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2010

 
Hawai`i Première

The Miracle of the Gifted Quarter

Introduction by the Director Fumiko Irie  

Sunday, November 14th, 2010

 Spalding Hall Auditorium, University of Hawai`i at Manoa

Nearly 140 people joined us for the Hawaii Première of this heart-warming, eye-opening documentary, which is rapidly gaining an international following. The Director, Ms. Fumiko Irie, was present to share her insights. Mr. Koji Akatsuka, who was also in the film joined us from Japan and shared his thoughts with audience.

Katsuko is a teacher of impaired children in Japan. Her insightful narration reveals the incredible wisdom that this forgotten segment of our school population has to teach us about our own lives.  Be sure to see this screening, and experience the awakening of your own heart, as you discover “The Miracle of the Gifted Quarter.”

The Director's Message (part): 
The film is about Katsuko Yamamoto, a teacher at a school for challenged children, and her students. Among her students was Yukie, a teenage girl suffering from a fatal illness. Despite her situation, Yukie loved and accepted everything about herself, including her illness, the paralysis it caused, and her inevitable fate.

Yukie had even written a poem to express this sentiment, a poem I would like to share with you now:

“Arigato” (Thank you)

I’ve made a decision.

When my eyes stop seeing,

And when my legs stop moving,

I will say to them, “Thank you”
The Director Fumiko Irie 
was born in Osaka, and is currently married with two children. Her work is inspired by the words: "You are spectacular exactly the way you are," by Katsuko Yamamoto, a teacher at a school for challenged/handicapped children, who has given lectures all over Japan on behalf of her students. In December 2005, Fumiko started the "One Spoonful Sugar" movement to spotlight people who deliver messages on the dignity of life using her films.  She is the director and maker of the documentary film, "The Miracle of the Gifted Quarter."


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Experience the Art of Sacred Mandalas
With an accompaniment of Healing Vocals 
Sunday, January 24th 2010
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Spalding Hall Auditorium

Hauntingly beautiful Sanskrit chant accompanied a visually stunning slide-show of inspiring and beautiful pointllistic Mandala on January 24th, at the University of Hawaii Campus. Mandalas have been a sacred tool for meditation, healing, and transformation in most cultures throughout human history. A Mandala (Sanskrit word for "Circle," meaning wholeness, unity, oneness, and womb for creation) represents the infinite layers of consciousness and geometric design of the universe. 

The audience of nearly 150 “oohed” and “ahhed” as each new Mandala appeared on the screen. True to its origin as a symbol of spiritual enlightenment, these images clearly touched the souls of many and, in the words of one audience member, the chant by Master Chantress Vidya Yuka was the most moving she had ever heard. For more than an hour after the show’s conclusion, people lingered-on; talking about how these images and chants had affected them, touched their inner-self, and lifted them up.

Kaho, the artist who created the Mandala, shared her personal experience about how she started drawing Mandala, and how the drawing helped her discover her true self. One of her primary life-interests is helping children; she truly enjoys working with young people, and would like to develop an art program for our younger generations. In keeping with her ideals, in each new city where her art is shown, Kaho donates one of the works art to a local children’s facility. To commemorate her first show in Honolulu she selected the Shriner’s Hospital for the children; donating a beautiful art work titled “Thank you, Honolulu”.


Kaho Koinuma draws directly from the heart. Her sacred mandalas are expressions of love fi lled with prayers for each and every being to awaken to the essence of Love and for all experiences to be pathways home to one’s true nature. Many have found inner guidance and healing through meditating and contemplating her mandalas.
Prior to 2006, Kaho had no experience in fine art, but with a sudden inspiration and support from the universe, the mandalas started to appear
as answers to her heart’s calling.
Her work has been the subject of several articles, including a feature article in Hado magazine in which Kaho was interviewed by Dr. Masaru
Emoto, author of the best-selling books “The Hidden Messages in Water” and “The True Power of Water.” Since early 2007, Kaho has been exhibiting her mandalas and offering meditations, drawing workshops, and retreats For more information on her work, please visitwww.mandalasoftheheart.com


