{"id":398131,"date":"2023-08-28T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=398131"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Saipan-Awaodori-Team-performs-at-US-Embassy-in-Tokyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Saipan-Awaodori-Team-performs-at-US-Embassy-in-Tokyo\/","title":{"rendered":"Saipan Awaodori Team performs at US Embassy in Tokyo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Saipan Awaodori Team made up of Jeafanie Tibong, Marcela Heben, Coddie Forbes, Cassidy Wabol, Eljon Tibong, and Leon Wabol performed at the U.S Embassy in Tokyo, Japan last Monday, Aug. 21.<\/p>\n<p>Misaka Kamata, the traditional Japanese musical and dance troupe\u2019s founder, said they were invited by the U.S. Embassy to perform at their Summer Festival.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was a great opportunity for the team to be recognized and the team was awarded with a certificate of gratitude for their performance,\u201d she told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n<p>Kamata, who owns Kinpachi Japanese Restaurant in Garapan, said the invitation to perform at the U.S. Embassy was a great honor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m happy that not only the Japanese people in Japan recognize the team coming from a small island like Saipan but also the U.S. Embassy. It is also a good learning experience for the kids as they were able to tour the embassy and they are very happy with the certificate of gratitude that they received,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to their performance in the U.S. Embassy, the Saipan Awaodori Team performed at the Higashi Rinkan Summer Festival last Aug. 5 and 6.<\/p>\n<p>Kamata said their final act this year in Japan was the Koenji Awaodori Festival over the weekend. The Koenji Awaodori Festival is the second largest Awaodori Festival in Japan. The largest is the Tokushima Awaodori Festival. The team will also visit the Marianas Visitors Authority office in Tokyo before leaving for Saipan.<\/p>\n<p>Kamata said as they wind down from their Japan trip, the Saipan Awaodori Team is already looking forward to next year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe kids said they enjoyed their monthlong stay in Japan as they were able to meet and make new friends,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p> <figure style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/imgupload\/786f2dc9b837fd208c3886ef045f6ec0.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/p>\n<p>The Saipan Awaodori Team poses with Tokyo U.S. Embassy acting ambassador Raymond Greene.<\/p>\n<p>-CONTRIBUTED PHOTO<br \/><\/figcaption><\/figure> <figure style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/imgupload\/62b2de1559dbac93c28651a5b5b7d392.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/p>\n<p>Saipan Awaodori Team members Jeafanie Tibong, Marcela Heben, Coddie Forbes, Cassidy Wabol, Eljon Tibong, and Leon Wabol show off the certificate of gratitude they received from the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. Posing with them are Shawna and James Aldridge of the U.S. Embassy.<\/p>\n<p>-CONTRIBUTED PHOTO<br \/><\/figcaption><\/figure> <figure style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/imgupload\/ce624c4a8f5fc4fab8105ae6baf4ee93.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/p>\n<p>The Saipan Awaodori Team pose for a group shot at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.<\/p>\n<p>-CONTRIBUTED PHOTO<br \/><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Saipan Awaodori Team made up of Jeafanie Tibong, Marcela Heben, Coddie Forbes, Cassidy Wabol,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-398131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398131","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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398131\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}