The 18th Annual Honolulu Festival began from Friday, March 2, 2012. Our first event was the Educational School Tour, which was held exclusively for the students of the local schools. It opened to the public on the following 2-days.

There were various activities such as the Ennichi Corner, Cosplay Cafe, Film Festival, bon dance and exhibitions at the Hawaii Convention Center. Also, various booths of craft and food were available.

There was an endless queue at the Hawaii Convention Center.

A mother and her children challenged flower arrangement.

The Cosplay Cafe is popular that it became a must every year!

One Point Golf Lesson offered by Brian Mogg, who coaches professional golfers from PGA (Producers Guide of America) and LPGA (The Lady Professional Golf Association).

The bon dance was held for the second time this year. Everyone from children to elders enjoyed dancing together.

The students of the Hawaii Underground Robotic Challenge presented an underwater robot that they’ve invented.

The Hawaiian Quilt Exhibition was the first thing the guests saw upon entering the venue. There were various sizes of quilts displayed by Hawaiian Quilting With Poakalani & Co. owned by John Serrao, who is one of the best quilt designers in Oahu. There were various quilt patterns from the traditional design of anthurium and pineapple to contemporary designs. Also, Serrao’s daughter Cissy was present which she enjoyed interacting with other quilt designers.

One of the unique features about the shops, crafts and especially food products that are available in the Honolulu Festival are mostly Made in Hawaii. The guests can enjoy the sampling of food and drink just like a local exhibition.

Moreover, Tommy from Shabri of Hawaiian Cookies explained that their cookies are baked with a fresh pineapple and coconut.

Also, Mulvadi had brought various coffee beans that are only from the Big Island. They offered coffees to many of the guests to promote about the authentic coffee of the Big Island.

Mulvadi’s coffee uses the authentic coffee beans from the Big Island.

There were plenty of flavors of organic Hawaiian spices such as Cajun, curry and so forth.

Shabri of Hawaiian Cookies proudly served their Hawaiian cookies. There are plenty of nuts inside the sweet crispy cookies.

These beautifully polished airplanes are made out of wood. You can feel the warmth just by looking at them.

Furthermore, there were a lot of exhibitions and hands-on-booths of Japanese arts such as paintings, flower arrangement and so forth.
Ryuun Aasakura, who was one of the participants from Fukuoka Prefecture composed a watercolor painting on a postcard just by using a painting brush, acrylic paints and water. He finished painting within few minutes, which the design was very detailed. The shading of the colors was portrayed by adjusting the use of paints and water, which gives a fresh and beautiful impression to his artwork.

In addition, there were many tourism-related booths from Alaska, Taiwan and so forth. The booth of the Consulate General of Japan in Honolulu introduced the project called “Visit Japan Campaign” as well as the Japanese culture and scholarships that are offered by the Japanese government to promote Japanese tourism. They also held a photo exhibition for the recovery of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which showed pictures of the devastated areas. It was well-received by unexpected number of guests.

Many of the guests stopped by to see the artwork of Ryuun Asakura, which the shading of the colors expressed a sense of kindness.

There were paintings of Hibiscus and palm tree portrayed the image of Hawaii.

The booth of Nagaoka City from Niigata Prefecture introduced their local sake and various sizes of firework shells used for the Nagaoka Fireworks.

A photo exhibition for the recovery of the Great East Japan Earthquake reminded that the people need to support each other to live and survive.

The Ennichi Corner is popular among the family visitors every year. There were Japanese classic games such as the goldfish scooping, shooting gallery and yo-yo fishing. Also, one of the traditional snacks of Ennichi, cotton candies was available as well.

In addition, the Japanese candy craft artistry called “Amezaiku” was performed for the first time. The design of a candy was shaped into dog, elephant and penguin using scissors. The guests are only allowed to choose one from those animal shaped candies, which the children were struggling to select.

A goldfish is scooped by the catcher called”poi”. The rule of the game is to carefully scoop out a goldfish without breaking the poi paper on its frame.

You can receive the yo-yo if you successfully fished it out from the water by a string of paper.

The shape of the candy becomes clear as she cut the candy with scissors.

Each candy of Amezaiku is original since all of them are hand-made.

The Honolulu Festival is a place where people and cultures from various countries gather around. You can be inspired and meet wonderful people. All of the events can be enjoyed by wide range of all ages. We hope for all families to enjoy and share their experience at home!