JASH New Year’s Reception at Washington Place

Ryan Matsuzaki
Mar 17, 2020
2 min read

Updated: Sep 8, 2022

January 16, 2020

On January 16, 2020, Governor David Ige and Mrs. Dawn Amano-Ige graciously opened Washington Place to the Japan-America Society of Hawaii (JASH) for our annual New Year’s Reception celebration. To kick off the New Year, JASH President, Reyna Kaneko along with Board Chairman, Steve Sombrero, Governor David Ige, Consul General Koichi Ito, Board Director Sal Miwa and Lt. Gen. Mike Minihan participated in a kanpai toast to ring in the New Year.

(Left) JASH President, Ms. Reyna Kaneko recognizes Mr. Teijiro Handa for his generous sponsorship for the JASH New Year’s Reception and welcomes over 125 guests.

(Right) JASH Board Chairman, Mr. Steve Sombrero greets the Taiko performers from Dragon Beat.

(Left) Governor David Ige speaks about the importance of theHawaii—Japan relationship.

(Right) Lt. Gen. Mike Minihan entertains the guests with hisJapanese vocabulary.

(Left) Mr. Tomonori Bamba of Japan Airlines presents two RoundTrip Tickets to Japan to Mr. John Rankin.Mr. Rankin was the winner of the JASH NexGen FlyawayContest Sponsored by Japan Airlines. The contest drawingrequired participants to answer essay questions aboutU.S.-Japan relations and what they would personallyaccomplish to support JASH and its mission. In addition,participants had the opportunity to earn entries to thedrawing for signing up new JASH members. The contestwas made possible through the generous donation of JapanAirlines.

(Right) JASH Board of Directors who attended the event.

Mr. Steve Sombrero, Mr. Dan Dinell, Ms. Reyna Kaneko, Mr. Paul Yonamine, Gov. David Ige and Mrs. Dawn Amano-Ige

(Left) L-R: Ms. Faye Shigemura, Ms. Karen Kamihara,Ms. Tamayo Matsumoto and Bishop Eric Matsumoto

(Right) L-R: Mr.Shiju Abe, Ms. Grace Kido andMr. Alan Kido. Members of Kokusai SakeKai generously donate sake from variousregions every year and educate guestsabout sake.