Members of Anuenue Canoe Club paddle off of Magic Island with the cremains of donors to the Willed Body Program this past April 8. (Photo courtesy JABSOM)

Kevin Kawamoto
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

When World War II veteran Bernard S. Akamine died of pancreatic cancer on April 2, 2012, at the age of 89, there was no question what he wanted to happen to his body. For years prior to his death, Akamine, a 100th Infantry Battalion, Company B veteran, had made it clear that he wished to donate his body to the University of Hawai‘i’s John A. Burns School of Medicine, commonly referred to as JABSOM, to be used for medical education and research as part of the Willed Body Program. The program allows Hawai‘i residents to donate their bodies to help medical students, resident physicians and others learn about human anatomy and health.

“Back in 1988, a good family friend passed away, and he had donated his body (to the Willed Body Program),” explained Akamine’s daughter, Drusilla Tanaka. “And so Dad was very curious about this.” Akamine decided that he, too, wanted to donate his body to this program, so Tanaka helped him fill out the necessary forms to get the process started.

Akamine took the commitment seriously. He made sure that his family members and every doctor he saw knew his wishes. “He knew that his body would be put to good use,” Tanaka said.

Anatomy is the study of the structure and function of the human body and is considered one of the most important courses in the health care curriculum. “The study of anatomy comes early in the medical curriculum,” states the JABSOM website, “and serves as the foundation for other courses. In addition, physicians in residency training and those in practice often pursue special courses in anatomy to enhance their skills and learn new techniques.”

By studying the bodies of donors, medical students and researchers can improve their knowledge and skills so they can help their patients still living. As such, body donations are essential in providing a first-rate medical education.

Tanaka said her father was a lifelong admirer of John A. Burns, Hawai‘i’s governor from 1962 to 1974 and for whom the UH medical school is named. Burns is legendary among many Americans of Japanese ancestry in Hawai‘i, especially those of Akamine’s generation, because of the pivotal role he played in Hawai‘i’s Democratic political and social “revolution,” which improved the quality of life and social status of many Hawai‘i residents. It is well known that Burns, in turn, held a special place in his heart for the 100th and 442nd veterans, who selflessly sacrificed their lives fighting injustice at home and abroad.

To read the full coverage of this heartfelt story, and in Bernard Akamine’s legacy “For Continuing Service” please subscribe to The Herald!

For more information on the Willed Body Program, call (808) 692-1445 or email wbdonor@hawaii.edu. A website with detailed information and forms can be visited at https://jabsom.hawaii.edu/donors/willedbody/.

Kevin Kawamoto is a longtime contributor to The Hawai‘i Herald.

These Nisei remembered their parents’ encounters with the Okinawan POWs: (from left) Sadamitsu Higa, Larry Yogi, Fumie Oshiro, Seikichi “Chick” Takara and Clara Goto. (Photo by Gregg Kakesako)

Hawai‘i Uchinanchu Will Help Two World War II Prisoners of War from Okinawa Find Peace

Gregg K. Kakesako
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

Hawai‘i Uchinanchu (people of Okinawa ancestry) have always demonstrated their “brotherly love” in many ways, says Clara Goto . . . even by befriending prisoners of war from Okinawa who were incarcerated in Hawai‘i in the closing months of World War II.

They shared bentö lunches, fruits, snacks, even cigarettes, with them. One family even invited several of them into their Waipahu home for lunch. For most local Okinawans, it was a chance to, hopefully, learn the fate of relatives in Okinawa following the devastating Battle of Okinawa, or to connect with relatives or with people from their ancestral villages in the homeland. For the POWs, it was the opportunity to speak their native language with people who had ties to their homeland and, hopefully, to meet family members who had immigrated to Hawai‘i and/or their families.

In 1981, after returning to his home in Kadena, Okinawa, after a trip to Hawai‘i, former POW Hikoshi Toguchi wrote to the Hawaii United Okinawa Association: “Hawai‘i is a very special place for me and a place I consider in my heart as my second home . . . . That was where I began to consider the true meaning of life in earnest. Eventually, Hawai‘i became the place of awakening the true natural way of living as a human being for me. You all aided my life.”

This weekend, Toguchi, now 90 years old, and fellow POW Saneyoshi Furugen, 87, will lead a 72-member delegation of POW relatives, Okinawa Vice Gov. Isho Urasaki and other interested Okinawans to Hawai‘i. Toguchi and Furugen are believed to be the last surviving Okinawans who were held in Hawai‘i as World War II prisoners of war. Upon arriving in Honolulu on June 2, they will meet with local Uchinanchu families who befriended the POWs. On Sunday, June 4, they will visit several sites that were part of the Okinawan POWs’ experience, attend a Buddhist memorial service and join a dinner reception.

The plight of the POWs was bleak, noted Hawaii United Okinawa Association executive director Jane Serikaku at a May 9 news conference. “They did not know what their life was going to be like. But with the encouragement of the local Okinawans who came to the camps, it was their saving grace.”

Some 8,489 Japanese soldiers and Okinawan conscripts and civilians were held in 13 prisoner of war camps at Sand Island, Honouliuli, Schofield Barracks and Fort Hase in Käne‘ohe on O‘ahu, and in Hilo and Kïlauea Military Camp on the Big Island, according to former University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu anthropology professor Dr. Suzanne Falgout. The camps also held Italian and German POWs. The Honouliuli Internment and Prisoner of War Camp, built in March 1943 in a gulch west of Waipahu, was the largest site, with more than 4,000 POWs imprisoned there. Some of the POWs were assigned to non-military labor details, which allowed them to work in the civilian community, even removing barbed wire fences that had been erected early in the war to defend the island against a Japanese invasion.

Fumie Oshiro kept this pencil drawing from an Okinawan POW all her life.

Dr. Randal Wada Veered Off His Career Course and Found His Life’s Calling

Alan Suemori
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

It was not supposed to be this way. After only three years, Randy Wada was on track to graduate from Northwestern University and begin dental school in the fall of 1978. In his final undergraduate semester, he took a random course in molecular biology and cancer to fill out his schedule. The class would change his life.

