Hundreds of senior government officials and business and civic leaders from Japan and Hawaii are expected to attend an inaugural summit celebrating the ties between the two countries this month in Waikiki.

The Hawai‘i-Japan Sister State and Sister City Summit, to be held July 27 and 28 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, is themed “The Ties That Bind,” and its goal is to revitalize sister relationships in the wake of the pandemic to create new initiatives to boost trade, direct investment and collaboration between Japan and Hawaii.

State Business, Economic Development and Tourism Director James Kunane Tokioka said in a statement, “The summit will invigorate the sister relationships between Hawaii and Japan. Sister relationships can and should play a significant and strategic role in maximizing economic, cultural, and educational opportunities.”

DBEDT is the presenting sponsor for the event and is supported by other partners, including the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, Hawaii United Okinawa Association, Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce, Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, United Japanese Society of Hawaii and U.S.-Japan Council.

Reyna Kaneko, co-chair of the event, said in a statement: “We’re excited to be convening government officials and leaders in business, education and other sectors from Hawaii and Japan to discover exciting new opportunities to build on our 150-year relationship to facilitate post-pandemic trade and investment.

“We can learn a lot from each other. We’re creating a space for a dynamic, energetic exchange of ideas to mutually support each other and shape our future.”

The summit comes as arrivals from Japan to Hawaii continue to lag in the wake of the pandemic. That’s huge cause for concern for Hawaii’s greater economy as plenty of tourism infrastructure and businesses have been built around catering to more robust visitor arri­vals from Japan. Hawaii businesses that specialize in the Japan market also have noted that the continued downturn in arrivals from Japan has affected recovery of Hawaii’s film industry and educational exchange programs.

Dave Erdman, founder, CEO and president of PacRim Marketing Group, said, “There are continued important issues and roadblocks to access appropriate visas without the Hawaii International Film Association (HIFA) supported Hawaii Film visa waiver pilot program. This dramatically impacts the number of programs and media communications that help support the positive promotion of Hawaii.”

In 2019, Japan was Hawaii’s top international market with more than 1.5 million visitors, who spent more than $2.2 billion, according to DBEDT. The number of visitors from Japan dipped to 297,243 in 2020, but DBEDT didn’t have enough spending data to provide an annual update.

The full impact of the pandemic hit in 2021, and DBEDT data showed just 24,232 visitors from Japan came to Hawaii and spent $65.1 million. In 2022 that number increased to 199,760 visitors, who spent $376.3 million.

Hawaii arrivals from Japan, once forecast to make a quicker rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, now are not expected to return to pre-pandemic 2019 levels until the end of 2024. Arrivals from Japan to Hawaii in May, the most recent month that data was available, were still down 69% from 2019.

Eric Takahata, managing director of Hawaii Tourism Japan, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that during the first and second quarters of this year, Japanese arrivals are projected to return to about 30% of pre-pandemic numbers, and it’s expected to take until the third or fourth quarter of this year to get back to 40% or 50% of the 2019 visitor counts.

“It’s going to be a slow, gradual build; it won’t be rapid,” Takahata said. “To get back to 2019’s 1.4 million to 1.5 million (arrivals), I think it will take the whole of (2024) as well.”

An unfavorable exchange rate and competition from other destinations such as other parts of Asia and Europe have hampered the recovery of visitor arrivals from Japan to Hawaii.

Another reason is that coming out of COVID-19 has been a lengthy process for Japan, a country known for caution. DBEDT and the Japan-­America Society of Hawaii had started planning for the summit in 2019 to be held in 2021, but had to postpone it due to the pandemic.

Now organizers are pulling out all the stops in the hope that key business, cultural, educational and civic leaders will attend with an eye to strengthening current as well as future relationships.

Gov. Josh Green and all of Hawaii’s four county mayors are slated to attend, as are governors and mayors of six prefectures and 16 cities and towns from Japan with state and city sister relationships.

Green said in a statement, “Hawaii and Japan have a long narrative of cultural, social, economic, and historical ties. Our shared experiences have made us not only the closest of friends but partners in many respects. This summit brings us together to celebrate our relationships, while focusing more on what we can do together in the future.”

The opening panel discussion on the “Power of Sister Relationships” is expected to set a collaborative tone for the summit. Panelists include Paul Yonamine, chairman emeritus of Central Pacific Bank; Hidehiko Yuzaki, governor of Hiroshima; and former state Sen. Brian Taniguchi.

Meeting sessions with panelists from Japan and Hawaii will include discussions about cross-border commerce, sustainable tourism, sustainable energy, education and nurturing global talent, and sustainable agriculture.

Services and products will be showcased in a marketplace with up to 35 booths from both Japan and Hawaii.

The summit registration deadline is Saturday. For more information about the summit or to register, visit jashawaii.org/summit.

The cost to attend is $550 for attendees from Hawaii and $400 for attendees from Japan. The cost covers all meeting sessions, access to the Marketplace, two lunches, coffee breaks and the closing reception. Registration is $100 for those who would like to visit the Marketplace and only attend the closing reception.

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Star-Advertiser staff writer Nina Wu contributed to this report.