Obama Girls & Obama Boys:
the "Obama for Obama" support group Interview with Yasunori Maeno
The "Obama Girls and Obama Boys" participated in the Honolulu Festival for the first time. The city of Obama has been receiving a lot of American media attention recently because the name of their city is the same as the name of the President of the United States, Barack Obama. We had the opportunity to speak to Yasunori Maeno, representative of "Obama Girls & Obama Boys."
We choose to support Obama as we please. Yasunori Maeno
(Obama Boys)
Please tell us about Obama Girls and Obama Boys.
We decided to create our group to support Barack Obama when he was a candidate for President of the United States. We called ourselves "the group who supports Obama the candidate, as we please." Once he was elected we changed our name to "the 'Obama for Obama' support group." We organized a hula team called "Obama Girls" and we have been performing at various places ever since. But we soon realized that it wasn't as entertaining with only girls so we added the boys. We currently perform as girls and boys. Obama Girls started in March 2008 so they have been practicing for over a year. The boys have only five months under their belt.
You made a courtesy call to the Honolulu mayor's office immediately after your arrival. Please tell us about that.
Our flight was delayed by about twenty minutes so we barely made it to the State Capitol building in time. The ceremony had already started when we got to the capitol. We entered and as soon as we sat down we were led to the front. We were given a certificate of appreciation from the State of Hawaii for supporting President Obama. We attended a welcome lunch reception and the Honolulu Mayor's welcome reception. We gave our gifts that we brought from Obama City to the city of Honolulu. We also received an award for participating in the Honolulu Festival from the mayor. I accepted the award on behalf of our group.
We have been told that your group was interviewed by the local media. What did you think of Hawaii's TV studio?
We danced hula at the studio of KITV. It was a last minute request so we were quite surprised. We have performed at TV studios in Japan but this was the first time in a Hawaii studio. We also promoted the products that we brought from Obama. We are very happy to be on Hawaii's television program. It is something we would like to include in our activities in the future. Friendships were made too.
An "I love Obama" T-shirt from Obama City was given to the city of Honolulu.
The group received an award in appreciation of participating in the Honolulu Festival from Mayor Mufi Hannemann. The two are very proud and happy.
How long did you practice for the Honolulu Festival?
We practiced once a week. We all have other jobs so we get together once a week for 2 hours from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Our practice helps us stay healthy and supports our dieting as well.
Do you perform at other places in Japan?
The boys have not performed much, however the girls have danced at various places. We have opportunities to dance, including the boys, in Osaka in May and June. The Honolulu Festival was the first time for the boys to perform at a large event.
We know that you are part of Obama Boys. What do you think of dancing the hula?
I started last November. It is difficult, very interesting and it feels great. I love sports and enjoy golfing however all I do is hula now. (Laughter)
[ Performance at Ala Moana Center Stage ]
Members wait to perform at Ala Moana Center Stage. Not nervous at all, they were all having fun.
The Obama Girls danced with ease. The sun shined on stage and the ladies had big smiles on their faces.
Spectators from the first floor to the third floor watched. They enjoyed the performance of Obama Girls and Obama Boys.
The media interviewed Mr. Maeno and Ms. Shimizu. They were quite busy.
Please tell us about the future of "the 'Obama for Obama' support group"?
Our focus will be performing hula. Of course we will continue supporting President Obama but we also want to promote our city. Our goal is to have President Obama visit Obama City. That would be wonderful.
What kind of activities are you planning to promote your city?
Our members are not part of the government, we are private citizens, wives and salary men. We want to promote our city the best way that we can as an independent group. We want to increase our promotions in our own way. For example, we did one event last year. He had all sorts of private groups participate. There were many who danced hula. We make it so anyone can participate and there are no rigid regulations. That is our stance. We want to promote our city with the spirit of volunteering. We hope that visitors from other prefectures will come to Obama City and enjoy themselves. We partnered with the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau last year and had Ashley Layfield, Miss Hawaii 2007, come to Obama City and dance for us.
What do you think of the Honolulu Festival as an opportunity to promote your city?
We feel that it is easy to promote our city in Hawaii because of our affiliation. People who dance hula long to dance it in Hawaii. We participated in Matsuri in Hawaii last year. We are happy that we were asked to participate in the Honolulu Festival this time.
Would you like to meet President Obama? What would you do?
Of course we want to meet him as soon as possible. When we meet him we will dance hula. (Laughter) We don't really want to do something with the President, we just want to meet him more than anything else.
Do you have any message for the people of Hawaii, our elected officials and the mayor?
Our group is still very inexperienced but we would like for you to watch over us and support us. We would like for Hawaii to give us an opportunity to dance in front of President Obama some day. It would be nice if we can meet him initially in Hawaii and then have him visit Obama, Japan. That would be wonderful!
[ Performance in the Grand Parade ]
Obama Girls and Obama Boys in the Grand Parade in Waikiki.
The ladies promote the city of Obama to the people of Hawaii with their smiles and hula.
The Obama Girls wave to the crowd carrying a sticker of Obama.
They danced the hula in unison. Hard to believe that they've been dancing for only one year.
I practiced every day before coming to the Honolulu Festival.
Obama Girls Kiyomi Takahashi
We started practicing for the Honolulu Festival at the beginning of this year. I practiced every day. It started to rain during the parade. I was a bit worried but the rain stopped right away. Thank goodness. I didn't feel nervous at all and had a great time dancing. Thank you very much!
I will dance with all my heart so that people all over the world will get to know about Obama City.
Obama Boys Tatsuya Sano
I just started hula about half a year ago. I am a beginner. I was a little nervous during the performance but I danced with all my heart so that people all over the world will get to know about Obama City.
We enjoyed the beautiful hula.
Spectators Frank and Jody
I was familiar with the city of Obama from TV and the internet but I didn't know that they had such a wonderful hula team promoting their city. It was a wonderful performance. We enjoyed the beautiful hula.
![Volunteers! [ Hawaii Honolulu Festival ]](http://www.honolulufestival.com/eng/imgs/volunteers.gif)
![Press [ Hawaii Honolulu Festival ]](http://www.honolulufestival.com/eng/imgs/t_press.gif){kind=small}
Obama Girls Kiyomi Takahashi
Obama Boys Tatsuya Sano
Spectators Frank and Jody
