Hawaii’s Junior Ambassadors at the 35th Asian-Pacific Children’s Convention in Fukuoka, Japan

This July, our four Junior Ambassadors (JAs) for the 35th Asian-Pacific Children’s Convention (APCC) traveled to Fukuoka with chaperone Sandy Takeda and Bridge Club Hawaii (BCH) President Betsy Wo to represent Hawaii at the ten-day international children’s camp and homestay.

JAs heard from BCH program alumni to prepare for their trip

The weekend before they departed Honolulu, our JAs and their families met at the JASH Office for their last preparatory workshop to review their final departure information. They shared ideas about omiyage and other packing essentials for their trip; tried on their beautiful aloha wear graciously sewed by Sandy; and presented their final report presentations. For the second half of the workshop, they were joined by members of Bridge Club Hawaii who shared their reflections and suggestions as program alumni. Everyone was very excited for our Hawaii delegation to travel to Fukuoka again!

Our delegation and their families are so excited for the trip!

The group was in Fukuoka from July 14-24. During their trip, they met their peers from over forty countries and regions throughout Asia and the Pacific at the Marine House global camp; represented Hawaii and the APCC program during a meeting with the Governor of Fukuoka Prefecture, Governor Seitaro Hattori; and experienced daily life during a week-long homestay with local volunteer families. The JAs also performed oli E Hō Mai and hula ʻUlupalakua during the We are the BRIDGE Festival 2023, where each delegation performed a song or dance from their culture at the Solaria Plaza in Fukuoka.

All the 2023 JAs! (Photo courtesy of APCC)

JAs meeting Governor Hattori (Photo courtesy of APCC)

Upon returning to Honolulu, our JAs met for the last time at our JASH Office to share all of their exciting experiences and to hear feedback from the families for how JASH can continue to improve the program. The group also was introduced to the alumni group Bridge Club Hawaii during a post-program potluck held at Kapiolani Park in early August.

(L-R) Betsy, Sano, Kyrie, Vaiva, Rylen, and Sandy upon their return to HNL

BCH welcomed the 2023 JAs at a potluck picnic

This year’s return to Fukuoka was a huge success, filled with laughter and happy tears! JASH is honored to have served as the Liaison Office for the Hawaii delegation since 2003. If you wish to know more about the APCC program, or if you’d like to receive information regarding the 2024 program, please visit the JASH website at jashawaii.org/apcc or contact Program Specialist Christianne Ono at cono@jashawaii.org.