Gov. David Ige to ask Japanese officials to treat Hawaii differently regarding travel

Gov. David Ige plans to ask Japanese officials to treat Hawaii differently from the mainland when it comes to COVID-19 limits that Japanese travelers face when returning from Hawaii.

Ige offered no specifics during an appearance Wednesday on the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream program but suggested that reentry rules might be eased for Japanese nationals who vacation in Hawaii.

Since March 1, Japanese residents have been able to get exempted from Japan’s travel quarantine if they are boosted and can show proof of a negative result on a COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours of their return home. They must also upon their arrival in Japan take a rapid antigen test, with wait times averaging one to three hours.

Despite loosened restrictions in Hawaii, Japanese visitors will still see a lot of people wearing masks in the isles, Ige said.

He called the Japanese visitor market “the most important international source of travel to Hawaii” that evaporated when COVID-19 took hold starting in March 2020.

Hawaii Tourism Authority reported that more than 1.5 million visitors came from Japan to Hawaii in 2019, generating more than $2 billion in spending. Last year, 24,232 visitors arrived from Japan and spent $82.9 million.

Japanese tourists are the kind of visitors Hawaii wants to attract and are respectful of the environment and appreciate Native Hawaiian culture, with more hula dancers in Japan — over 3 million — than even in Hawaii, Ige said.

Japanese hula dancers want to learn directly from Hawaii kumu hula and “in the most authentic ways they can,” he said.

He called the return of Japanese visitors “a priority” and said he plans to meet with Japanese travel partners and cabinet members — and possibly Prime Minister Fumio Kishida himself — during an upcoming six-day trip.

Eric Takahata, managing director of Hawaii Tourism Japan, said Wednesday that officials have discussed exempting Hawaii from Japan’s daily cap of 10,000 inbound travelers per day, which is dampening travel demand.

“Lifting the cap would mean that Hawaii could sell as many seats as we could fill,” he said.

According to Takahata, the Ige-led delegation from Hawaii headed to Japan next week is expected to include Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism Director Mike McCartney; Hawaii Tourism Authority President and CEO John De Fries; HTA board chair George Kam; HTA Chief Brand Officer Kalani Ka‘ana‘ana; and state House Speaker Scott Saiki, chair of the Japan Hawaii Legislative Friendship Association.

Regardless of current discussions, Takahata said Japan’s travel industry anticipates the Japanese government will remove the cap by late summer.

Also during Ige’s “Spotlight Hawaii” conversation, the governor was asked about hotly debated bills that passed the Legislature on Tuesday. He said his administration will need to study the details of bills that increase the state’s minimum wage incrementally to $18 by 2028 and establish a new governance structure for Mauna Kea before deciding whether he should sign or veto them.

Ige said he supported raising the state’s $10.10 an hour minimum wage four years ago and said the latest proposal “is long overdue.”

And he supports a change in Mauna Kea management.

The final bill heading to his desk “introduces the notion of mutual stewardship,” Ige said. “We’ve been searching for ways to manage Mauna Kea better.”

But the new plan will likely face a court challenge, and the final draft includes new language that the state supports astronomy in Hawaii — a statement that led to debate in the House and Senate floors Tuesday.

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Star-Advertiser staff writer Allison Schaefers contributed to this report.