Nicole Takashige, senior laboratory technician at the Hawaii Cellular Therapy and Transplant Laboratory, prepares samples for testing.

Taught by Dr. Brian Spear, who had the extraordinary idea that laboratory research should be joyful and fun as well as serious and disciplined, Wada was given a set of articles by a scientist who had taken a cancer cell, surrounded it with embryonic cells and then injected it into a mouse. Instead of running amok, the cancer cell normalized.

“At the time, it was all very controversial because we had been taught that your genes were your destiny. But this experiment was suggesting that if you surrounded the cancer cell with the right friends, you could change its future. I started to think that this is the way we should be treating cancer. Instead of trying to kill the cancer cells, maybe we should be rehabilitating them.”

For Wada, there would be no turning back. He closed the door to dental school and began pursuing a medical degree at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. While on a school shuttle ferrying him to classes, Wada happened to sit next to Dr. Victor Loui, who suggested that he consider pediatric oncology as his specialty. “Dr. Loui explained that kids did better than adults when given cancer therapy, and if they were saved, they had the rest of their lives ahead of them.”

Wada took Loui’s advice seriously and began to focus on helping kids overcome a disease that, at the time, seemed terrifying and overpowering to everyone.

Upon graduation, Wada headed west to work at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles as a pediatric resident. In California, he met Jorge Ortega, a senior faculty member in the hospital’s oncology department and a visionary in the field of pediatric cancer therapy. “He was Cuban, and when I arrived, he invited the entire department to his house and made Cuban food. I had never tasted anything so delicious.

Six-year-old Mikaela Bland Lessary with pediatric oncology hospitalist Dr. Kelley Chinen-Okimoto after being admitted to Kapi‘olani for a haplo-identical bone marrow transplant.

“He was such a good teacher, and he was so good with his patients,” Wada said of Ortiz. “For me, he modeled what a physician should be, and I wanted to be like him.”

One incident in particular remains etched in Wada’s memory.

“On a regular basis, doctors convened in a big group to discuss particularly difficult cases. As a resident, I sat in on one of those meetings and they were discussing this unusually complicated case about a child who was getting progressively sicker. But the doctors disagreed on how to treat her and could only argue amongst themselves,” Wada remembers. “Ortega stood up and said, ‘This child needs a doctor now, and we have to act.’ In medicine, you want to be certain and bring as much data to your decision as possible, but there are times when you have to make the best decision with the information you have and go forward for the sake of the patient.”

At the end of his residency, Wada disappeared into the research laboratory as a postdoctoral student studying an invisible world that he found increasingly fascinating. “I knew I wanted to specialize in pediatric cancer and I found out about this fellowship at UCLA in cancer immunology that would focus on molecular biology.”

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Hawaii Marrow Donor Registry donor recruiter Roy Yonashiro (seated, far right) with Registry volunteers at a donor drive at Windward Mall.

Team Mikaela! Mikaela with her Kapi‘olani medical team — and “Go Mikaela!” team — just before being discharged after receiving a haplo-identical bone marrow transplant from her father. Back row, from left: pediatric oncologist Dr. Wade Kyono, pediatric oncology nurse practitioner Dee Ann Omatsu, pediatric bone marrow transplant coordinator Lori Kaneshige and nutritionist Lauren Yasui. Front row, from left: clinical pharmacist Kristi Itagaki, Mikaela, pediatric oncology hospitalist Dr. Kelley Chinen-Okimoto, pediatric intern Dr. Robert Hagbom and pediatric oncologist Dr. Randal Wada.

Volunteers from the Haleiwa Shingon Mission, Wahiawa Soto Mission, Haleiwa Jodo Mission and Wahiawa Hongwanji Mission set aside the last Saturday in May to clean four cemeteries in Wahiawä and on the North Shore. (Photos courtesy Roy Kodani)

Roy Kodani
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

On the last Saturday in May, I stood in the middle of a cemetery of hardened red soil surrounded by dry haole koa trees just a few miles makai of what was once a thriving camp called Kawailoa above Hale‘iwa, wondering how I could best describe my emotions.

As the rain softly drizzles in the early morning, like tears of sadness

and remembrance of a time long ago of hardship and

sacrifices made by the Issei,

Where the sounds of the North Shore breeze and the tall Guinea grass

cross the abandoned cane fields,

Graves of Issei, like weather-beaten stones in an ancient Japanese garden

in the high hills of Arashiyama,

lonely, but not forgotten, are

tenderly cared for weekly by two descendants,

with filial piety etched in their hearts.

After they are gone, who then will carry on this benevolent act of

expressing eternal gratitude to their ancestors?

In Japan, it is customary and the social practice for an adult in the family to be designated the hakamori, the person responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the family grave. The hakamori duties usually fall to the chönan, the first-born son, and if there are no sons, the chöjo, the eldest daughter. It’s sad if there is no surviving child or relative in the family. In such situations, it is said that the spirit is a muenbotoke, a deceased person who has no one to pray for him or her. It is a grave without a hakamori.

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Colleen Uechi
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

Tanaka and a fellow crewmember study a map of their island destination. (Photos courtesy Polynesian Voyaging Society)

The wind was gusting fiercely as Kalä Baybayan Tanaka hunched behind the communications box to do an interview at sea. It was May 31, a sunny Wednesday afternoon, and Tanaka was sailing homeward through the South Pacific with the crew of the Polynesian voyaging canoe, Höküle‘a.

The canoe was still 17 days away from Honolulu, and it was only fitting that Tanaka was aboard for the final leg. Three years ago, she had traveled the same waters in the opposite direction, en route to Tahiti, at the start of Höküle‘a’s inspiring Mälama Honua — “Caring for Island Earth” — Worldwide Voyage. The Tanaka who was returning, however, was bringing back much more knowledge of the stars, the wind and the sea. […]

Kalä Baybayan Tanaka and her dad, Pwo navigator Kälepa Baybayan are all smiles with Tanaka’s birthday cake, which was baked at sea and topped with slices of banana. She said turning 34 at sea aboard Höküle‘a was a milestone she will never forget.