Vidya Yuka is a multi-talented being, who is in service of Truth, Integrity, and Love. Many fi nd great comfort and are deeply moved by her voice and through her other offerings.
Vidya has been travelling to India for several years. Her first calling in India was to volunteer at Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Calcutta. Next, she recived her certifi cates as International Shivananda Yoga instructor and Ayurvedic Massage Therapist in Kerala.
She was fi rst introduced to Bakhti Yoga (devotional chanting) at the Shivananda Yoga Ashram in Kerala. There, she discovered a deep love for Sanskrit chanting and a desire to learn this Ancient teaching.
Vidya now continues her studies in chanting in Chennai, India and hopes to spread and share this powerful form of prayer with all who are called,
by becoming a certified instructor.

 

2008

Hastume Sato
the Founder of  “Ischia in the Forest”: House of Rest and Relief
Sunday, November 16th, 2008
Queen Liliokalani Center, Room #412
University of Hawaii at Manoa

70 people gothered on Sunday November 16th at the Queen Liliokalani Center, room 412 to share the wisdom of Ms. Hatsume Sato who is a founder of "Ischia in the Forest": House of Rest and Relief.  Since 1992, Ms. Hatsume Sato has presided over a magical place in Northern Japan called “Ischia in the Forest” .  People from all over the world are drawn to “Ischia” seeking relief from the acute mental and physiological health problem caused by living in such a troubled, stressful world.   Ms. Sato provides food, love, healing, energy, advice, and hugs to people who seek her compassion.  Her long commitment to social welfare and community based educational activities has earned her numerous awards from the International Soroptimist Society, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls in more than 120 nations around the world. 


    


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Sachiko Adachi's Cosmic Consciousness Art Exhibition 
from Oct 23rd to 25th 
at The Art Board, Honolulu HI


Sachiko Adachi:
Born in Tokyo and a graduate of Waseda University,  Adachi broke conventional art concepts when she introduced, in the 1980s, her “Cosmic Art”.  

At the Japan Expo in Los Angeles in 1988, a fashion show  featured Adachi’s “12 Hitoe”; medieval  Japanese court ladies’ 12-layered Kimono as a “moving art”. In 1989, she was a winner at the Contemporary Art Expo in New York. In 1993, Adachi launched her own gallery “Space Sachi”, but passed away, at age 47,  just one day before the gallery opening. Exhibitions or her work continue to be held all over Japan.


 Most of modern art, it seems to me, is the idealistic expression of the ego. I don’t express my personality or ego in these pieces. They are vibrational representations as art of the pure essence of the universe, led by the feeling of let it be. It is my belief that the universe consists of Art and Science.

                               from “To live as we are” written by Sachiko Adachi 


                   

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Naoki Nishimura Charity Peace Concert in Hawaii: Composition for Hawaii
October 21st, 2008

Naoki Nishimura, Born in Matsuyama, Japan in 1949, Mr. Nishimura is a graduate of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. He was a composer of music for television and films before returning to his birthplace, and becoming a lecturer at Ehime University. Currently, he composes from his studio in Kochi, where he has been focusing on children’s songs, among his other projects.  Mr. Nishimura is renowned for his beautiful, meditative melodies promoting peace, and has performed around the world including at New York City's Carnegie Hall, the United Nations, as well as for Pope John Paul II in Vatican City.
About 150 audience enjoyed Mr. Nishimura's beautiful and peaceful melodies at the Parish Hall, Central Union Church, on 21st October, 2008. Mr. Nishimura donated all the donation from the audience ($402) to the Central Union Church.

      

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Artist Morio Matsui

 Meet the Artist! From Paris to Hawaii! 
at The Art Board, Honolulu, HI on February 23rd, 2008

       

Born in Toyohashi, Japan in 1942, Morio Matsui graduated from the Musashino College of Fine Arts (Tokyo) before continuing his training in France, at the Académie Julian and later at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Having lived in Corsica for the past ten years, he is the first Japanese artist to whom France has awarded the titles of “Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres” (2000) and “Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur” (2003) for his remarkable contribution to the development of Franco-Japanese co-operation in cultural matters. 


