Mayor Mufi Hannemann will be meeting with business and tourism officials in Japan and the Philippines to visit with tourism officials and cement sister-city relationships.

Starting on Tuesday, Hannemann will visit Naha, Okinawa to discuss plans for the 50th anniversary of the Honolulu-Naha Sister city relationship and then move to Hiroshima to meet with officials there, according to a news statement issued by Hannemann.
Hannemann said he would return to Honolulu Nov. 12. The Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce and the Honolulu Festival Foundation are picking up the tab for Hannemann's and his wife's travel costs. City officials accompanying Hannemann in the Philippines are paying their own way and using vacation pay for their time, the mayor said in his prepared statement. The city's Office of Economic Development is paying for Hannemann's Philippines trip.