Saipan municipal council honors Masako Ono

Masako Ono, third from left, shares a picture with 16th Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council and her husband, Japanese Consul Kazuhiko Ono, at the Chalan Kanoa Kiosku last Tueday after the council signed a commemorative resolution recognizing and thanking Ono for her “work and care for the Saipan community during their time of need during this COVID pandemic.”
(JOSHUA SANTOS)

The 16th Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council presented Masako Ono last Tuesday with a commemorative resolution recognizing and thanking her for her “work and care for the Saipan community during their time of need during this COVID pandemic.”

Ono, who is the wife of Kazuhiko Ono, who heads the Consular Office of Japan on Saipan, was presented with a framed copy of the commemorative resolution at the Chalan Kanoa Kiosku. The council presented Ono with yesterday. Present for the handoff were municipal council chairwoman Ana Demapan-Castro, council secretary Daniel I. Aquino, consul Kazuhiko Ono, and lawmaker Rep. Ed Propst (D-Saipan).

The resolution states that Masako Ono, who arrived on Saipan on May, 8, 2019, has been very involved in the community since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It recognized her support of the Office of Aging’s Man’Amko Center by “joining them in song, art, and in the donation of fruit, rice, and other packaged food to the center.”

Also according to the resolution, Masako Ono volunteered through the Tzu Chi Charity Foundation to help the organization distribute face coverings to various churches, Saipan’s elderly, the Maturana House of Prayer, “the Disabled Center, Library, CHC Volunteers Association, schools, [NMTech], etc.” In total, 51,850 face coverings were distributed through this effort.

On Nov. 28, 2020, with the help of the Friends of CWI Group, Masako Ono distributed care packages to 138 individuals and families “that were affected by the pandemic and were furloughed from their jobs.”

In another instance, 151 care packages were distributed to 151 children “at the Disabled Kids Center.”

In her brief remarks yesterday, Masako Ono extended her gratitude to the council for the recognition and said that she and Kazuhiko Ono will be transferred to a consul station in Taiwan soon. “I’m very grateful and honored to receive this gift of appreciation,” she said in a later interview. She added that it was unexpected, but she is very happy to have received it.

Propst thanked Masako Ono and Kazuhiko Ono for “all their wonderful contributions to our community.”

“They really made [Saipan] their home. We’re going to miss them tremendously, [we] appreciate everything that they do, and I wish them the very best in their future endeavors,” he said.