{"id":272179,"date":"2018-03-19T06:06:33","date_gmt":"2018-03-18T20:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=272179"},"modified":"2018-03-19T06:06:33","modified_gmt":"2018-03-18T20:06:33","slug":"making-cnmi-bloom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/making-cnmi-bloom\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the CNMI \u2018bloom\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Junichi Inada of WIN Landscape Planning & Design presents the Flower Island concept at the Marianas Visitors Authority general membership meeting on Thursday at Kensington Hotel Saipan. (Bea Cabrera)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A plan that got started five years ago to transform Saipan, Tinian, and Rota and promote the destination internationally by having the islands bedecked in flowers is finally getting started.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just about flowers. Imagine glow-in-the dark pebbles. Instagram-friendly tourist spots. Native greenery that will play up the lushness and tropical nature of the CNMI. All of that and more in a project collectively known the \u201cFlower Islands\u201d concept.<\/p>\n

The idea is to delight people not just during the day but also at night. The colors of the flowers will be bright during daytime, while pebbles that glow in the dark will be scattered around tourist sites like the Banzai Cliff that people can visit even at night.<\/p>\n

Junichi Inada, managing director of WIN Landscape Planning & Design, outlined at the Marianas Visitors Authority membership meeting last Thursday the landscaping plans that will be executed soon. Inada\u2019s involvement with the project goes beyond plans as he wants to see the project through until it is achieved on all islands.<\/p>\n

\u201cSingapore has been very successful in making the garden city concept. The former prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, wanted to promote lush greenery and clean environment to make life enjoyable for the people of Singapore. I worked with other people to execute Singapore\u2019s Gardens by the Bay and it is now one of the main attractions of Singapore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Marianas does not only have lush greenery but very beautiful flowers year-round. We want to enhance the surroundings using your cultural icons, your homegrown flowers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Tasi Tours president Masato Tezuka first came up with the \u201cFlower Islands\u201d concept five years ago, when the CNMI economy and tourism industry of Saipan were in difficult times. Tezuka, together with Inada, presented the idea to former governor Eloy S. Inos.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have this idea of making Saipan known as the Flower Islands. \u2026There are so many islands around the world and, like the CNMI, they have beautiful oceans, with many activities and untouched nature. So I asked myself, how can Saipan stand out?\u201d Tezuka asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the idea of maybe calling Saipan the Flower Islands would work, as there is no other island branded as Flower Islands in the world. The garden concept is nation building,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Tezuka said that, although the concept was positively received, it did not materialize at once because Inos passed away and then Typhoon Soudelor happened. <\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, we had a meeting with a professional designer from Japan and the Marianas Visitors Authority, represented by managing director Chris Concepcion, and it was welcomed. We have expanded the intention of the project,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Inada said the project will start on the sites that people see first when they come to the Marianas\u2014the airports.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are starting at the airport, which currently looks functional. We believe flowers will enhance the surroundings, making it more inviting. After that, we will target the famous tourist sites on each island.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe plan to put different flowers that will best suit every island. Boungavillas will be planted around the Saipan International Airport, blue cratoxylum formosum or tropical cherry flowers around the Tinian International Airport and red plumeria and hibiscus at the Rota International Airport,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Aside from flowers, the project plans to add cultural structures such as latte stones. Glow-in-the-dark pebbles in blue will be scattered on walkways and plant paths to make tourist sites enticing to visit even at night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very glad that the project has been brought to life and, after years of waiting, the project is ripe for execution,\u201d Tezuka said. \u201cWe are looking forward to people seeing the difference, hopefully impress them and eventually get them involved in other projects.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A plan that got started five years ago to transform Saipan, Tinian, and Rota and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":272180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[26,2526,67,745],"class_list":["post-272179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-cnmi","tag-flower-islands","tag-people","tag-singapore"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}