and is said to bring the five blessings of life: riches, harmony, virtue, longevity and completing an allotted life span.
In addition to the meeting conducted by President Vaughn Cook, members who had reached the auspicious ages in Japanese numerology in 2011 were honored. The Bei Ju no Iwai, those who have turned 80, are: Akiko Oda, Lily Iwamoto and Etsuko Mori; those who are 88, Han Ju no Iwai, are: Karen Y. Nakamura, Shizue Nakamura, Doris Sugihara and Shizue Tanaka.
Two University of Hawaii at Hilo exchange students from Fukuoka Prefecture, Risa Araki and Takuya Sakoda, gave a PowerPoint presentation on Where We Were Born and How We Were Brought Up‚ focusing on their life, work and study as college students in Fukuoka compared with their experiences at the UHH.
Kenji Emerson, son of Carl and Karen Emerson and grandson of Lillian Noda, was also recognized as a participant in the Short Term Visit exchange program.
Emerson joined other youth from the Kenjin Kais of North and South America to learn about Fukuoka and Japanese culture.