Planting Flame Trees With Kanagawa Truckers Association

Our friends from Isa CNMI, led by Aya-san Matsumoto and Horiguchi-san, led some members of the Kanagawa Truckers Association of Japan to this afternoon's flame tree planting at American Memorial Park. Beautify CNMI's Cinta Kaipat, Angelo Villagomez, Gus Kaipat, and the Kaipat boys (Marvin, AJ, Jun, and Dusty) along with my other nephew Peter Angui, joined the group. Brad Doerr of MINA was also there and brought the flame trees that were planted.

The flame trees that Herminia Fuscho donated, which had been growing under the Ylang Ylang tree at my Mom's house were loaded into the Beautify CNMI! trailer that Gus and the boys hauled to American Memorial Park. The rest of the flame trees will be planted as soon as the Park staff decide the most appropriate places to plant them. Ranger Nancy is off island, so we got to meet Ranger Rianna (I hope I spelled her name right). I was going to shake her hand when I introduced myself, until I saw how muddy her hand was (you'll see it in the slideshow), so...never mind. :) Anyway, thank you, good folks at American Memorial Park and Park Rangers Nancy and Rianna!

The Kanagawa Group makes a living driving trucks. It is remarkable and commendable that they came to Saipan to plant trees to do their part to help reduce the carbon footprint we humans have left on Earth. Thank you SO much! Arigato gozaimasu!

Thank You, Aya-san and Willy-san!

It's been quite a while since Beautify CNMI! friends enjoyed an evening out together. I have to thank Aya-san and Willy-san for the invitation. Arigato Gozaimasu!

The leader of this Japanese group (the gentleman with me in the first photo in this slideshow) brought a group to Saipan last year to shoot a movie and to promote the Japanese version of "Miss Saipan" contest. (The winner got a part in the movie.) Last year, the film crew landed in Saipan and went straight from the airport to Pau Pau Beach to do a cleanup with Beautify CNMI! This gentleman is the film director.

Now, they're back with a new set of contestants and some members of the first crew. Welcome back and thank you for promoting our islands.

To sum up the evening -- the food was delicious, the company was great, and everyone had a great time!



Angelo has a post on this evening and the contest here.

The Beautify CNMI "Beauty Virus" Is Alive And Well

Thanks to Aya-san and Willy-san of Isa CNMI for keeping the Beautify CNMI "Beauty Virus" alive and well!

Gus and I got our niece and nephews together and headed up to the Last Command Post in Marpi, Saipan, this bright Sunday morning for a cleanup with Isa CNMI and 200 visitors from Japan. They are members of the Nenpoushinkyou group in Japan. They say they have 800,000 members. WOW!

I put together this slide show of the day's events. The first 100 or so pictures were taken of the cleanup.

The last pictures are of the first blooming flame tree of the group we planted on lower Dandan Road (the road leading up to Dandan from the Welcome/Adios Sign). We planted these trees last year, and now one of them is already blooming!

The last pictures are of the road sign on Tun Kiyoshi Road.

Thanks to everyone who pitched in to help. Isa CNMI's Aya-san and Willy-san Matsumoto led the effort with Beautify CNMI and her coalition partners MVA, PDI, Tasi Tours, RC&D, PEW, and community members. In addition to Gus and I and our niece Sheena Saures and nephews Peter Saures, Franklin, Josiah and Jun Lizama, other community members who were there included Juanita Fajardo and her niece Breana and nephew Vince.

Once, again, thanks to everyone for a fine job! Arigato-gozaimasu!

