The 2026 Ehime Prefectural International Center (EPIC) summer interns, Ms. Leilah Eusebio (UHM MA student in the Japanese language/linguistics program, East Asian Languages and Literatures) and Mr. Taiga Ikeda (UHM undergraduate student double major in Psychology and Japanese) arrived in Matsuyama, the capital city of Ehime Prefecture on Friday, May 22, 2026.

The interns were warmly welcomed at the airport by several EPIC staff, including EPIC Director Shimizu, Section Chief Kono, Hamada-san, Iwai-san, Niiyama-san, and Yamashita-san. After resting over the weekend, Leilah and Taiga began their internship on Monday. They introduced themselves to everyone in the EPIC office, presented omiyage from Hawaiʻi, and participated in their first orientation meeting. You can follow their internship updates on the UHM CJS Instagram and Facebook accounts, and on the EPIC Summer Internship Facebook page managed by EPIC.

We are very grateful to the Ehime Prefectural International Association, the EPIC Hawaiʻi Project Team Members (Director Koichi Shimizu, Deputy Section Chief Takehito Hamada, and the Hawaiʻi Summer Internship Program Coordinator Yua Yamashita) and all the EPIC staff for their friendship, unwavering support, and ongoing assistance in making this meaningful program possible.

The sister-state relationship between the State of Hawaiʻi and Ehime Prefecture was established in 2003, and the sister city relationship between Honolulu and Uwajima was established in the following year, in 2004, in response to the February 2001 tragedy of the Ehime Maru, a 191-foot Japanese fishing and marine training vessel operated by the Uwajima Fisheries High School.