Charles Aiseam of the Division of Agriculture, left, and a Saipan mayor’s office staff member plant sugar cane at Sugar King Park in Garapan.
THE Mayor’s Office of Saipan and the Division of Agriculture planted three rows of sugar cane on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at Sugar King Park in Garapan ahead of a special visit by the mayor of Katori City, Japan, Tomonori Ito, and Shinto priests.
The sugar cane was planted by Saipan mayoral staff and Division of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant Program Coordinator Charles Aiseam in front of the statue of “Sugar King” Haruji Matsue.
Prior to World War II, Matsue established acres of sugar cane plantations on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota as part of the South Seas Development Company.
The sugar cane planted at the park on Tuesday was initially grown from rootstock at the Mayor’s Office of Saipan in Susupe.
Saipan Mayor Ramon B. Camacho said planting sugar cane in the park “really represents the statue of Mr. Sugar King.”
Aiseam said cane rootstock takes 9-16 months to grow from seedlings to harvest,
The Mayor’s Office of Saipan has planned special activities for Katori City Mayor Ito when he visits the island of Saipan on Oct. 28. Saipan and Katori City have had a “sister-city” relationship since 2021.
Mayor Camacho said Ito and other the special guests from Japan will plant two mandarin trees at Sugar King Park.
Camacho said 31 special guests from Katori City are expected to accompany Ito. Among these are Shinto priests from Katori City Shrine.
According to Hiroko Tenorio, vice president of the Japanese Society of the Northern Mariana Islands, the priests will perform a Shinto ceremony at the Saipan Katori Shrine at Sugar King Park.
The Japanese guests will also visit the Japanese Autumn Festival on the same day.
