Wednesday, March 21, 2001
I was honored to represent the United States in Japan. The cherry blossom trees were a gift from the Governor Ozaki of Tokyo in 1912. They symbolize the important relationship we share.
I traveled to Japan with the Princess Chair of the National Conference of State Societies, Joan Neiman. When we landed in Japan, we were met by the Japanese Queen, Yuki, and a lady from the Japanese Cherry Blossom Association, Sonoko. I spent most of my time with these ladies. From there, we headed to Tokyo. Our schedules were so packed that I had little time to do personal site-seeing. Tokyo was our base, but we took many smaller two to three day trips. In Japan, they have prefectures which are like states. Each prefecture is run by a governor. Throughout my time there, I visited about 6 governors in their prefectures, as well as the mayors of each city we stopped in. We spent a lot of time in Hokkaido, a prefecture in the northern island. The cherry blossom trees were in full bloom during my visit, so we participated in their festival and enjoyed the 7 kilometer stretch of pink and white trees.
We then returned to Tokyo for a day, where we met with several Japanese dignitaries serving in the national government. For example, we met with the President of the House of Councilors, the Speaker of the House, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Land, Transport and Infrastructure, as well as others. My favorite, of all these meetings, was of course meeting the Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi. I gave him a copy of the National Geographic that my grandfather is in, as well as a turquoise ring that my aunt made. We talked about my Navajo ancestry, the parks in Wyoming and I wished him luck with his new office. Japan's economy could really use a boost and I hope he is the one that will bring prosperity to their country. After our meeting, I was surrounded by reporters and microphones...I even made it on to some Tokyo television news program! An experience I will never forget.
The rest of my time was spent traveling south. We stopped in the Gifu Prefecture, the Kyoto Prefecture and finally the Mie prefecture. We toured Mikimoto Pearl Island and watched the pearl divers (all female--they can hold their breath longer than men and have an extra layer of fat to protect them from cold waters). While in the south, we stayed in a few traditional Japanese hotels. We weren't allowed to wear shoes in our rooms, we slept on futons, and enjoyed green tea and sweets as we sat on the floor. We had attendants who helped us dress into kimonos for dinner; what a neat experience.
Our last few days were spent in a place called Shimoda where we celebrated the Black Ship festival. One hundred fifty years ago, Japan y opened its ports for trade and the first ships to make contact with Japan were black ships from America. In celebration, we were in a parade and had lots of people to meet, etc., all in honor of Japan/U.S. relations. During my time in Japan, I gave numerous speeches and tried to inform the people about my employment with the Senate and of the beauty and serenity of Wyoming...I met a lot of nice people, many of whom I hope to see during next year's 90th Anniversary of the Cherry Blossom Festival to be held here in Washington, DC.
