All the participants and guests at the Opening Ceremony

September 19th, 2018
Wednesday

Another sunny day in Seattle, marking the start of Day 2 of the Grassroots Summit.
Today, all our participants signed up ahead of time to participate in different tours all around Seattle! Whether it be…

• Observing the manufacturing and assembly process of the 747, 767, 777, and the 787 Dreamliner up close with a VIP tour of the Boeing factory
• Going out to Snoqualmie Falls and enjoying some local Washington wine in Woodinville
• Touring Bill Speidel’s famed Seattle Underground Tour and Safeco Field, the home of the Mariners (Go Ichirō and Iwakuma!)
• Learning about Japanese-American history in Washington through the Nissei Veterans Committee and by visiting the Panama Hotel
• Touring three of Washington’s biggest corporations: Amazon, Starbucks, and Microsoft

Unebi High School students on the Japanese-American History Tour

VIP Boeing Tour

What educational and interesting tours!
I hope everyone enjoyed these tours and perhaps were able to get some omiyage (お土産) shopping finished?
Once all the tour groups returned, everyone boarded the Argosy Cruise to Tillicum Village. Thank you to all who spoke during the Opening Ceremony, including Minister for Communications and Cultural Affairs of the Japanese Embassy in the United States Takehiro Shimada, Washington State Lt. Governor Cyrus Habib, Consul General of Japan in Seattle Yoichiro Yamada, and Washington State Representative Sharon Tomiko Santos, and Ambassador Masaharu Kohno. We were also incredibly thankful to have the descendants of John Manjiro Nakahama, Captain William Whitfield, and Commodore Matthew Perry in attendance to showcase the importance of grassroots cultural exchange and how long these friendships between the peoples of the US and Japan can last! The speeches performed by the winners of the John Manjiro Speech Contest and the presentation on Japanese-American history from Unebi High School Students were extremely touching and memorable as well.

Once we arrived, everyone was greeted with some clam soup, traditional Native-American dances and dinner featuring traditionally roasted salmon. The Opening Ceremony ended on a high note with a lively boat ride back to Seattle at sunset.

Thank you to everyone who made all these tours possible and a huge Thank You for all of our guests who attended and participated in our Opening Ceremony!

Participants accepting clam soup upon arrival at Tillicum Village

Washington State Representative Sharon Tomiko Santos making a speech

Thank you to the Grassroots Summit sponsors for making the Opening Ceremony possible!