A short time later, the crew glimpsed its first sight of home: the cloudless peak of Haleakalä. For the Maui girl, “it felt really good to just see my mountain,” Tanaka said.

If there is anything Tanaka has learned from her travels with Höküle‘a, it is how the world could look if people work together to care for it — and how it might look if they don’t.

Take New York Harbor, for example. Years of overharvesting, dredging and pollution have all but wiped out the oyster reefs that served as natural ocean filters. That means dirtier waters and fewer habitats for fish. But there’s hope: Students at New York Harbor School have been working to restore oysters in the harbor as part of the Billion Oyster Project.

To read the rest of this article, please subscribe to The Herald!

Colleen Uechi is a reporter for The Maui News. She is a fourth-generation Uchinanchu who graduated from Pacific Union College in California in 2013. Uechi was previously a reporter for The Molokai Dispatch.

“Each of these voyages has taught me to be more in sync with my environment and see things better.” — Kalä Baybayan Tanaka

Kalä Baybayan Tanaka with her husband Daniel and their two sons Kalae‘ula (age 5) and Tekauri (age 2). (Photo courtesy Tanaka family)

Former Speaker Calvin Say advises Saiki to not get bogged down in details and to “keep his eyes open to the big picture.” (Photo courtesy Calvin Say)

Richard Borreca
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

For the past quarter of a century, only two men have controlled the House of Representatives in Hawai‘i.

Maui Democratic Rep. Joe Souki was Speaker of the House from 1993 until 1999, when he was ousted by Pälolo Democratic Rep. Calvin Say.

Then in 2013, Souki put together a coalition of Republicans and Democrats to retake the speakership from Say. That lasted until this past spring when, on the closing day of the legislative session, Souki was again toppled.

When Souki was replaced for a second time, it was remarkably by someone new, Rep. Scott Saiki, a Democrat who represents O‘ahu’s
McCully to Downtown area.

Although Saiki, who turned 53 last month, has 23 years of legislative service, he is somewhat of a new face because he spent nearly half of that time on the political outs.

“I started off as a dissident,” Saiki said in an interview.

“Joe was speaker at the time and I was part of the group that didn’t support him. Over half of my time has been spent as a dissident — four years under Joe and eight years under Calvin.”

For much of that time, Saiki, who has a quiet, but firm speaking style, has not been one for political crusades, but he has always been an independent voice.

“Everyone should be a dissident during their legislative career because it gives you a different perspective,” says Saiki.

Asked what he thought of Scott Saiki after he was deposed by the liberal University of Hawai‘i-trained attorney, Souki said: “Right now I don’t think too highly of him.”

“I think Scott is a very competent person; he is very smart,” added the 84-year-old Souki.

While Saiki said his path to becoming just the 10th House leader since statehood was never plotted or planned, he does appreciate that his leadership of a tight group of Democrats was forged long ago.

“We were pretty close and loyal to each other,” he said.

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Rep. Scott Saiki in 1995 — his freshman year as a state representative. “I’ve always thought that you have to vote your conscience. I think if you do that, ultimately, people will respect you for that,” he told the Herald in an April 1995 interview. (Hawai‘i Herald archives)

Rep. Scott Saiki this past May following the announcement that he would replace Maui Rep. Joe Souki as Speaker of the House. (Photo courtesy: Honolulu Star-Advertiser)

Rep. Sylvia Luke: “I always felt Scott was somebody who would stand up from a base of values he has.” [He] has grown tremendously as a leader.”

“Scottie has been around wanting it for longer than most people remember. The next generation is finally taking over, but they have been slowly doing that for some time. I don’t know how much substance will occur.” — former Gov. John Waihe‘e 

Maui Democratic Rep. Joe Souki, who was Speaker of the House from 1993 to 1999 and again from 2013 to 2017, was not happy being unseated by Rep. Scott Saiki. However, he said that Saiki was “very competent” and “very smart.” (Photo from joesouki.com)

“He [Saiki] unloaded his frustrations about how the House was being run. I said why don’t you guys take power? But, nobody wanted to take power. I think he is going to have to grow in the position. And I think he will.” — former Gov. Ben Cayetano

Rimi Natsukawa (bottom right) at an after-concert party with 2016 HUOA officers Tom Yamamoto (top left) and Lynn Miyahira Krupa (top right), Kazufumi Miyazawa (bottom left) of The Boom and Kiyosaku Uezu (wearing hat), lead singer of Mongol800. (Photo by Shari Tamashiro)

The Okinawan Songbird’s Performance Set for Sunday, Sept. 3

Jodie Chiemi Ching
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

The Japanese characters for Rimi Natsukawa’s family name mean “summer river.” How else could you describe the pure and magical flow of Natsukawa’s voice? The songbird whose recording of “Nada Sousou,” the signature tune from the heartbreaking 2006 movie of the same name, will headline this year’s Okinawan Festival, presented by the Hawaii United Okinawa Association. Natsukawa will take the bandstand stage at Kapiolani Park on Sunday, Sept. 3, at 3 p.m.

It won’t be Natsukawa’s concert debut in Hawai‘i, however. In March of 2016, she presented an unforgettable performance at the Hawai’i Convention Center in a concert titled, “Ryuukyuu No Kaze,” sharing the stage with fellow Uchinanchu artists Sadao China, the Nenes and MONGOL800.

“At that time, the feeling of Hawai‘i was so welcoming, I strongly felt that I would like to come back again,” she said in an email interview from Okinawa. “Then came an opportunity to sing at the Okinawan Festival! I am so happy to have received such good luck!”

