Taniguchi runs KTA Super Stores, a chain of family grocery stores on Hawaii Island. He is also director of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc., American Savings Bank and Hawaii Employers Mutual Insurance Corp. He is chairman-elect of the Chamber of Commerce
KTA Super Stores President Barry Taniguchi will be one of 12 delegates traveling to Japan next month with the Japanese American Leadership Delegation Program.
The trip will take delegates to Sendai in the Tohoku region to show support for the devastated region and learn from people living there.
The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership and the U.S.-Japan Council will sponsor a symposium March 5, focusing on empowering civil society in Japan. The delegation will also visit Tokyo for a variety of exchanges with high level leaders.
“Being a Sansei (third generation Japanese-American), my relationship with Japan has been quite limited; we were raised to be Americans of Japanese ancestry,” Taniguchi said. “It is only later in my life that I began to seek a cultural re-connection with Japan and our mother land.”
He continued, “I hope to gain a better and improved understanding of the long-term relations between Japanese Americans and Japan, and to expand our roles in advancing U.S.-Japan relations.”
Taniguchi runs KTA Super Stores, a chain of family grocery stores on Hawaii Island. He is also director of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc., American Savings Bank and Hawaii Employers Mutual Insurance Corp. He is chairman-elect of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii’s Board of Directors, and is involved with numerous foundations and organizations. — WHT