Beautifying With Nihon University

Aya-san and Willy-san Matsumoto invited me and other Beautify CNMI! partners to join Isa-CNMI and Nihon University students in a beach cleanup at Aquarius Beach Hotel. I was there with my staff, Dennis Cabrera, Angelo Villagomez of RC&D and MINA, and FMI President Marites Castillo at 7 a.m.
We armed ourselves with gloves and trash bags and fanned out.
Honda-san (far right) of ISA-CNMI leads a group.
And everyone was off and running.
The group made their way towards the Sugar Dock and then looped around.
We ended up right back where we started. We had a short presentation of gifts.
Aya-san, who is a board member of MINA, presents the group with a MINA t-shirt.
Marites and I presented them with a Beautify CNMI t-shirt.
I presented them with a Beautify CNMI! bag.
And then we took the obligatory group shot and shouted -- 1, 2, 3 -- Beautify CNMI!
There was also time for one last photo. Aya-san Matusumoto, Sensei Koshiro, me, and Marites.

Arigato Gozaimasu! Si Yu'us Ma'ase! Olomwaay! Thank You!

I left the beach at 8:10 and rushed home to get ready for my meeting with the SWAT team who is looking at overhauling our entire workfrorce training system. The meeting started at 9 a.m.

I arrived there about 9:10, just in time for the slide presentation of HB 15-38, my labor reform bill. The presentation went well; it was well received.

Then I had to leave at 11:15 to head up to the Hachiman Jinja for a luncheon meeting. The Nihon University students met us there, as seen in the photos below.

Please Help Find Cookie!

Please help find Cookie. Cookie belongs to Mrs. Aya Matsumoto. Aya-san leads ISA-CNMI, which is a very active partner of Beautify CNMI!

Here's an e-mail message I received from Katie Busenkell, Chair of Beautify CNMI!'s Animal Welfare Committee:

It's all about helping each other -

Aya, an active Beautify CNMI! volunteer, has lost her dog, Cookie.
Time is of the essence in getting Cookie back to Aya safely, so we are
asking for your help.

Cookie was last seen at 1:00 a.m. on April 6, 2007 in Gualo Rai,
Pacific Eagle Bldg. She is wearing a red collar.

If you have any information, pleaes call Aya at 234-1210. Aya will be
leaving the island on Sunday, so if you see Cookie after Sunday,
please call Katie at 256-0243 or email me at busenkell@gmail.com.

Thanks for your help and support.


Cookie please come back...
I heard the bad news this morning,
and cant believe that your gone.
I hope this is all a dream that I'm in
what really happened...

I hope your not in pain...
I hope that your happy now
I hope.....
I really do hope for you to come back home tho...

please... by Marie

Editor's Note: If I'm not mistaken, Marie is Aya-san's daughter who lives and studies in Japan.

Thank you Katie and everyone who can help us find Cookie.

Rep. Cinta Kaipat

Light Moment Cleaning the Lighthouse

This is why I love volunteering with these folks from the Friends of the Mariana Islands (FMI). We not only work hard, but we sure do have a lot of fun, too! Thank you and Salamat Po!

Thanks also to our friends and partners from ISA-CNMI. In Chamorro, "Isa" means "rainbow." Aya-san Matsumoto leads this group of wonderful people in serving as the rainbow between Japan and the CNMI. Aqua Resort's Yoshimi-san was also on hand. Domo arigato gozaimasu!

Dining For A Good Cause With ISA CNMI and Aqua Resort

Angelo, Gus, and I had a fun dinner with our Beautify CNMI! partners from ISA CNMI and Aqua Resort last Friday, February 9. The leader of ISA CNMI, Aya Matsumoto (second from right), extended the invitation. Domo Arigato, Aya-san! We were glad to do our part to support the fundraising efforts being done on behalf of Beautify CNMI! by Yoshimi-san and the wonderful folks at Aqua Resort. The food is excellent and you get 10% off your meal plus they get to donate 5% to MINA for Beautify CNMI! How cool is that?!

Fun Facts: Did you know that at least 125 people in Japan are interested in Beautify CNMI? Our ISA partners got the buzz going by translating our Beautify CNMI! website (check us out at www.beautifycnmi.com) into Japanese and got the folks in Japan interested in what we're doing here in the CNMI! Is that terrific or is that terrific?

Thank you! Domo Arigato!Si Yu'us Ma'ase! Olomwaay!