5th Saipan Awaodori Festival: an affair to remember

THE beating of the drums rose to a deafening level and the crowd flocked closer to the stage to witness a showcase of color and skill at the height of the 5^th Awaodori Festival on April 19.
Kids and adults craned their necks to watch how fast the dancers’ feet caught up with the beat but the members of the professional Tokyo Tensuiren Group from Koenji, Japan and the 45 members of the Saipan Awaodori team did not miss a single beat.
The unexpected construction undergoing at the Coral Tree Avenue in Garapan prompted organizers to move the Thursday market to the Fishing Base, and the new location gave the performers more elbow room to do their show.
For first timers, watching the Awaodori Dancers is a real treat. It’s like being given a glimpse of the biggest festival held every last Saturday and Sunday of August in Koenji. The drum beats will bring spectators to the narrow streets of Koenji and squeeze through hundreds of thousands of people from all parts of the world and watching thousands of Awaodori Festival dancers in their flashing and colorful costumes.
PDM Promoters Inc., is the organizer of the annual Saipan Awaodori Festival under its president Misako Kamata. Sonia Siwa of the PDM Promoters said that this year was special because members from three Awaodori groups flew in from Tokyo.
“We usually only have the dancers and musicians of the Tokyo Tensui-ren group but this year, we have representatives from Benkei-ren and Aoi Shin-ren groups and these are among the very famous groups in Japan. This is very good news. Hopefully this can encourage more groups from Japan to participate in the future Saipan Awaodori Festivals,” Siwa said.
From 5:30 p.m. all the way through 8:30 p.m. on Thursday last week, the joint Awaodori teams from Japan and Saipan impressed and stunned audiences along the streets of Garapan—all the way from Fiesta Resort & Spa lobby to the front of the Shenanigan Restaurant building, and heading toward Duty Free Shop Galleria for a short performance before capping the day’s festivities with a hit performance at the Fishing Base street market.
The group also performed during the opening of the Flame tree Festival at the Civic Park Center on Friday evening.
MVA recognition
Marianas Visitors Authority represented by Judy Torres presented a certificate of appreciation to the Tokyo Tensui-ren group for its continued support and promotion of the CNMI as a preferred travel destination during a break in their performance at the street market on Thursday.
Except for last year where PDM Promoters Inc had to cancel the festival in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March last year, the Tokyo Tensui-ren group had been coming here and performing for the past four festivals.
Major sponsors for the Awaodori Festival are DFS Galleria, Docomo Pacific, Tan Sui Lin Foundation and Kinpachi Restaurant. For more information, please call 234-6900.

The secret of the Singing Bowls

MY hand started to shake as I balanced myself to keep still. I was in an antique store and a 6.5-inch dull gold bowl was on my left palm. The store manager, a friend of mine handed me a piece of round wood which came with the bowl. I held the wood, which was called a striker, in my right hand.
Under his  instruction, I began to rotate the striker on the sides of the bowl awkwardly, impatient to get feel that vibrating feel. I did
not feel anything except for added nervousness in case the bowl would fall and break.
I kept trying and learned the technique and very soon, I started to hear a soothing sound and feel a pleasant vibration from inside the bowl, going to my palm. I kept on rotating the striker and imagined myself inside a peaceful temple, deep in meditation. I imagined grassy meadows, flowing rivers, wide expanse of blue skies. Without meaning to, I got lost in thoughts and felt myself slowly slipping into a relaxed stance.
Coming back to reality, I looked at the set of Singing Bowls with new eyes. I’ve always taken them for granted as part of any antique displays and I never go near them or touch them.

playing the singing bowls

Digging a little into the history of Singing Bowls, I learned that these are classic instruments and meditation tools in Tibet but these are also known as Himalayan singing bowls.
If you haven’t seen or tried playing a Singing Bowl, drop by the Fu Dogs & Qi shop at the Marianas Business Plaza in Susupe.
Singing Bowls come in different sizes, shades of color and designs and they are priced based on their weight, size, and condition. It means that the bigger the Singing Bowl is, the higher the price.
My friend said that today, lots of people have Singing Bowls in their homes although not everybody believes in the spiritual traditions and religious practices.
People now are also using the Singing Bowl for meditation, trance-induction, relaxation, healthcare, and personal well-being.
When you are tired from a day’s work or just bored and needs to rewind, try playing a Singing Bowl and see what it will do to calm your soul.

