MILTON — National Aviation Museum in Pensacola soon will host the Japanese U.S. Military Program for the second year in a row.
However, the day before it does, Ken Okaniwa, Consul General of the Consulate General of Japan, will tour Naval Air Station Whiting Field. It will be the first time a consul general will have visited NAS Whiting Field.
Last November, Okaniwa couldn’t attend the fifth-anniversary celebration of the Florida Okinawa Kenjinkai Cultural Club at the Santa Rosa County auditorium. However, he did make Santa Rosa County connections in April during a meeting in Valparaiso that independent consultant Stanley Harper, with Naval Supply Systems Command Operations Services, and Santa Rosa County Economic Development Director Shannon Ogletree attended.
“We talked (about Naval Air Station Whiting Field) and the number of military retiring and their skill sets, and how that would fit in with companies from Japan looking to invest in the U.S. or, specifically, Santa Rosa County,” Ogletree said in April.
Ogletree and Harper said Okaniwa is particularly interested in the aerospace industry.
This month, he plans to see NAS Whiting Field first hand in a trip negotiated by Harper.
The purpose of a consul, Harper said, is to mind Japanese people’s welfare in a foreign land, whether they have green cards or they're residents. The consul teaches the native population about Japanese culture. They also seek economic development opportunities between the state or country and Japan.
Okaniwa's visit follows Whiting Field’s recognition with significant awards: these include back-to-back Small Installation of the Year awards for 2015 and 2016, the Association of Defense Communities Installation Excellence award, and the USS Bainbridge Award for Community Service.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Japanese consul general to visit NAS Whiting Field