CNMI shines at Shinbashi festival in Tokyo

The culture of the Northern Mariana Islands took center stage in the recent Shinbashi Koichi Festival held July 21-23, giving participants a chance to promote the CNMI as a friendly tourism destination.

Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela, who was part of the delegation, spoke to the Shinbashi community to express his appreciation for the opportunity given the CNMI to promote itself, and his concern to develop a good relationship with the community in the future.

The Commonwealth’s cultural dancers also managed to demonstrate to the Japanese public how to make traditional accessories at the special event booth of the Marianas Visitors Authority. Women and children sat in front of the group and learned their techniques, all excited to put on the handmade accessories.

Brian L. Ruben, one of the dancers, said: “We performed a Carolinian cultural dance in front of thousands and thousands of people and we demonstrated coconut leaf weaving, bead-making, and banana painting. The Japanese loved our performance and were fascinated by the demonstration.”

The CNMI’s participation in the Koichi Festival was made possible with the cooperation between MVA and the Japanese Business Executive Committee of the Northern Mariana Islands. On Saipan, JBEC is led by chairman Shinichi Yoshida, who is the regional manager of Japan Airlines-Saipan Office.

According to a statement from the group, Hiroyuki Saito, vice president of Lao Lao Bay Golf Resort and a member of the JBEC, got in touch with the Shinbashi community late last year and negotiated for a mutually beneficial advertisement program.

“It’s simple. Give what we can and get what we want,” Saito said. “Shimbashi wanted something new to make [the] Koichi Festival more attractive. They asked me if MVA could sponsor the event by sending cultural dancers and providing invitational trip to Saipan for two persons as a winner prize for [the] Yukata Bijin contest (traditional summer kimono beauty pageant). In return, Shimbashi committed to give us valuable advertisement opportunities.”

The statement said that everybody agreed that the occasion was an effective destination advertisement opportunity for the CNMI but the MVA could not move forward because of budget shortage. This is where JBEC came in, working hard to support MVA.

Yoshida of JAL-Saipan negotiated with the JAL head office to get two free tickets for the prize and discounted airfares for the delegation going to Japan. PDI arranged the dancing team and decided to send its experienced employee, Kazuko Takahashi, as a supervisor. All members of JBEC and even non-members committed to donate cash, complimentary coupons to help MVA, and make the event a reality.

“It’s a new type of promotion,” the statement said.

Cash expenses mainly for the accommodation was about $8,000, while the economical value of the advertisement opportunity could be several hundred thousand dollars. MVA’s general advertisement video was shown on Faro City Vision, a huge monitor screen right in front of the Shinbashi station (worth $200,000 on a cost basis). The MVA booth was prepared for promotional activities and brochure distribution at no cost.

“The cultural dance show on the special stage had a strong and direct impact on the public. The speech that Mayor Tudela gave when introducing the dancers on stage was a direct destination message toward the community and Japanese tourism market,” the statement adds.

Some 16,000 Koichi Festival flyers with the text “Sponsored by MVA” were distributed, including 2,000 posters.

It said the average number of passengers using the Shinbashi station is 700,000 daily, which is listed as No. 9 among all stations in Japan.

“The number of audience when two JALways flight attendants presented the invitational trip to Saipan to the winner of the beauty contest was 3,000,” explained Yoshida.

He said JBEC will continue to arrange such low cost but high impact advertisement opportunities and help the MVA promote the CNMI as an ideal tropical tourism destination.

“However, we anticipate more concerns from the government agencies, Legislature, and local communities. I am confident that an appropriate funding of budget for MVA, positive participation in its activities, and cooperative power from industry groups such as JBEC would make things better,” he said.