Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and NMI-Japan Disaster Relief president Nick Nishikawa personally handed a check for $50,000 to Higuchi yesterday.
The funds were raised through the efforts of local government and the Japanese community.
Higuchi thanked Fitial, the people of the CNMI and all who joined the relief effort. He also appreciated the governor’s “strong” leadership.
He said Japan will come back stronger. “However, it may take a little while,” he added.
“For the time being, I’m afraid that the Japanese economy is getting downsized which may also affect the CNMI economy,” he said.
Japan is the islands’ primary tourism market. Following the disaster in the Asian nation, many Japanese flights to the islands have been cancelled.
Higuchi noted that despite the economic crisis here, the CNMI people and government are always there to help Japan.
“With that I’m very impressed,” he said.
In Japan, Higuchi said, reconstruction has already started and his nation is gradually getting back to normal.
The Japanese government, he added, is exerting maximum effort to control the situation.
“And I’m sure through that effort and with the help of the international community, Japan will come back soon and come back stronger,” he said.
“I would like to thank again the government and people of the CNMI for the very warm assistance,” he added.
For his part, Fitial said the NMI people learned how to be humble “because of the way the Japanese people treated us.”
The NMI was administered by Japan from 1914 to 1944.
“The [Japanese] are not like some people we know who, when they tell us what to do, treat us like this,” Fitial said, using his hands to describe a small object.
