{"id":27981,"date":"2026-05-24T22:55:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T22:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/27981\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T22:55:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T22:55:12","slug":"hawai%ca%bbi-japan-sister-summit-strengthens-partnerships-sets-new-collaborative-priorities-maui-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/27981\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawai\u02bbi-Japan Sister Summit strengthens partnerships, sets new collaborative priorities : Maui Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\"\"Okayama Precture Sigining. 2026 Hawai\u02bbi\u2013Japan Sister Summit. PC: Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, State of Hawai\u2018i <\/p>\n

The 2026 Hawai\u02bbi\u2013Japan Sister Summit concluded yesterday at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waik\u012bk\u012b Beach Resort, bringing together more than 350 participants \u2013 including nearly 30 governors, vice governors and mayors \u2013 from Hawai\u02bbi and Japan \u2013 for dialogue, cultural exchange and policy collaboration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The summit, themed \u201cCreating Our Future,\u201d convened state and county officials, sister prefecture and sister city representatives and experts in economic development, culture, health, security and resilience. Building on the inaugural 2023 gathering, this year\u2019s summit focused on transforming long-standing sister relationships into actionable initiatives supporting economic opportunity, shared resilience and deeper cross-cultural engagement.<\/p>\n

\u201cJapan remains one of Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s most important global partners and the summit allowed us to advance practical areas of collaboration for the years ahead,\u201d said James Kunane Tokioka, director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT). \u201cFrom economic development to resilience, education and student exchange, these discussions help shape long-term value for both Hawai\u02bbi and Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"2026 Hawai\u02bbi\u2013Japan Sister Summit. PC: Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, State of Hawai\u2018i <\/p>\n

Reyna Kaneko, president of the Japan-America Society of Hawai\u02bbi (JASH), emphasized the importance of these connections. \u201cOur sister ties foster trust and mutual understanding and this summit helps turn those relationships into meaningful action,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The program opened with a keynote from New York-based Japan Society President and CEO Joshua W. Walker, Ph.D., who outlined the strategic, economic and cultural importance of the Hawai\u02bbi\u2013Japan relationship. Breakout sessions covered topics including One Health, sustainability, Hawai\u02bbi\u2013Japan economic impacts, disaster preparedness, sports diplomacy and emerging creative and pop culture industries.<\/p>\n

Speakers included Hawai\u02bbi Governor Josh Green, Fukuoka Governor Seitaro Hattori and senior representatives from Japan Airlines, the American Red Cross and the National Institute for Defense Studies, along with leaders in the sports, gaming and creative sectors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An invitation-only Hawai\u02bbi\u2013Japan Economic Policy Forum convened today at the East-West Center, focusing on trade, investment and the role of government and sister relationships in strengthening long-term economic partnership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Okayama Precture Sigining. 2026 Hawai\u02bbi\u2013Japan Sister Summit. PC: Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, State of Hawai\u2018i…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[16870,22070,2819,22071,22072,22073,22074,22075,22076,8,22077,22078,18767,22079,10693],"class_list":["post-27981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-dbedt","tag-department-of-business-economic-development-and-tourism","tag-economic-development","tag-fukuoka-governor-seitaro-hattori","tag-hawaii-japan","tag-hawaii-japan-sister-summit","tag-hilton-hawaiian-village","tag-james-kunane-tokioka","tag-japan","tag-japan-america-society-of-hawaii","tag-jash","tag-sister-city","tag-sister-summit","tag-student-exchange"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}