{"id":306987,"date":"2019-08-30T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T20:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=306987"},"modified":"2019-08-30T06:00:13","modified_gmt":"2019-08-29T20:00:13","slug":"apatang-to-mra-saipan-is-your-second-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/apatang-to-mra-saipan-is-your-second-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Apatang to MRA: Saipan is your second home\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
Officers and members of the Micronesia Repatriation Association call on Saipan Mayor David Apatang at the Saipan Mayor\u2019s Office in Susupe yesterday. This year marks MRA\u2019s 50th year of visiting Saipan. (Bea Cabrera)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Officers and members of the Micronesia Repatriation Association from Okinawa, Japan, called on Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang yesterday. That may be the group\u2019s final courtesy call on the Saipan mayor since the group plans to stop its annual visit to the CNMI this year\u2014its 50th since making the annual pilgrimage to the CNMI.<\/p>\n

Apatang himself assured the officers and members of MRA that Saipan \u201cis your second home and you are a part of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe welcome you back\u2026and for the last five years that I have been mayor, it has been a pleasure meeting your group every year,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The MRA was created as an association of Okinawans who were born and used to live in the CNMI. Majority of them were born and raised here until World War II changed the course of their lives. After the war, they and their families were flown back to Okinawa. Many of MRA\u2019s current members are descendants of the former Saipan residents.<\/p>\n

Apatang acknowledged that shared history yesterday. \u201cThe history here is yours as well and we want to thank you for coming back every year and praying for those that have left us during the war 75 years ago. For our part, we will continue to pray for you too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The first MRA trip was held in 1968. This year marks their 50th year of traveling to Saipan and also their last. <\/p>\n

According to Hiroko Tajima of Pacific Development Inc., the tour company that handles the logistics of the annual trip, most of the MRA\u2019s members are in their 70s and 80s and traveling has become burdensome. \u201cHaving no direct flights from Japan also doesn\u2019t help. Now they have to travel to at least two places before reaching Saipan and also when they go back to Okinawa,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

One of MRA\u2019s members, 87-year-old Kensei Kamiunten, was born and raised in San Roque. He and his family moved to Okinawa after the war when he was 12 years old. \u201cTo me, Saipan is my first home and Okinawa is my second. That is why I keep coming back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate how the residents of Saipan always prepare for our visit. \u2026This visit would be our last but I would still try to come back, not as an organization but as a personal visit to see Saipan, as I would like to continue the relationship between Saipan and Okinawa,\u201d Kamiunten added.<\/p>\n

Apatang urged the MRA to turn over the tour to the younger generation as his office would like to maintain the strong relationship between Saipan and Okinawa. \u201cThis is a valuable relationship that we want to carry on,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Officers and members of the Micronesia Repatriation Association from Okinawa, Japan, called on Saipan Mayor…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":306988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-306987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306987","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=306987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}