The Rotaract Club at HPU was specially invited to participate in a once in a lifetime opportunity—to wear Samurai armor belonging to the Iimorigu Toryu Busha in Fukuoka City, Japan, in the March 7 Honolulu Festivaldemonstration and grand parade.

Mary Anne Eisma, Melissa Miller, Rie Takamasu, Israel Santamaria, and Katja Silverå, all HPU students, said they will always remember the Honolulu Festival because the experience was colorful and the opportunity to wear the samuarai costumes not generally available to westerners was unique.

This opportunity was made possible through Honolulu Festival’s Patti Silva, with whom the Rotaract Club had worked two years earlier when participating in the festival carrying a mikoshi (a shrine).

“ It was an experience beyond words that touched my heart in an indescribable way,” said Takamasu. “The hour it took to get dressed, the heat, the sore body from carrying the heavy armor, was all worth 10-fold to the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity we had to be a part of this history.”

The Honolulu Festival was established in 1994. It promotes cultural understanding, ethnic harmony, and economic cooperation between the Asia-Pacific region and the people of Hawai‘i. In 1995, when the first Honolulu Festival was held, it attracted more than 87,500 visitors and residents. Last year, the attendance increased to approximately 311,000.