Japanese Autumn Festival returns this Oct 28

The Japanese Society of the Northern Mariana Islands is inviting the community to join them for a night to remember as they hold their 37th Japanese Autumn Festival this Oct. 28 at the Carolinian Utt in Garapan.

The society made the announcement official during their meeting yesterday morning at the Saipan Mayor’s Office in Susupe.

The autumn festival will take place next week Saturday, beginning at 5pm until 9pm, and will feature exclusively Japanese food, games, and performances. The Favorite Lottery booth will offer a variety of exciting prizes, where participants may win TVs, Bluetooth speakers, Sony headphones, or various gift certificates from hotels, shops and restaurants. There will even be a garage sale from 4pm until 6pm.

Japanese Society of the Northern Mariana Islands vice chair Hiroko Tenorio, who was joined at yesterday’s press briefing by society chair Seiji Sato, said that yesterday’s meeting was meant to lock in the details for the event, such as what Japanese restaurants would be featured at the event and more.

Many of the details will be released in the coming week, but Tenorio said the restaurants featured at the event will be serving Japanese staples.

“We have invited some of the entertainers from Japan that will perform on the stage, so we’ll have Japanese food, Japanese entertainment, and Japanese games,” she said, adding that resident students from Japanese clubs in local schools that are participating in the event will be demonstrating and teaching the games to guests.

Tenorio said a big part of the event is to support Japanese tourism in the CNMI. “…It’s a little different than what the [Marianas Visitors Authority] is doing. …[Saipan Mayor Ramon “RB” Camacho] wants to target a niche market and we want to be a part of that,” said Tenorio

“We understand that the Japanese market is still far from recovery,” said Sato. “However, this year marks the first visit of the mayor of Katori City, Saipan’s sister city, to join us and we are honored to have him and his staff, along with more than 30 visitors from Japan to witness our celebration. We are fully prepared to extend a warm welcome to all visitors to enjoy and experience our traditional food, games and stage performance.”

In their official statement and press release, the Japanese Society of NMI “would also like to express its gratitude to all the members, local companies and some of the legislators who generously contributed to the success of the event. A special appreciation goes to the Saipan Mayor’s Office for their efforts in maintaining and beautifying the Saipan Katori Shrine at the Sugar King Park as well as to the Marinas Visitors Authority for extending warm welcome to our Japanese guests.”