A local elderly woman, who is originally from the Mie Prefecture but has never been to Ise-Shima greeted me and said "welcome to here" while shedding her tears of joy. She promised that she would definitely stop by Toba when she visits Ise-Jingu next time.

(Excerpt from Toba Tourism Association website)
http://ameblo.jp/toba-chat/entry-10028721704.html

It was my first time participating in the event. All I can say is that Hawaii is the best! The stage was set very close to the audience where I was able to feel the breath of them. I would definitely like to participate in the event again.

(Motai Keifu, The Founder of Gindo Kanryu Keifukai)

At the festival, I was able to get to know more about the festivals and performers throughout Japan as well as the cultures of Hawaii. Besides that, I also had some new experience and inspirations. When I saw the performance from the Hawaii's locals and Aborigines, I noticed that they have some similarities. Tsugaru has many traditional festivity cultures including the ritual of Shugen-do, moutain festival, Neputa and the Shishi-dance. Our theme is to introduce the culture of Tsugaru through Neputa. The festival has developed within the local cultures and I believe that in order to show the festival, it should introduce the Tsugaru's culture of life. Therefore, I want to entertain by simply showing its inside and outside as how it is in Tsugaru. If you see the jacket with a smiling ogre in the back, it is the member of Shoki, so please feel free to talk to us!
(Performers from Trugaru Saiten Shoki)

The young and energtic Hula dancers had inspired me to challenge and participate in this event. That was the first time I participated in the festival and I was very impressed by having such a marvelous cultural exchange opportunity. I would like to be more active and enthusaistic in the future in the hope of letting more people in Japan know about this culture exchange opportunity.

(Ms. Yanagida, the owner of Uilani Hula Studio)

That was our first time participating in this event and simply said, "it was a lot of fun". Especially the performance at the Ala Moana Center was the best moment for all of our eight performers. We were surrounded by many audience from the first to third floor. It felt so good to be able to perform in front of them and get together with them. Even though some of the performances did not receive as much response or clap as they did in Japan, we have learned a lot through the performance. We also enjoyed participating in the parade despite the tiredness from the long distance walking. There are a lot of things we would like to talk about but the message that we want to convey the most is that "we would like to come back next year!"

(Performers from Kurume Jojima Ryujindaiko)

We are Yosakoi team with "Okan-power" Osaka ladies who want to cheer up the local people and town. There are over 200 members and we usually get together for at least once a week. That was the first time we participated in the Honolulu Festival. Since there were many Hula groups, it made us wondered if we looked odd during the event. However, it turned out that many guests and foreigners came and danced with us, which made us felt very happy.

(Junko Fujita, the representative of Senshu Sorya Odorikotai)