Natsukawa’s genre is Okinawan folk, to which she blends traditional music with modern elements, creating her signature vocal style. She is best known in her native Okinawa, mainland Japan and across the Pacific, in Hawai‘i, for her rendition of popular song, “Nada Sousou.” The lyrics speak of looking through an old photo album and remembering a departed loved one. In spite of the flood of tears that flow, we are grateful for the love we once shared, knowing that we will be reunited again one day.

Local singer Alison Arakawa, perhaps best known for her renditions of the holehole bushi plantations songs sung by the early Japanese immigrants, but who also sings contemporary American and Japanese as well as Okinawan folk and classical tunes, has her own take on Natsukawa’s “Nada Sousou.” “While this song is contemporary, you can still hear the past influences of minyo (folk) and the Okinawan soul Rimi brings to it,” Arakawa said. “It bridges the past and present and, like every good song, has the ability to transcend cultures.”

Award-winning singer and kumu hula Keali‘i Reichel would likely agree. After all, he melded the two cultures — Hawaiian and Okinawan — creating his popular medley, “Nada Sousou/Ka Nohona Pili Kai.” “Nada Sousou” has also been adapted by artists worldwide, with versions recorded in various languages and with instruments such as the cello, erhu, harmonica, harp, guitar, koto, music box, piano and violin. Natsukawa also recorded other hit singles, including “Hana,” “Michishirube,” “Tori yo,” “Warabigami,” “Kanayo Kanayo” and “Sayonara Arigatou.”

Jodie Ching is a freelance writer and blogger who also works for her family’s accounting firm in Kaimukï. She has a bachelor’s degree in Japanese from the University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa and is a past recipient of the Okinawa Prefectural Government Foundation scholarship.

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“We in this room all understand that if the 100th had failed in what it had to do, the history of our community, the history of our nation and the history of the world would be very different.” — Dr. Mitchell Maki

Dr. Mitch Maki: “Because of You, Our Nation is What It is Today”

Editor’s note: The following is the text of Dr. Mitchell Maki’s speech to the veterans of the 100th Infantry Battalion and their families and friends at the One Puka Puka’s 75th anniversary banquet. The gathering, which was attended by seven 100th Battalion veterans, was held July 23 at Dole Cannery’s Pömaika‘i Ballroom. Maki is the president and CEO of the Los Angeles-based Go For Broke National Education Center, which is committed to perpetuating the legacy of the Nisei soldiers who fought in World War II.

The 100th Infantry Battalion was formed in June 1942, just six months after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. It was originally made up of 1,432 prewar draftees who had served in the Hawai‘i National Guard. The unit lost its first member, Sgt. Shigeo “Joe” Takata, when he was killed in action on Sept. 29, 1943, just one week after the men entered combat in Italy. Less than an hour after Takata’s death, Pvt. Keichi Tanaka was killed by machine gun fire. In the spring of 1944, the 100th lost many of its men in the bloody battle to wrest the abbey at Monte Cassino from the Nazis — so many that soldiers from the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, who were just completing training, were sent in as replacements. The One Puka Puka would later become the 1st Battalion of the 442nd, but was allowed to keep its original name. To learn more about the 100th, visit www.100thbattalion.org.

The Herald thanks Dr. Maki for allowing us to share his speech with our readers.

Good afternoon everyone . . .

I’d like to start off my comments by acknowledging why we are here — and that is the veterans of the 100th Infantry Battalion. Can we give them a round of applause? They are truly our heroes.

First of all, I’d like to thank the board of directors and the members of the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans for inviting me here today. I’d like to also acknowledge the members of the 100th Battalion of the U.S. Army Reserves for what they’re doing for us here today. I’d like to also acknowledge our distinguished guests — people like Governor (David) Ige, (retired U.S.) Senator (Daniel) Akaka, (retired) General (David) Bramlett. Thank you for being here today.

But, most importantly, I want to thank the members — the family members and the veterans — that are here today. Thank you very much for inviting me.

When I walked into the room this morning and I looked around, I couldn’t help but think of my grandmother. I’d like to start off my comments today by telling you a story about my grandmother. You see, if there is any word that would describe the life of my grandmother, that word would have to be “hard.” She came to this country as a young girl, worked on the plantations of Hawai‘i, got married at a young age and, by the time she was 30, had six children. My grandmother never lived much above the poverty line. So whatever hopes and dreams she had for a better tomorrow rested squarely on the shoulders of her children and of her grandchildren.

My grandmother didn’t speak much English and I don’t speak much Japanese. In fact, my favorite memory of her was of her chasing me around. “Bakatare! Bakatare!” I used to hear that term so often as a child I thought it was a term of endearment. “I thought she was saying, “My dear grandson! My dear grandson!” […]

For those of you who don’t know who Sgt. Kazuo Masuda was, he was a young Japanese American who served in the 442nd. His family was incarcerated in Gila River, Arizona, and he was asked, ‘Why are you doing this? Why are you fighting for a nation that incarcerated your family and denied them the liberties and the freedom that you are fighting for?’ Sgt. Masuda’s answer was the answer that I think many, if not all of the Nisei soldiers were giving at that time, which was: Because this is the only way that I know that my family can have a chance in America. Agree with him or not, right or wrong, Sgt. Masuda and all of the Nisei soldiers understood that in 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945, loyalty needed to be demonstrated in blood.

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100th Battalion Veteran, Moriso Teraoka

100th Battalion Veteran, Jack Nakamura

100th Battalion Veteran, Sonsei Nakamura

100th Battalion Veteran, Thomas Nikaido

100th Battalion Veteran, Kazuto Shimizu

100th Battalion Veteran, Masaharu “Bull” Saito

100th Battalion Veteran, Akiyoshi Kuriyama

100th Battalion veteran Kazuto Shimizu and 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans president Harry Nakayama cut the 75th anniversary cake with a sword as veteran Moriso Teraoka supervises the cutting.

