Dr Graham Kitson Archives - Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu
Close

0800 KAI TAHU (0800 524 8248)

Menu

Posts Tagged ‘Dr Graham Kitson’

A Tokyo tale
Why did a Japanese businessman and philanthropist lend millions of dollars to Ngāi Tahu?

The manaakitanga begins when three black vehicles pull up on the forecourt of our hotel on the edge of the Ginza district in Tokyo.

Kaiwhakahaere Tā Mark Solomon and Tā Tipene O’Regan are in Tokyo to present tokotoko and koha to Japanese businessman and philanthropist Masashi Yamada and his right-hand man, Yoshikazu Narimoto, in recognition of an important relationship shared with Ngāi Tahu.

Read More

The Lifeline

The business card simply says Dr Graham Kitson, Relationship Director. Nothing here to suggest that the man sitting in front of me helped kept Te Kerēme on track in the 1990s.

However it was Dr Graham Kitson’s introduction of Tipene O’Regan to Japanese businessman and philanthropist Masashi Yamada that enabled a lifeline to be extended to Ngāi Tahu while the tribe waited for the result of its Waitangi Tribunal hearings. It came in in the form of a series of loans which enabled the tribe to continue with Te Kerēme.

Read More