This article was first published HERE

Mass cremation at the Marpi jungles

Chosen as Story of the Week for JPG on September 22, 2011.
 (http://jpgmag.com/photos/3143830)

  First published at the Marianas Variety

THE silence of the damp morning air was broken by the crackling and hissing sound as dried pieces of wood caught fire from the lighted torches. Members of the Kuentai, a Japan-based non-profit organization whose goal is to return the remains of these dead soldiers to their homeland was starting the first ever mass cremation of the human remains of 575 Japanese soldiers who died in Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, during the bloody World War 2.

While the entire nation was recollecting the horrifying 9/11 events 10 years ago, the Japanese community in Saipan were also mourning for their soldiers who lost their lives.
But unlike that fateful day when their bodies were dumped and buried in a mass grave over 67 years ago, the skeletal remains that were recovered following months of excavation from different areas in Marpi were neatly piled and stacked on tin plates and placed on top of firewood.

Under the shade of a canopy, representatives of the Japanese community and local island officials honored the memory of the dead soldiers and offered flowers for the sacrifices that they gave. The atmosphere in the small clearing that was once an airport in Banadero, Marpi took on a surreal mood as the yellow and orange fires hungrily licked the firewood that would eventually reduce the pile of bones into ashes, the only remnants of the Japanese soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice during the battle.
Trying to overpower the strong smell of gasoline and the stench of burning bones, I went around in a blur, capturing the memories of the first open cremation I have ever witnessed on camera.
As the flames on each pile got hotter, the smoke got thicker and rose higher above the treetops surrounding the area. If you close your eyes you could almost see the souls of the dead soldiers rising up with the smoke from the bone piles.
547 sets of the soldiers' remains were unearthed from the mass grave the Kuentai group excavated in the village of Achugao, San Roque, Saipan, in May and June this year. 28 sets of skeletal remains have been excavated earlier and had been stored at the CNMI Historic Preservation Office and added to the latest number of human remains.
In a solemn ceremony, Yukio Tanabe, Envoy of the Japanese Government for the Recovery of the Remains in Saipan expressed his thanks to the members of the recovery mission, the CNMI government and the local people for the recovery of the remains of our soldiers on Saipan.

skeletal remains

Kuentai secretary general Usan Kurata said that the 575 recovered remains was like scratching the tip of the iceberg. Kurata said that there are still over 26,000 remains of Japanese soldiers on Saipan that they are hoping to excavate, cremate and give a proper burial in Japan.
The excavation and cremation raised quite a storm among locals, and especially from former U.S. soldiers who questioned the identity of the human remains, if all of the bones belonged to Japanese soldiers, safety concerns over holding an open air cremation, and other issues.
Kuentai said that the remains of Japanese soldiers cremated after proper identification procedures. The Kuentai Bereavement Group showed a 60-page report on the project done by archaeologists Randy A. Harper, Marilyn K. Swift and principal investigator Michael A. Fleming of the Swift and Harper Archaeological Resource Consulting where chronicles the processes they underwent before the excavations.

The report showed that three previous testing and data recovery programs were conducted in the area where the mass graves were located in Achugao, Tanapag in 1990, 1991 and 1995 and all the testing were in compliance with the U.S. 1935 Historic Sites Act, the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and the 1980 National Historic Preservation Act amendments as well as CNMI Public Laws 3-33 and 3-39 which pertain to the removal or treatment of human remains for historic preservation.
The archaeologists' report stated that the team dug a total of 77 trenches all over Marpi— 37 trenches from May 21-24 and 40 more trenches from June 27 to July 3 before the mass grave was finally located containing 547 sets of human remains. All the trench excavations were monitored by the archaeologists and the bones were identified to belong to Japanese soldiers.
The archaeologists also kept tallies of the number of skulls recovered and cross referenced with the total number of bones like femurs and tibias, to identify how many sets of human remains were recovered. The team retrieved a lot of items along with the skeletal remains from the mass graves including rifles or machine guns which the soldiers carried when they died, grenades, bayonets and knives, helmets, water canteens, a Japanese canister with medicine to counteract poison, belt buckles, buckets, wire, ribbed rebar, a mess cup, nails, metal braces, ammunition, ordnance, miscellaneous metals, and shrapnel.
The cremation was done at about 5 p.m. that day, and they had to wait till the ashes cooled enough to be placed in six different containers and flown off to Japan the next day.

I left the little clearing a couple of hours later, the memory of the hungry flames devouring the pile of the unknown soldiers' skeletons and the strong stench in the air etched into my memory forever. Some remnants of any bloody war could not just be blotted out easily.

Pancha is 2012 Saipan’s Next Top Chef

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A DISH of pan-seared Certified Angus Beef bathed with shallots and peppered corn mango sauce got the nod of the judges and gave Marianas Resort & Spa section chef Emmanuel Pancha the title of Saipan’s Next Top Chef in a competition at the Pacific Islands Club on Saturday afternoon.

