Consulate-General joins Obon celebrations

STORY AND PICS

BY CARLI WILLIS

Dignitaries, including the Consulate-General of Japan Mr Gomakubo Junji, joined the descendants of Zenadth Kes Japanese pearl divers for this year’s Obon ceremony on Waiben on Tuesday.

Obon is Japan’s national day for commemorating and remembering ancestors, and has been celebrated here since 2006.

Prominent pearl diver Tomitaro ‘Tommy’ Fujii’ was commemorated on the island with a statue, his daughter Chiomi ‘Chi Chi’ said.

“My father was awarded a medal from Japan for his outstanding work in relationships with the Australian Government, the community and the pearling industry,” she said.

Priest Tetsu Yu said Obon was a very important national holiday in Japan.

“For a week or so a lot of businesses close,” he said.

“Obon is a time for us to pay our respects to our ancestors.”

Ms Fujii said she was proud this year’s event had been organised by the younger generation.

“You can see a second generation putting their hands up, and I think that’s wonderful,” she said.

“If we don’t tell our other younger descendants where we come from, our heritage will get lost.”

Bill Shibasaki, whose father was also a prominent pearl diver, said the Japanese divers didn’t get much recognition in their time and couldn’t speak English well enough to speak up.

“I think they should have got a lot more attention, they certainly did a lot of things around the place,” he said. He said ceremonies like Obon, which the wider community was invited to attend, were a way of bringing people and cultures together.

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