COM 0212.076 1996-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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included Hawaii, situated between our Japanese and other Asian activities and corporate headquarters in Boston. These responsibilities brought me through Hawaii many times, and enabled me to observe fast hand the early efforts to introduce Hawaiian papayas to the Japanese market. One of the reasons for moving to Hawaii and the Big Island in particular was to took into the feasibility of developing the production of tropical fruit for export to the Continental US and Japanese markets. During the early seventies, I worked closely with the UHH, Hawaii State Department of Agriculture, the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce, and the Tri Fly Program in an effort to solve the quarantine restrictions facing the export of tropical fruit from Hawaii. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful in these efforts, and I went on to become involved in the flower, foliage, and plant business where the agricultural restrictions were not as severe. We made one last try in cooperation with a business school alumnus who was trying to use industrial revenue bonds to finance the establishment of an irradiation facility here on the Big Island. Those efforts also proved futile due to a strong vocal opposition on grounds other than scientific and economic. Now it appears that we have another opportunity to review the potential risks and benefits of such a facility, and hopefully this time we will be able to come to a different conclusion. I have only recently returned to the Big Island after nearly two years of living and working in Thailand and travelling extensively in South, Southeast, and East Asia. What impressed me the most about the emerging economies of Asir 2.