When he met Picasso, Picasso said, “This fellow has eyes of a feverish fight with real swords such that I might be    outstripped some time.” Picasso also said, “You will become a painter like me, however, don’t try to be me, but Morio Matsui yourself.” 

                                                                          

With former French President Jacques Chirac at Aichi World  Exposition.  Matsui displayed three of his paintings at the French Pavilion as a representative of French painters. 2005


He also visited Iolani School and Kapiolani Community College to have several classes with their students.


From Iolani School News:

Morio Matsui Visits

Two Lower School and an Upper School AP art class were honored Monday, February 25, to have famous contemporary artist Morio Matsui work with them in improving their watercolor painting style.  Mr. Matsui was born in Japan, and after graduation from the Musashino College of Fine Arts in Tokyo, moved to Paris where he was awarded a scholarship from the French government.  He  worked in Paris for 40 years studying the great masters and even met and discussed his work with Pablo Picasso. 

Mr. Matsui has been living on the island of Corsica for 10 years and loves the ocean influence on his paintings.  The students were impressed with Mr. Matsui's joy, energy and exhilaration as he worked the paint on paper using his fingers, brushes and pens.  When painting the student across the table, the artist was trying to get students to loosen up their tight style of painting to try and incorporate the personality of the model into his/her work.  Mr. Matsui usually paints on  canvases up to 15' tall.  This size canvas usually takes him 2 to 3 years to complete. 


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2007

Hawai‘i Premiere Screening of Documentary Film “Gaia Symphony No. 3 

 Thanks to all the supporters, volunteers, and the Friends of Gaia Symphony, Hawai'i premiere screening of "Gaia Symphony No. 3" was extremelysuccessful in October 2007.


 The “Gaia Symphony” documentary film series—the first section of which was released in Japan in 1992—delivers the message that the planet earth is a living organism and we humans are given lives as part of that organism.  This strong message captivated the hearts of many viewers who were interested in environmental protection as well as the relationship between the earth and people, and eventually led to the production of a total of six films to date.  Films in the “Gaia Symphony” series have been presented in many places, both inside and outside Japan solely on a non-profit basis.  Indeed, the series is a hidden, enduring hit that has not resorted to commercial distribution.

What made this Hawai‘i premiere showing especially memorable was that “Gaia Symphony No. 3,” the film selected for this screening, features celestial navigator Nainoa Thompson, who successfully finished the Hokule‘a Voyage to Japan in 2007.  Also, a fund raising reception in cooperation with the Polynesian Voyaging Society was held at the Halekulani Hotel on October 26 (Fri.), where Tatsumura and Thompson had a great talk in front of our supporters, which also made us possible to donate $4200 to the Polynesian Voyaging Society.

2006
Finding Your Inner Power:
 Lessons from Tempu Nakamura

Saturday, Dec, 9th, 2006
Imin Center at Jefferson Hall
University of Hawaii at Manoa

Tempu Nakamura [1876-1968] was one of the preeminent thinkers of modern Japan.  Son of a Samurai, a secret agent during the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars, a medical student at Columbia University, a student of guru Kaliapa, a body guard of Sun Yat-sen, and teacher… these descriptions only touch upon the life of Tempu Nakamura who developed the philosophy of Shin-shin Toitsu.  His life philosophy has influenced many, including prominent leaders, such as former Prime Minister Takashi Hara, and John D. Rockefeller III.  

      

 

The lecture “Finding Your Inner Power: Lessons from Tempu Nakamura”, held at the East-West Center, Imin Center-Jefferson Hall, fulfilled HF’s mission by presenting a program which facilitates enlightenment through understanding Asian philosophical resources little known to the western world.


Our Guest Speaker was the best-selling author, Mr. Ryohei Kamiwatari of Japan. Mr. Tsutomu Shimabukuro and his sister, Ms. Kurita accompanied Mr. Kamiwatari. Other honorable guests included: Japan’s Consul-General Mr. Shigeo Iwatani, Ms. Wendy Abe, President of the Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce, and Mr. Ed Hawkins from the Japan-America Society. Mr. Shimabukuro, who lost both feet in a train accident five years ago and subsequently became one of the world’s first double-amputee marathoner runners, shared his inspiring story at the reception after the lecture. 


    

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