"That's the Okinawan people — they're very inclusive, friendly, and they like to share everything about their culture, their food, dancing and fellowship," says David Arakawa, chairman of the 24th Okinawan Festival.

Kapi'olani Park is the setting for all kinds of cultural festivals, and one of the best is the Okinawan Festival — because it's imbued with that spirit Arakawa describes.

People of all ethnic backgrounds line up for okidogs, bowls of pig's feet soup and brown paper bags filled with fresh-from-the-fryer andagi. The driving rhythms of sanshin and taiko drums fill the air. And as the day winds down, everyone — Uchinanchu (a person of Okinawan ancestry) or not — gathers round the yagura for the bon dance, hundreds of smiling people in hapi coats moving in unison.

Arakawa, whose day job is senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Hawaiian Airlines, emphasizes that the festival isn't an Okinawans-only clique — it's for "Okinawans at heart, we put it on for the public at large, we're looking to share." That is why this year's festival is appropriately dubbed "Sharing Uchinanchu Aloha."

He points out that while Japan barred foreigners in the 19th century, Okinawa welcomed them.

Half-Okinawan Arakawa, as president-elect of the Hawaii United Okinawa Association, is honored to chair the festival.

"I guess it's a test before you become president — they see if you can run this festival," he says, laughing. It's no small job — according to a study done by the Hawai'i Tourism Bureau, the Okinawan Festival is the largest ethnic festival in the Islands.

The festival is organized by 52 member clubs of the Hawaii United Okinawa Association. Where many other festivals have commercial vendors not connected to the culture in question, every booth at the Okinawan Festival "is manned by the Okinawan clubs, so whatever that spirit is, it pervades the festivals," says Arakawa.

In June, the association bought property across Ka Uka Boulevard from its center in Waipi'o Gentry. The organization is in the midst of a fundraising drive so it can build a commercial area for lease and to hold cultural activities. To help raise money, a CD of folk music by Sensei Choichi Terukina, one of Japan's National Living Treasures, and a new Okinawan-English dictionary will be on sale at the association's capital campaign booth at the festival.

Taking the stage this year will be Calabash. Frontman Keith Nakaganeku straddles two cultures with his music — he plays Okinawan and Hawaiian tunes. The Uchinanchu has appeared in falsetto contests, too.

Flying in from Okinawa to perform are the taiko groups Naha Daiko and Shima Taiko, Radio Okinawa's Miuta Taisho and the folk group Deigo Musume.

Local groups will perform classical and minyo (folk) music and dances. They're just a few of the third- and fourth-generation Okinawans who keep their ancestors' culture alive.

And you can hear the Royal Hawaiian Band. Why? Bandmaster Michael Nakasone — Okinawan! So is former Miss Hawaii Traci Toguchi, who will take the stage to sing some songs from her forthcoming debut CD.

Proceeds from the festival go to fund the association's cultural programs.

"There's a saying that once you sit down with an Okinawan, you become family," says Arakawa. You could leave Kapi'olani Park with a lot more relatives.

Reach Lesa Griffith at lgriffith@honoluluadvertiser.com.