U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, is urging the federal government to offer Asian language translation videos to international tourists arriving at Honolulu International Airport.

In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Akaka asks U.S. Customs and Border Protection to add Japanese, Chinese and Korean translations to videos provided to international tourists arriving in Honolulu.

Customs currently offers only English, Spanish, French and German language videos. Akaka noted that more than 1.3 million Japanese tourists flew to Hawaii in 2007. More than 100,000 came from China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Honolulu's airport was recently selected to be part of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Model Ports Initiative program. Akaka is chairman of a Senate subcommittee that has oversight of government management.

http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2008/04/28/daily53.html