Exemplary Service Keeps Loyal Customers Coming Back

Gwen Battad Ishikawa

Long before the arrival in Hawai‘i of Costco and Sam’s Club, Shimaya Shoten was the place to go for food that could be purchased in bulk, especially ethnic fare. My grandmother used to sell food at community events, so she made one or two trips to Shimaya every month. As a youngster, I would tag along with my parents and grandma to the warehouse on Kohou Street to pick up flour for fried chicken, mochiko for desserts and dried shrimp for pinakbet. When I was old enough to drive, I became my grandma’s Shimaya driver, either bringing my grandma or picking up her order from the will call counter.

It’s been years since I stepped foot into the warehouse, even though it’s located right across the Kapälama Canal from our Herald offices. When I drive by their building and see all of the parking stalls filled, I feel happy knowing that even with the Mainland big box retailers in our Islands, Shimaya still has a following.

One hundred years in business. That’s an impressive milestone to reach, especially in this day and age.

For a company, especially one in food retailing, to remain in business for a century — and still going strong — is almost unheard of. And yet, that is the story of Shimaya Shoten.

History

Shimaya Shoten was founded in Honolulu on Aug. 1, 1917, by Hisaji Onoye, an immigrant from Kagawa-ken, Japan.

While in Hawai‘i on a business trip for Marushima Shoyu, which was owned by his wife’s family, Hisaji saw the opportunity to start his own business in Hawai‘i. After returning to Japan, he asked his father-in-law for a loan to help start the business. When his father-in-law turned him down, Hisaji and his wife decided to immigrate to Hawai‘i and open the business on their own using tanomoshi money. Shortly after settling in Hawai‘i, his wife died unexpectedly from a flu epidemic.

A tanomoshi is a group of individuals who put money into a fund and take turns bidding on the entire pot for personal or business reasons. Rather than going to a bank for a loan, where they were often turned down, many early businesspeople turned to the tanomoshi system to launch their business.

Hisaji used tanomoshi money to open Shimaya Shoten on River Street in Chinatown. It was located on the ground floor of the Taiheiyo Bussan building. Hisaji named the company Shimaya Shoten, taking the “Shima” from his home island of Shödoshima in Kagawa, and “Shoten,” from the Japanese word meaning “mercantile” or “business.” Shimaya Shoten would be his “island store.”

To help with the store’s day-to-day operations, Hisaji enlisted the help of two of his brothers, Araji and Isao Onoye, who came from Japan, and Fumiyo Kochi, the father of his new wife.

In 1922, Hisaji had married Chiyoko Kochi, with whom he had five children: sons Ichiro, Jiro and Hideo, and daughters Kazuko Ishida and Grace Hiroko Sonoda. Of the three brothers, only Ichiro survives.

Ichiro was 18 years old when he started working for the family business. He started at the bottom, learning everything about the company.

When World War II broke out, the Japanese American community immediately came under suspicion. Martial law was declared in Hawai‘i and prominent religious, business and community leaders were interned in Hawai‘i and on the Mainland. Japanese Americans were treated like the enemy.

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Twenty-five Years Later, Former Kaua‘i Mayor JoAnn Yukimura Remembers ‘Iniki’s Fury

Richard Borreca
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

On the evening of Sept. 10, 1992, the lives of JoAnn Yukimura and the 50,000 people living on Kaua‘i were about to change dramatically.

Just after 6 p.m., Yukimura, the fresh-faced, new, liberal mayor of Kaua‘i, was onstage at the Hawaii Women Lawyers’ annual meeting at the Hawaii Prince Hotel in Honolulu with the state’s two other women county leaders, Linda Lingle from Maui and Lorraine Inouye from the Big Island, when a man approached Yukimura to deliver a message to her.

“It was a call from my administrative assistant, Tom Batey, who said, ‘It looks like it is going to be a direct hit; you have to get home,’” Yukimura recalled in a recent phone interview.

An hour earlier, the Central Pacific Hurricane Center had issued a hurricane watch after the storm’s path had suddenly turned toward Kaua‘i. At 8:30 p.m., the center upgraded its forecast to a hurricane warning.

‘Iniki would turn out to be the strongest and most destructive hurricane ever to hit Hawai‘i, and on that day, it was only hours away from roaring onto Kaua‘i’s south shore.

As Yukimura would say later, for people living on Kaua‘i, everything would be measured in terms of “before ‘Iniki, and after ‘Iniki.”

In the coming weeks, Yukimura, now a Kaua‘i County councilmember, would learn that one of her few breaks as mayor was that she had just hired Tom Batey for the position that is now called “managing director.” Just a month earlier, Batey had completed a 14-year careeer with the Hawai‘i State Civil Defense.

Through Batey’s contacts, Yukimura and several cabinet members who also were on O‘ahu were flown back to Kaua‘i on a Hawai‘i Air National Guard C-130, as the commercial airliners had already shut down due to the hurricane approaching the state.

In a separate telephone interview, Batey, who still resides on Kaua‘i, recalled that while waiting for Yukimura to return, he had begun drafting the reams of reports and requests that would be needed to ask for state and federal storm assistance.

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Richard Borreca is a Honolulu journalist. He has worked for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, KHVH News Radio, KHON-TV, Honolulu Magazine and The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, for whom he now writes a Sunday column.

The Queen’s May 1901 Visit to Hongwanji Temple is Remembered and Celebrated

Kristen Nemoto Jay
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

This past Nov. 11 marked 100 years since the passing of Hawai‘i’s last reigning monarch, the beloved Queen Lili‘uokalani. The anniversary of her passing and the legacy she left in stories, her music, and in her acts of generosity and acceptance were commemorated on Oct. 29 at the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin Buddhist temple, where hundreds with mostly Japanese faces and surnames turned out to honor the queen.

Many were hearing for the first time the details of her majesty’s visit to Honpa Hongwanji’s early temple on Fort Lane on May 19, 1901, to attend a birthday service for Shinran Shonin, the founder of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. Her majesty had been invited by Mary Foster, a Buddhist with ties to Foster Botanical Gardens. The queen’s attendance highlighted her acceptance and understanding of the Buddhist community, quickly blurring the lines of racial and religious segregation in Hawai‘i.

