Hawaii leaders explore fashion, technology partnerships in Japan

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaii leaders are in Japan this week, exploring new business partnerships and technology that could create opportunities back at home.

Japan is Hawaiʻi’s second-largest export market and largest import supplier, according to the Hawaii Department of Business, Econonic Development, and Tourism (DBEDT).

DBEDT hosted a roundtable Wednesday in Tokyo with the U.S.-Japan Council and the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research (PICHTR).

Then on Thursday, a symposium will bring together leaders in government, business and other sectors to discuss the future of partnerships between the U.S. and Japan.

DBEDT Director James Tokioka said he sees potential in partnering with Japanese companies like Mitsufuji, which connects technology with Hawaii apparel companies to pair local design with advanced manufacturing.

The company combines advanced knitting technology with wearable sensors, creating clothing that uses conductive fibers to pick up heart signals and send data that tracks changes in the wearer’s condition and flags potential heart-related risks.

“The technology that they have it’s amazing. You can’t imagine how this is made,” Tokioka said. “They showed us on the computer how each thread has a number and, you know, it’s something that we know can work in Hawaii.”

PICHTR president Ian Kitajima said his organization has been working with Mitsufuji, and the next goal is a U.S. foothold in Hawaii.

“We have fantastic industries in Hawaii, but they’re kind of separated,” Kitajima said. “The fashion industry is separated from the manufacturing industry and from other industries, so it’s a way to pull it all together, but also build this next generation.”

Kitajima says Hawaii could be the next capital of fashion, and hopes working with Mitsufuji will bring it to the next level.

“I think it’s always been kind of our imaginations about what is possible. And so when you bring a company like Mitsufuji, which we started working with 13 years ago, seeing the possibilities, all of a sudden, it’s just inviting our designers, our cultural practitioners, national security people, health people — there’s so many applications,” Kitajima said.