FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                            September 29, 2005 Release No. M-72   

MAYOR TRAVELS TO JAPAN TO PROMOTE HONOLULU, INSPECT RAIL

            Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann today (Thursday, September 29, 2005) announced he will travel to Japan to lead a marketing campaign  – “Wow Honolulu “ – aimed at attracting Japanese visitors and business.

“We want to tell the leaders in our most important foreign market that there are many new reasons to visit Honolulu, to hold conventions here and to do business here,” said the mayor. “Our economy is thriving, development is booming and we’re celebrating Ha‘aheo No O Honolulu, the centennial of the City and County of Honolulu.”

The week-long trip will include presentations to Japanese travel industry firms by the mayor, the Oahu Visitors Bureau, the Hawaii Convention Center and the Honolulu Film Office and Hawaii International Film Association. Hannemann also is scheduled to visit three state-of-the-art rail transit technologies, see presentations on waste-energy conversion and recycling and meet with some of Japan’s top business leaders as well as Shintaro Ishihara, the governor of Tokyo.

 Mayor Hannemann is scheduled to leave Saturday (October 1) and return on October 8.

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CONTACT: 

            Mark Matsunaga, 527-5767