In honor of the queen’s life and her historic gesture to the Buddhist community, Friends of Lili‘uokalani Gardens from Hilo, Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin, community members and other leaders planned a special service that included a re-enactment piece by Jackie Pualani Johnson, newly retired drama professor from the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo.

Kahu (The Rev.) Sherman Thompson began the service with an expression of gratitude to all in attendance for celebrating the life of “her majesty . . . with this special service of appreciation.”

Brightening the temple were flowers shared by members of the Hawaii Betsuin, Moiliili Hongwanji, Kailua Hongwanji and Jikoen Hongwanji. The congregation rose to sing the Buddhist gatha, or song, “Nori no Miyama,” (“Deep in the Woods of Dharma”) which is believed to have been sung at the May 1901 service that the queen attended.

The Rev. Kevin Kuniyuki, director of Honpa Hongwanji’s Buddhist Studies Center, and Dr. Puakea Nogelmeier, professor of Hawaiian language at the University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa, then led a chant of the “Sanbujo,” (“The Three Respectful Callings”) that had been specially composed as “Mele Kähea Buda,” a traditional oli (chant) style based on the English translation of “Sanbujo.” As the sutra “Sanbutsuge” was chanted, incense was offered by Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii officials and members of the Kailua, Moiliili and Jikoen temples. They were joined by members of the Royal Societies; trustees Claire L. Asam and Thomas K. Kaulukukui Jr. of the Queen Lili‘uokalani Trust; and the Fujimoto family, whose Issei ancestors worked for the queen at Washington Place.

The Rev. Eric Matsumoto, bishop of Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii, presented the dharma message. His words expressed humility, respect and appreciation for the queen as he tried to fathom what the climate of racial and religious prejudices must have been like in the Islands and the world to notice the supreme gesture that the queen made to the local Buddhist temple. Despite the early stages of the annexation, Matsumoto said the queen’s selfless presence had resulted in tremendous publicity and acceptance for religious freedom and practice. He commended her majesty’s quest for peace and harmony despite her own hardships at the time.

Kristen Nemoto Jay was born and raised in Waimänalo. She recently left her job as editor for Morris Media Network’s Where Hawaii to pursue a freelance writing career. She also tutors part-time at her alma mater, Kailua High School, and is a yoga instructor at CorePower Yoga. Kristen earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Chapman University and her master’s in journalism from DePaul University.

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The “Christmas Classic” Has Meaning All Year Long

Alan Suemori
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

In November of 1939, the American author, editor and Civil War historian Philip Van Doren Stern sat down to write an original short story based on a vivid dream that he couldn’t forget. Stern completed the 4,100-word tale in 1943, but, unable to attract a publisher, he refashioned his story into a 21-page Christmas present that he shared with 200 of his close friends and family at the end of the year. Titled “The Greatest Gift,” the booklet somehow found its way to Hollywood, where RKO Pictures studio chief Charles Koerner recommended it to director Frank Capra, who immediately understood the heart of the slim plot. Capra, who had enjoyed spectacular success in the ’30s, creating American cinematic classics such as “It Happened One Night” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” had just emerged from military service in World War II where he had made seven U.S. War Department documentaries and was looking for a new project to announce his return to commercial filmmaking. Capra immediately began cobbling together a working script with the help of a cabal of other screenwriters who drifted in and out of the production over the next year.

The story, which he revised throughout the filming and renamed “It’s a Wonderful Life,” was deceptively simple. George Bailey, a small town dreamer with outsized ambitions, is trapped within the confines of his hometown. Every attempt he makes to break out of his provincial life is thwarted and he eventually settles down to a familiar yet dull routine as a husband, father and small town banker. And yet, under the patina of his life bubbles the flickering flame of his boyhood dreams: Littering his living room are cardboard and paper models of bridges and skyscrapers crafted by the inner architect that he longed to become. Things come to a head, however, when George’s absent-minded uncle misplaces an $8,000 bank deposit ($100,000 today) that was meant for the coffers of the Bailey Building and Loan on the very day that the local bank examiner arrives. Facing financial ruin and prison, George totters on the brink of suicide when he mutters to himself that he wishes he had never been born.

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Alan Suemori teaches Asian American history at ‘Iolani School. He is a former Hawai’i Herald staff writer.

Centenarian Mildred Kobashikawa Maintains a Healthy Body, Mind and Spirit

Kevin Kawamoto
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

At 100 years old — 101, next month — Mildred Kobashikawa is an active older adult who enjoys cooking, taking care of her home and garden and spending time with her family. On the day of our interview for this Hawai‘i Herald feature, she had baked homemade manju that was the best manju this writer had ever tasted. She had even created a special flower-like design stamp to decorate her manju, which made it look extra fancy. What a surprise it was to learn that the stamp she had used to imprint her design was one end of a spool of thread!

Kobashikawa was born in February 1917 in the sugar plantation town of Pu‘unënë on the island of Maui. To give readers a sense of how long ago that was, Queen Lili‘uokalani was still alive at the time, although her monarchy had been overthrown more than two decades earlier.

“My father came from Okinawa,” Kobashikawa said. Her father, Saburo Oshiro, went to work in the sugar fields of Pu‘unënë. “My mother came later as a picture bride, also from Okinawa.” When they married, her father was 24 and her mother, Ushi, was 18.

The first two children born to the young couple were boys. Then came Kikue — or “Kiku-chan,” as she was called back then. Kikue took the English name of Mildred when she got older. As the first daughter born into the family, Kiku-chan was spoiled by her relatives. She would often cry if she wasn’t being carried, which led to her being nicknamed “nakimiso,” an affectionate term for a crybaby.

In all, Kobashikawa’s parents had seven children: two boys and five girls. Their second son died in infancy from the Spanish flu, and their last daughter, Sumi, died of a liver infection when she was only 24.

“My parents moved to the Big Island when I was 4 years old,” said Mildred. “They went to a sugar plantation in Kohala.”

