Friday, November 13, 2015 — The Marshall Islands Journal

0OWER OF TRADITION PROVIDESA PLATFORM FOR MODERN TIMESGIFF JOHNSONIn the 1990s, a representative ofa donor agency visited the Marshall Islands researching possible
projects to support with grant
IXQGV /RRNLQJ GRZQ D FKHFNOLVW
of worthwhile opportunities seekLQJ IXQGLQJ WKH RIÀFLDO FDPH WR
one item under the heading “culWXUHDQGLGHQWLW\µ´1RµKHVDLG´ZH·UHORRNLQJWRWKHIXWXUH&URVVFXOWXUHRIIWKHFRQVLGHUDWLRQOLVWµ+RZ ZURQJ KH ZDV ,W PD\seem odd that Kyoto, Japan’s mosttraditional of cities, has connections to the Marshall Islands andRWKHU3DFLÀFLVODQGV%XWWKHWUDditions that underpin the lives ofmany citizens of both Kyoto and3DFLÀF LVODQGV SURYLGH D IRXQGDtion of national pride and identitythat spins off into many aspects ofOLIH'HVSLWHWKHHQFURDFKPHQWRI
modern technology, architectureand fast-paced city life, Kyoto
showcases centuries old traditions
and religious practices that domore than simply engage visitors
in a unique part of Japanese life
— they offer business opportunities, particularly for women, andperpetuate cultural traditions forQHZJHQHUDWLRQVRI-DSDQHVH
Marshall Islander Alson Kelen, who has managed an outrigger canoe building and cultural
life-skills training program fortwo decades, says his experienceFRQÀUPVWKHNH\WRFUHDWLQJDVXVtainable future for a troubled generation of urban youth is a strong
FXOWXUDO IRXQGDWLRQ ´$ KXQGUHGyears ago, everyone had a posiWLRQLQOLIHDVÀVKHUPHQZHDYHUVand local medicine experts,” said.HOHQ UHFHQWO\ ´7RGD\ NLGV DUH
ORVW7KH\GRQ·WNQRZZKHUHWKH\ÀWLQµThe passion Michi Ogawa andMichi Ogawa (top left) andEmiko Ashida of WAK
Japan Co. demonstrate atraditional Japanese teaceremony. Bottom right:
A traditional Marshallese
canoe helps RMI youth
rediscover the richness oftheir culture.

her team of women bring to sharing cultural practices with visitors
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company that oversees a numberof businesses including one thatprovides hands-on cultural learning experiences for visitors suchas kimono wearing and traditional
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Since founding the company in1997, she has empowered dozens
of Japanese women to become
knowledgeable in their own culWXUHLQRUGHUWRVKDUHLWZLWKRWKHUV'XULQJDUHFHQWYLVLWWRDZRRGHQ
house in downtown Kyoto fromZKLFK:$.-DSDQ&RRSHUDWHVDJURXSRI3DFLÀFLVODQGMRXUQDOLVWVIslands is minimal — Kyoto gets
more visitors in a day than the0DUVKDOO ,VODQGV VHHV LQ D \HDU
<HW MXVW DV WRXULVWV ÁRFN WR WHPples and castles of shoguns inKyoto or participate in more intimate cultural exchanges such as
Ogawa’s tea ceremony, visitors
are drawn to the canoe building
program in the Marshall Islands
for cultural tours and energizedby lagoon rides on outrigger sailing canoes built and captained by\RXQJSHRSOHLQ.HOHQ·VSURJUDP/HDUQLQJ WKH FXOWXUDO SUDFWLFHV
that underpin canoe building in
the Marshall Islands — the art ofbuilding, sailing and navigation
without instruments — provides aLW\oftheactiv
ZHUH RXWÀWWHG ZLWK NLPRQR DQGsense of place and pride for MarTheisland
journalists
attendjoined in a traditional Japanese
shall Islanders in much the sameing
theteaceremony
immediately
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way it does for Japanese womensaw
similarities
withkavaandher guests on a step-by-step tour
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of the 450-year-old tea ceremony,
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Ashidaexplained
thatthetea
a ritual requiring participants to7KH 3DFLÀF QDWLRQV RI )LML
show respect and humility toward ceremony emphasizes purity, harone another by bowing and offer- mony, tranquility and respect, vir- Cook Islands and Palau, for exing thanks, and to park the day’s tues often in short supply in the ample, have large-scale tourism
industries that employ thousandsGLIÀFXOWLHVDQGHYHQWVRXWVLGHWKH UDFHRIPRGHUQXUEDQOLIH
Indeed, while Marshall Island- in hospitality work and motivate
entrance door to fully appreciate
the ceremony and the camaraderie ers have handed down customary islanders to develop and maintainpractices on their low- cultural ceremonies and practices
lying coral atolls for that translate into jobs and income
two thousand years, IRUWKHORFDOFRPPXQLW\&XOWXUDOthe pace of western- norms in smaller islands withization and out-mi- scant visitor numbers, however,gration to the United quite possibly are being lost at aStates is stripping the faster pace to westernization ofyounger generation of the younger generation who see
LWV URRWV ´6RPH VHH their culture as an anachronism tothe outrigger canoe as LJQRUH :LWKRXW WRXULVP WR GULYH
a thing of the past,” DÀQDQFLDOLQWHUHVWLQPDLQWDLQLQJVDLG.HOHQ´%XWLW·VD their culture, preservation is left
tool that has survived to non-government groups such as
two thousand years :DDQ$HORQLQ0DMHO &DQRHVRI
and it will survive WKH 0DUVKDOO ,VODQGV  WR ÀJKW WKHWZR WKRXVDQG PRUHµ WLGHRIZHVWHUQL]DWLRQ
Against this backdrop of modCanoe culture, heern
urban life, the cultural innovasaid, gives Marshalltionsof Ogawa and Kelen haveIslanders their idendramaticallychanged the lives oftity and a foundation
thepeople
whowork with them,for sustainable develand
thethousands
who have parRSPHQW
ticipatedintheirculturallearning
Tourism development in the Marshall SURJUDPV