Sugar King’s grandson gives back

The grandson of Haruji Matsue, historically referred to as Saipan’s sugar king, has donated to the CNMI oil paintings that depict pre-war images of Saipan.

Yesterday, the Sugar King Foundation, in conjunction with the Joeten-Kiyu Public Library, unveiled the 12 paintings of Eiji Itakura for display at the library before they are housed permanently at the CNMI Museum.

Itakura is an amateur artist who was born on Saipan 84 years ago and was raised during the Sugar King era. Itakura vividly remembers his experiences as a child and what the island looked like growing up and that inspired him to take on the challenge of creating 12 paintings depicting the Sugar King era in the Marianas.

Keiichiro Saeki, one of Matsue’s grandchildren and president of the Sugar King Foundation in Japan, gave Itakura’s paintings to the Commonwealth also as a means to preserve his grandfather’s legacy.

Saeki related that when the CNMI Museum of History and Culture was preparing for its reopening, he was asked to assist. “I donated albums and personal belongings of Matsue to the museum. I have also translated several books edited by my grandfather to English.”

According to Saeki, the photos he had acquired from the Sugar King era were not vivid enough and did not do justice to the island’s beauty at the time, so he reached out to Itakura to recreate what he personally saw.

“I hope that these paintings will always be a part of the important memories of the long lasting relations between the CNMI and Japan, “ said Saeki.

He met Itakura for the first time in a meeting in Tokyo. “After showing him photos of the old days, I asked him to create some painting of the old days. Having lived here as a child and his passion as a painter motivated him to take on this challenging task,” he said.

Saeki first visited Saipan 20 years ago and has since visited Saipan at least twice a year to pay homage to his grandfather.

According to Japan Consul Kinji Shinoda, he has only been on the island for a couple of months but he has felt the strong presence of the Japanese culture on Saipan. He also has since learned so much about how Japanese history ties with the history of Saipan and the art created by Itakura will forever represent those ties.