However, that would be only the first stop for the growing Oshiro family. They continued moving to improve their financial circumstances. “They moved to so many places because they found that certain places give more money.” Mildred said it felt like they had moved all over the Big Island. Besides Kohala, the family lived in Hälawa in North Kohala and Niuli‘i, near Kohala and Waipi‘o.

She still recalls an incident from her childhood. “One day, my mom told me to buy ume (Japanese pickled plums) after school. She gave me 10 cents. For 10 cents you could get kind of a big plate (of ume). So I got the 10 cents, and after school, I was going to the store . . . Hirano Store.”

Before reaching the store, however, she noticed a bunch of kids having the time of their lives jumping on a pile of sugarcane. It looked like fun, so she decided to join them. In the process, she lost the dime her mother had given her for the ume and went home empty-handed. She got a good scolding from her mother.

“Those days, 10 cents was big money,” Kobashikawa said. Her mother made her go back to the sugarcane pile to look for the dime, but it was no use — she couldn’t find it. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

When an opportunity presented itself on Maui, the family returned there, this time settling Upcountry, in Makawao, where her father joined a relative working on a pineapple plantation.

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Kevin Kawamoto is a longtime contributor to The Hawai‘i Herald.

What Can Happen When the People Put Their Heads and Hearts Together

Gregg K. Kakesako
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

“We built it!”

It took Hawai‘i businessman Duane Kurisu just six months and one day to develop Kahauiki Village — a public-private housing project that is fulfilling his dream “to build a community,” not just a shelter for O‘ahu’s homeless.

Last summer, there was nothing on the 11.3-acre parcel makai (oceanside) of Nimitz Highway, just east of the Honolulu airport. No roads, no sewers, no electricity, no water — just weeds, shrubbery, a homeless encampment and a paintball field near Ke‘ehi Lagoon.

Today, a black asphalt road surrounds the $12.4 million Phase One compound consisting of 30 prefab housing units — 18 two-bedroom homes and 12 one-bedroom homes — plus, a community center and a police workstation. A childcare center, a preschool and a sundry store were also built on the site to support the 51 adult residents and their 64 children.

Work on the remaining 120 prefab units designed to house another 620 adults and children is expected to begin soon.

Kurisu describes Kahauiki Village as the first community effort, nationwide, to build more than just a homeless shelter, as it will make available support services on-site for all of the residents, the adults as well as the children. He noted also that Kahauiki Village is powered by “a clean-energy power system, which is a first in the world,” relying on solar power and back-up generators.

At the Jan. 12 blessing ceremony, Kurisu said his biggest commitment was to try to build a community with permanent housing, relying on the donations of materials and sweat from nearly 100 businesses, community organizations and individuals.

“This is what can happen when Hawai‘i puts their heads together with heart, with mind, with resources, without any expectation for personal gain,” said Kurisu in prepared remarks. “So many of us have put our ‘all’ into Kahauiki Village so that we can leave a better world for our children and grandchildren, and children and grandchildren of others . . . A dignified world . . . One filled with love, hopes and dreams.”

Tears of joy flowed from many who attended the formal opening, from developer Kurisu; to Connie Mitchell, executive director of the Institute for Human Services ..

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If you would like to support the Kahauiki Village effort, monetary donations can be mailed to: aio Foundation, 1000 Bishop St., Suite 202, Honolulu, HI 96813.

Gregg K. Kakesako worked for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Gannett News Service and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser for more than four decades as a government, political and military affairs reporter and assistant city editor.

Student by Student, the Malama Learning Center is Helping to Change a Generation

Kristen Nemoto Jay
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

For most of her growing up years, Pauline Sato said she felt like “a weirdo.” While the children of her parents’ friends pursued careers in medicine or law or business, Sato was focused on taking care of the environment and saving Mother Earth. Although she didn’t have any mentors or close influences that pointed her in that direction, she concedes that she has always “marched to the beat of [her] own drum.”

“My parents were like, ‘She’s going to study what?’” the University Laboratory School alumnus recalled with a hearty laugh. They weren’t environmentalists, and neither was especially interested in outdoor activities. So their daughter’s career choice was definitely an eyebrow raiser for them.

“For some reason, environmental conservation and preservation just kind of stuck with me. It was a field of choice that helped conserve the place that I grew up in, so I thought, ‘Why not?’”

After completing her bachelor of science degree in natural resources with an emphasis on environmental education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Sato decided to pursue her master’s degree in educational technology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa.

Her interest and dedication to environmental preservation and education continued to grow while working for nonprofit organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, Bishop Museum, Mälama Hawai‘i and the Agricultural Leadership Foundation of Hawai‘i. Sato’s 30-plus years in preserving Hawai‘i’s great outdoors eventually led her to the position she now holds as executive and program director for the Mälama Learning Center, a nonprofit organization that strives to make Hawai‘i’s environmental preservation initiatives accessible and tangible.

“I think part of the reason why people are not interested in environmental conservation is that they don’t know what it looks like or what they can do to help,” she says.

The Mälama Learning Center was born out of Kapolei High School’s desire for a performing arts auditorium for the community and an environmental group’s wish for a conservation learning center. According to its website, the Mälama Learning Center serves as “a place in West O‘ahu that brings art, science, conservation and culture together to promote sustainable living throughout Hawai‘i.” The center’s services and activities include composting workshops, cooking demonstrations, beach cleanups, educational seminars, farmer’s market collaborations, sustainable art activities and reintroducing native plant species throughout the Islands. Sato is heartened to see how the Mälama Learning Center has impacted people who would not otherwise have access to learning about the environment.

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The Mälama Learning Center is based at Camp Pälehua (formerly Camp Timberline) in Kapolei. To learn more about the Mälama Learning Center, visit Mälamalearningcenter.org or call (808) 305-8287.

Kristen Nemoto Jay was born and raised in Waimänalo. She was previously editor for Morris Media Network’s Where Hawai‘i. In addition to pursuing a freelance writing career, she tutors part-time at her alma mater, Kailua High School, and is a yoga instructor at CorePower Yoga. Kristen earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Chapman University and her master’s in journalism from DePaul University.