Pancha’s dish, which also included a serving of potato pancakes with mascarpone on top and vegetable spaghetti, bested three other chefs.

“I did not expect to win but I am very happy,” Pancha said in an interview.

A dishwasher at the Marianas Resort 10 years ago, he got promoted as section chef five years after.

He said  he experimented with his entry a few weeks back, cooked samples of it and perfected the flavor and presentation.

Second place was Pacific Island sClub’s chef Joshua Ngeskebei while Jessie Aguon of the Hyatt finished third. The other participant was chef Nemencio Tulio of Fiesta Resort & Spa.

Event organizer Shelli Neal said more people turned up for this year’s event.

Another organizer, Vicky Benavente of the Pacific Islands Club, said “ticket sales went beyond our expectations, and we are very glad for the overall support we got from the community.”

Peter Duenas, Guam celebrity chef and event host, said  the competition was “great,” as it encouraged island chefs to use local ingredients and boost their morale.

He also noted that the competition was for a good cause and participating is rewarding in itself.

Duenas said the competition will be aired on his “TV Outdoor Chef” show’s next season.

The event was organized by the Empty Vessel Ministry Foundation to help raise funds to support low-income women, children, and families on Saipan, Kenya, the Philippines and Bangladesh.

Published HERE

Castro wins 2012 Queen Marianas Gay crown

A CANDIDATE from Guam bagged the 2012 Queen Marianas Gay Pageant title after besting four other contestants in the Hibiscus Hall of Fiesta Resort & Spa on Saturday evening.

Scarlett Castro, first runner up in the 2011 Miss Guahan pageant, also won the Best in Talent and Best in Lingerie awards.

“I am very happy and thankful my family and friends from Saipan and Guam came to the event to support me,” Castro said.

She said the competition was tough but she did her best. Castro was born on Saipan but relocated to Guam when she was five.

“I am always happy to be back home here,” she said.

Castro’s priorities are to help educate the people of the CNMI and Guam about the lifestyle of  gays, and to do what she can to combat domestic violence.

2012 Queen Marianas Gay Pageant first runner up was Leah Salas, also from Guam. She was named  Best in Girls Night Outfit and Evening Wear.

Prostee Lahore was named Miss Photogenic while Nina Camacho was Miss Congeniality.

The 2012 Queen Marianas Gay Pageant was hosted by Ge’la & Friends Production whose president is Elsa Nieto.  She said  she was happy with the turnout for the event.

“The pageant was a success, and we were able to deliver what we promised and that was a fun and entertaining evening,” Nieto said.

She said they will be making a donation to Guma Esperansa, which provides sanctuary, counseling and advocacy to  victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

“Ge’la and Friends would like to thank all of the sponsors and supporters to make this event a success. This is just the beginning of our journey to provide help and hope to those in need,” Nieto said.

The judges were Eulalia Villagomez, Tonnei Camacho, and Nida Deleon Guerrero.

The performers were Milkshake, the Party Rock Group and 2011 Queen Marianas Trinity Hufana from Guam.

Sponsors were Fiesta Resort & Spa, Pacific Islands Club, Saipan Ice & Water, Star Water Company, Islander Rent a Car, Marpac, Pacific Trading Company, National Office Supply, Duty Free Shoppers, Stickers Express Guam, Power 99, Saipan Music & Dance, Top Notch and Kevin’s Department Store.

First published HERE

5-Year Extension Requested For CNMI Immigration Federalization

‘Void of skilled labor’ when visa period expires raises concerns

SAIPAN, CNMI (Marianas Variety, June 27, 2012) – The Saipan Chamber of Commerce recommends another five-year extension of the federalization transition to prevent the loss of the islands’ human resources and save the ailing Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’ (CNMI) economy.

The recommendation was based on a poll conducted among the chamber members in response to the request of the U.S. Government Accountability Office that they comment on any "uncertainty" they are facing as a result of the federalization of Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) immigration.

Chamber members believe that if an additional transition period were not to be granted, existing businesses would no longer be able to secure Commonwealth-only worker (CW-1) visas past Nov. 2014 for foreign national workers, and there would be a corresponding void of skilled labor no longer available thereafter within the commonwealth for businesses and essential services.

The transition period ends on Dec. 31, 2014.

Chamber president Douglas Brennan said regardless of the eventual date, the CNMI economy will suffer as a result of loss in human resources.

He said chamber members were "overwhelmingly consistent in attesting to the…uncertainty created with the approaching date…when all CW-1 visa holders would be ‘zeroed out,’ and companies employing CW-1 applicants in skilled positions would not be able to easily locate qualified replacements."

