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

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

Ige offered no specifics during an appearance on the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream program today but suggested that Japanese officials could treat their returning citizens differently when they return home.

Despite loosened restrictions, Japanese visitors will still see lots of people wearing masks in Hawaii, Ige said.

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

Japanese tourists are the kind of visitors that Hawaii wants and are respectful to 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.”

He plans to meet with Japanese travel partners and cabinet members — and possibly Prime Minister Fumio Kishida himself — during an upcoming six-day trip.

Asked about hotly debated bills that passed the Legislature on Tuesday, Ige said his administration will need to study details of the plan to increase the state’s minimum wage and 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 — a statement that led to debate in both the House and Senate floors on Tuesday.