Hawaii expands Japan ties as tourism slowly recovers

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green will return from Japan on Wednesday after signing a sister-state memorandum of understanding and engaging in cross-cultural exchanges and business meetings.

Green also is leading a delegation of local business leaders at the Tokyo International Gift Show and meeting with U.S. ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, and with officials from Fukuoka, Ehime and Hiroshima prefectures.

The trip, which began on Sept. 2, is aimed at building the bilateral relationship between the United States and Japan that has contributed broadly to the mutual economies of both nations for many years through the exchange of ideas, products, tourists, services, investments and friendships.

It comes as the recovery of arrivals from Japan to Hawaii remains slow, affecting visitor industry businesses as well as the film industry and educational exchange programs. The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism reported that 66,557 visitors from Japan came to Hawaii in July. That’s up more than 32% from the 50,310 visitors from Japan who came in July 2023, but still down 50% from July 2019, when 134,587 visitors from Japan came to Hawaii.

Japan returned more than a year ago to its position as Hawaii’s top source of international tourists, but Eric Takahata, managing director for Hawaii Tourism Japan, does not expect the market to attain its pre-COVID-19 level of more than 1.5 million visitor arrivals until 2026 or 2027.

DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka said in a statement, “The Hawai‘i Export Promotion and Sister-State Mission to Japan is intended to promote mutual trade and investment initiatives and to encourage travel from this vital source market for Hawaii, which is still recovering but showing signs of improvement. These sister relationships between Hawaii and Japan offer opportunities to strengthen our economic, cultural, and educational partnerships.”

Green was a featured speaker at Wednesday’s opening of the Tokyo International Gift Show, which drew approximately 3,000 exhibitors and more than 230,000 visitors.

“TIGS has provided a valuable platform for businesses in Hawaii to showcase their unique products to a global audience, leading to increased market presence and sales opportunities,” he said in a statement.”The strong relationships forged with international buyers at this event have played a significant role in boosting Hawaii’s export industry and contributing to the growth of our economy.”

Duke Ah Moo, Hilton vice president and commercial director for Hawaii and French Polynesia, said Green’s Japan visit to kick off the gift show “will foster Hawaii’s trade and economic relationship with the host country as well as support the recovery of tourism from this important source market for our islands.”

DBEDT ALSO hosted a Hawaii Pavilion with more than 45 companies marketing products from Hawaii. In recent years, the collaboration has resulted in more than $72 million in actual and projected sales from 2012 to 2023.

Toell U.S.A. Corp. President Mina Kusaka said in an email that the water company has participated in TIGS four times over its past 13 years in Hawaii and judged this year’s show as the best.

“It has exceeded our expectations by over 100%,” Kusaka said. “Since our main market is Japan, keeping up with the market in Japan is very important for our business. Attending this gift show has allowed us to come to Japan and meet some of the many customers that drink our water and we are able to thank our customers in person for their support.”

Kusaka said producing drinkable water can aid people in Japan during an event of a natural disaster such as the many earthquakes that have happened in Japan over the past few years.

The company delivers bottled water to customers and also rents out water coolers. “With this, our customers do not have to worry about running out of drinking water when there is a case of no electricity or running water,” she said.

“Another way that we connect with our customers is to share the spirit of Aloha through our water. We have been told by customers that by drinking our water, they felt a connection with Hawaii,” Kusaka said. “Even during the pandemic, when people couldn’t travel to Hawaii, we were informed that drinking this water has allowed them to feel that they were connected to Hawaii in a way.”

Byron Goo, chief tea officer at Tea Chest Hawaii, which began 29 years ago, said in an email that the trip provided an opportunity to meet with customers in other channels such as food service and events planning, and the “results over the three-day trade show far exceeded my expectations in that it helped to engage with existing customers and partners on new projects as well as make new connections with companies trying to bring Hawaii to Japan.”

Goo said such opportunities are critical since “our export sales to Japan are down 30% due to the weak yen but the unfavorable exchange rate has not dampened the demand for our products. In fact, I feel there’s even stronger demand for Hawaii in Japan since travel to Hawaii is now more expensive for the Japanese.”

DAVE ERDMAN, founder, CEO and president of PacRim Marketing and chair of the Hawaii Pacific Export Council said sister-city relationships historically have advanced shared goals such as growing educational and business exchanges as well as tourism between the nations.

Erdman noted that last year Hawaii hosted a sister- city summit in July at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, bringing together roughly 400 senior government officials and business and civic leaders split about evenly between Japan and Hawaii.

He said Hawaii officials in Japan now are priming for a couple of events he is attending later this month in Japan, including a major media event Sept. 25, JATA Tourism Expo Japan the following day and Tourism Expo Japan 2024 on Sept. 28 and 29.

“All of these events happening in September creates a critical mass, which puts attention on Hawaii,” Erdman said. “The goal of our stakeholders in Hawaii is to increase our travelers from the Japan market, so it’s a really good time to put attention on Hawaii from Made in Hawaii merchandise, to our sister cities, to our tourism partners.”

DBEDT Business Development and Support Division Administrator Dennis Ling said the September activities also are positioning Hawaii for future opportunities to engage with Japan.

“The mission has also provided us with the opportunity to promote the upcoming U.S.-Japan Council’s annual meeting that will be held in Hawaii in 2025 and the reprise of the Hawaii- Japan Sister State Summit in 2026,” Ling said. “These two events will forge not only stronger ties with Japan but provide us with an opportunity to promote trade, investment and travel between Japan and Hawaii, as well as discuss geo-political issues that Hawaii, as a strategic center of the Indo-Pacific region, plays on the world stage.”

It is anticipated that the two events will bring in more than 500 people from out of the state.