The chamber maintains that CW-1 visa holders have "an enormous position range in the CNMI — positions in management, business and finance, computer and math, engineering and architectural technicians, legal and educational occupations, entertainment, healthcare support, protective services, food preparation, maintenance, sales, office administration, farming and fishing, installation and repair, automotive, production and transportation — all part of the 11,739 CW-1 visa applications [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] received for CNMI employers."

The chamber said its members believe that "the CNMI has been, and will continue to be, dependent upon foreign national employees to supplement the small numbers of U.S. local potential hires" in the commonwealth.

"This is in addition to the fact that there isn’t much training available in the CNMI for technical positions, which means the dependence will continue until a change in education evolves," the chamber added.

It noted that local employees leave the island for greener pastures once trained or after receiving their formal education.

The chamber said in the past five years, operations shrunk and the business customer base has decreased by over 25 percent.

At the end of the current transition period, without CW-1 visas, the economic meltdown will worsen, it added.

According to the chamber, "a startling example of the disruption that would be caused when CW-1 visas are eliminated would be in the case of the Commonwealth Healthcare Center [once] those CW-1 visas were no longer available."

CHC has a little over 100 nurses, and 90 percent of those nurses have been applied for CW-1 visas. None of those applications from the CHC have been processed and/or issued yet.

If those CW-1 visas were no longer available the hospital could not function and would stop serving those needing medical services, the chamber said.

CHC has the only real operating rooms in the CNMI. "Without nurses and attendants, everything stops," the chamber said.

If the U.S. Labor Department recommends ending the transition in 2014, a potential health threatening situation would unfold, the chamber added.

"It is also fair to say that without a functioning public healthcare center available for companies and their employees, CNMI residents would suffer. Further, future investment, the chamber’s sought-after retirement visa program and other new economic possibilities, are severely threatened with this healthcare ‘uncertainty’ that will surely occur should the transition period not be extended," the chamber said.

Published at the Marianas Variety and Pacific Pacific Islands Report

Freezing moments of daily life in the Marianas

HAVE you ever thought of how your copy of a daily newspaper comes into your hands? Or how a flat tire returns to normal so you can drive your vehicle again?

CNMI Museum of History & Culture executive director Robert Hunter and his mom Gloria Hunter at the Marianas Wide photo exhibit.

If you need a haircut or makeover, a visit to the beauty parlor solves it all. If you need to get around the island and you have no car, there are taxis  to take you to your destination. Go to a store and a salesclerk will be there to assist you.

Each of these everyday things that we all take for granted are possible because of real people with real lives.

For two weeks in August last year, renowned photographer and historian Dr. Dirk Spennemann made the rounds observing and capturing people from all walks of life on Saipan, Tinian and Guam, freezing moments of everyday life.

Spennemann covered a wide variety of subjects documenting the daily lives of people in the Marianas, both at work and at play.

All these moments are now available for free viewing in the exhibit “Marianas Wide,” which opened on Wednesday night at the CNMI Museum of History and Culture on Middle Road in Garapan.

Go over the images and see for yourself how Spennemann captured the everyday stories in  stores, churches, the night market, tourist sites, farms and a scrap metal shop, as well as other work places, at the cultural center and historical sites. You will meet familiar faces in these powerful images.

They tell stories about life and people in the Marianas. Spennemann crossed borders and cultural barriers in these snap shots, capturing Chamorros, Carolinians, Koreans, Japanese, Bangladeshis, Filipinos, Chinese and other islanders in Micronesia.

These images will be valuable parts of the history of the islands, giving future generations glimpses of what life was in the Marianas in the early years of the 21st century.

Photographer Dirk Spennemann shows the Widelux Panorama camera he used for the photos on exhibit at the CNMI Museum of History & Culture. Photos by Raquel C. Bagnol

About the artist

Spennemann is an Australia-based photographer whose work explores the interaction of cultural expression, landscape and human experience through the medium of photography. He is associate professor of cultural heritage studies at Charles Sturt University in Albury, Australia.

Spennemann used a vintage 1960s Panon Widelux — one of those Japanese 35mm film cameras designed to reproduce a panoramic image covering 120 degrees, the same breadth of vision that the human eye normally sees.

Spennemann’s photographs have been exhibited in museums and galleries in Australia, Alaska, California and Saipan. Visit http://www.ausphoto.net to see more of Spennemann’s images.

Photographers, historians and community members attended yesterday’s opening of the exhibit, which will run until July 13. For more information, call the CNMI Museum at 664-2160.

First published HERE