Hawaii Convention Center Festival Stage (HCC Omatsuri Hiroba Stage)
Performances at the Festival Stage at the Hawaii Convention Center, the largest of Honolulu Festival stages, featured a variety of entertainment. Manoa DNA and many hula halau represented the Hawaiian culture. Then there were the traditional Japanese koto and taiko performances. Highlights of this year's Festival also showed diversity within Japan's representation. Daidengaku and Tenshumonogatari featured Kyogen artist Nomura Manzo and Japanese actress Matsuzaka Keiko. Then there was Akihabara idol Momoi Haruko's live performance.
Suga-Ren, having participated in the Honolulu Festival since its inception and always one of the crowd favorites, performed for the 15th time. Spectators were driven to the Festival Stage as soon as the group from Shikoku's Kochi Prefecture began their powerful and energetic IZANAI dance. Curiosity as to what was happening on stage aroused the crowd. It was standing room only. This year's dance theme was more of a matsuri atmosphere compared to last year's mysterious theme. The dance was dynamic and their costumes so stylish and chic. Donna, visiting from Canada, cheered the group on and said, "Their wonderful dance is so energetic and makes me feel good!"
The leader of Suga-Ren, Ms. Kunitomo, enjoys coming to Honolulu Festival and preparing a different dance for the spectators who look forward to them and expect to be surprised by their dance each year. It's a challenge that keeps her coming back.
Noguchi Yuko, a student from Japan going to school in Honolulu, says, "I am touched by the many traditions and culture of Japan at the Honolulu Festival. I'm feeling homesick."
This year's performance was a fast tempo YOSAKOI, very festive. It's amazing how they are always so powerful and full of energy!
Actress Matsuzaka Keiko plays the heroine Tomihime in Tenshumonogatari. Ms. Matsuzaka, so professional and furthermore charming and fascinating on stage.
Music Line Kotomu performing on the big stage. Such a wonderful performance, all their hard work and practice definitely paid off.
Daidengaku was a collaboration of dancers from Japan and Hawaii. Hawaii Convention Center Festival Stage was packed for this performance.
Children loved Momoi and got up on stage to dance with her and her Otaku fans.
The dancers of Leilani Hula Studio.A bit nervous but very graceful.
Hawaii Convention Center Friendship Stage (HCC Fureai Hiroba Stage)
The exciting news at the 15th Annual Honolulu Festival was that there were more groups participating in this Festival than the year before. And that meant an additional stage was added in the spacious, bright and high ceiling foyer of the Hawaii Convention Center.
The Friendship Stage focused on making sure that there was a complete variety of performances representing the Pacific Rim. We had dancers and musicians from Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, Vietnam, Korea and the Philippines. Very diverse and very entertaining. The whole atmosphere was quite fitting to the theme of this year's Festival, "Heart of the Pacific, Creating our Future." Here we were in Hawaii promoting cultural exchange and ethnic harmony throughout the Pacific Rim and passing on the traditions and customs to the future generations.
And true to the name of the stage, "Friendship Stage", there was a lot of goodwill and support shared by performing groups. We had the ladies of IBARAKI CITY Dance Drill Team World Wings sitting in the audience and cheering for the ladies of Dance Junction Hawaii as they performed. And soon after, they were taking pictures together and exchanging gifts that they had made for each other. This is what the Honolulu Festival is all about!
Dance Junction Hawaii is a popular dance group in Honolulu. They were in sync and their performance was magnificent.
Aloha Diamonds dance in their colorful costumes.They always do much better dancing hula at the Honolulu Festival than at their practices!
The sound of taiko vibrated throughout the Hawaii Convention Center. The audience really enjoyed this high energetic performance.
The dancers of the Alaska Native Heritage Center of Anchorage.They danced in their warm costumes and boots, not really conducive to Hawaii's warm weather!
The children of Montessori de Cagayan from the Philippines. Their movements, so perfect, hard to believe that they are children.
The students are members of the Kawananakoa Chamber Orchestra. Their beautiful music resonated throughout the Hawaii Convention Center.
Ala Moana Center
A huge crowd gathered to watch the performances at Ala Moana Center Stage despite the challenging weather. The first to perform at the Ala Moana Center Stage was the hula group from Japan, Leilani Hula Studio. Their performance was beautiful and they were in unison throughout the dance. Their colorful costumes seemed to brighten up the cloudy skies.
As the weather cleared up more people gathered around the stage to watch the variety of performances. Ms.Arbaeen visiting Hawaii all the way from Czechoslovakia, was impressed to be able to see so many different performances from all over the world at one time. What a lucky opportunity!
Miss Takahashi Kiyomi, a member of the Obama Girls, was all smiles after performing. She wasn't nervous and was glad to be able to enjoy the moment after practicing long and hard for the Honolulu Festival.
Sisters Phuc (23) and Mia (29) Nguyen, visiting from Connecticut for a two week vacation, found out about the Honolulu Festival through a poster ad on The Bus. "We went to the Hawaii Convention Center this morning. We had so much fun creating Japanese artwork from small bits of paper and making sandals from old T-shirts. We ate okonomiyaki for the very first time. It was delicious. We came here to see the other performances. We plan on taking our mom to the parade tomorrow. There's so much to see and do!" The Nguyen sisters sat in the very front of the Ala Moana Center Stage and were enjoying their day.
The Obama Girls and Obama Boys. Their hula was reminiscent of the movie "Hula Girls".
An exciting performance by the Double Dutch group from Japan, Ritsumeikan University dig up treasure. Spectators got on stage to challenge Double Dutch!
Crowds were mesmerized by the flawless performance of Nagaoka Y's Baton Studio.
Japan's number one cheerleading team Nippon Sport Science University Cheerleading Squad VORTEX energized the crowd with their smiles and dynamic performance.
Jujube Oilan from Hawaii showed the audience their beautiful costumes and a glimpse of their unique world.
Ukulele Studio Mahana proudly performs at Ala Moana Center Stage.
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Performances at the Festival Stage at the Hawaii Convention Center, the largest of Honolulu Festival stages, featured a variety of entertainment. Manoa DNA and many hula halau represented the Hawaiian culture. Then there were the traditional Japanese koto and taiko performances. Highlights of this year's Festival also showed diversity within Japan's representation. Daidengaku and Tenshumonogatari featured Kyogen artist Nomura Manzo and Japanese actress Matsuzaka Keiko. Then there was Akihabara idol Momoi Haruko's live performance. 
The exciting news at the 15th Annual Honolulu Festival was that there were more groups participating in this Festival than the year before. And that meant an additional stage was added in the spacious, bright and high ceiling foyer of the Hawaii Convention Center.
A huge crowd gathered to watch the performances at Ala Moana Center Stage despite the challenging weather. The first to perform at the Ala Moana Center Stage was the hula group from Japan, Leilani Hula Studio. Their performance was beautiful and they were in unison throughout the dance. Their colorful costumes seemed to brighten up the cloudy skies.