Hawai‘i’s Senior Statesman Opines on the State of the State

Richard Borreca
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

George R. Ariyoshi, who will turn 92 next month, has served as one of the state’s Democratic leaders for so long that he is one of the signposts for politics and government in Hawai‘i.

Unless the state Constitution is amended to change the current two-term limit for Hawai‘i’s governor, Ariyoshi is likely to be the longest-serving governor in state history, having served three terms, from 1974 to 1986. In October 1973, prior to his election, then-Lt. Gov. Ariyoshi was appointed acting governor when Gov. John A. Burns resigned due to his worsening and terminal cancer condition.

A Nisei, Ariyoshi was part of the returning wave of Hawai‘i AJA veterans who served in World War II — Ariyoshi served in the Military Intelligence Service — and then ran for political office, becoming one of the Democrats who took control of the territorial Legislature in 1954.

Although he did not seek federal elective office after leaving the governorship in 1986, Ariyoshi has remained active, serving on the East-West Center’s board of governors and the Queen’s (Medical Center) International Corporation, among other positions. Ariyoshi also authored two books: “Hawai‘i: The Past Fifty Years, The Next Fifty Years” and “With Obligation to All.”

The former governor still holds a number of strong opinions about what is going right and what is going wrong in Hawai‘i. For example, in the 2014 gubernatorial primary, Ariyoshi broke with local political tradition and did not endorse the incumbent Democrat, Gov. Neil Abercrombie. Instead, Ariyoshi went with the challenger, then-state Sen. David Ige. In 1985, while governor, Ariyoshi appointed Ige to fill a vacancy in the state House, launching the Pearl City Democrat’s political career.

Since then, Ariyoshi has become critical of Ige’s performance and is now supporting U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa in the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Honolulu journalist Richard Borreca recently interviewed Ariyoshi at his downtown office. The questions are summarized to preserve the flow of the more than one-hour-long conversation.

Richard Borreca (RB): Over the years, have you become more liberal or conservative in your thinking?

“I find it hard to say that. I think we have to spend money for the things that are important, but in a way that is responsible.

“I think conservative in terms of that I worked on the state budget and I am the only governor who left a surplus at the end. So in that sense you can say I am conservative, but in a way I didn’t cut services to people.”

RB: You said you didn’t cut budgets, but you did ask fewer state workers to do more work.

“I didn’t have to fire people; I didn’t have to lay off people.

“How are you going to do it if you can’t get people to come together to do it? A leader has to lead.

“They have [to] say what has to be done and what is possible and what other people are doing, so then they can come together. But we no longer have that kind of thinking, and that is what really frustrates me.

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Richard Borreca is a veteran Honolulu journalist. He has worked for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, KHVH News Radio, KHON-TV, Honolulu Magazine and The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, for whom he now writes a Sunday column.

Gregg K. Kakesako
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

Lt. Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, whose paternal grandmother immigrated to Hawai‘i as a picture bride and whose father witnessed the start of America’s war with Japan from the kitchen window of his family’s Wahiawä home and went on to serve in the predominantly Nisei Military Intelligence Service in World War II, has been nominated to receive his fourth star. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Nakasone will become only the fourth American of Japanese ancestry to earn the prestigious military rank.

The sansei Nakasone, who hails from a family with deep roots in Wahiawä, has also been nominated to lead one of the nation’s top intelligence posts as commander of the Pentagon’s digital warfare organization, U.S. Cyber Command; and director of the National Security Agency. The NSA employs a civilian workforce of about 21,000 and is the largest producer of intelligence information among the nation’s 17 spy agencies.

Rob Joyce, the Trump administration’s senior cyber coordinator and special assistant to the president, announced Nakasone’s new assignments in a January tweet. Joyce, who previously ran the National Security Agency’s Office of Tailored Access Operations, which is the agency’s hacking division, praised Nakasone’s strong background in cyber issues. He described Nakasone as “an exceptional leader for two exceptional organizations; he brings great experience and strong cyber background.”

Gen. Nakasone declined comment on his possible new assignments, saying only that he is awaiting action by the Senate.

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Gregg K. Kakesako worked for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Gannett News Service and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser for more than four decades as a government, political and military affairs reporter and assistant city editor.

Issei, Nisei and Kibei Share Their Stories of Being Interned in Hawai‘i During World War II

Gail Honda
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

This month marks 75 years since Honouliuli, the largest and longest-operating internment camp in Hawai‘i, opened during World War II. It opened in March of 1943 in a deep gulch off Kunia Road near ‘Ewa and Waipahu. It housed Japanese citizens and Japanese Americans, internees of other ethnicities and prisoners of war.

In consultation with Hawai‘i Herald editor Karleen Chinen, I have decided to use this anniversary as an opportunity to launch the publication of a series of write-ups of interviews I conducted in 1980 with internees who were incarcerated at Honouliuli and Sand Island Detention Camp. At a time when there was little to no awareness or knowledge of Honouliuli in Hawai‘i, I was fortunate to have located and asked former internees about their experiences while their memories were still quite vivid.

I was able to interview seven people in all through a series of events that began at the University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa. After graduating from college, I returned to Hawai‘i from the Mainland and spent an academic year at UH-Mänoa. I was thinking of becoming a writer, so I took four journalism courses during the spring 1980 semester.

One of them was a two-semester course called “Magazine Journalism” with a professor whose name I don’t remember. It was a small class, and the major assignment was to research and write a magazine article (in those days, long-form journalism — longer stories than we tend to see these days in magazines — was common).

The class had started the previous fall. Since I joined in the spring semester, I was asked to pair up with Mike Gordon. (Mike went on to become a reporter for the Honolulu Advertiser and, subsequently, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.) The topic of our magazine article was Honouliuli. Mike and I decided that he would do archival research on the camp and I would interview former internees.

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Gail Honda is a writer in Honolulu. She can be reached at (808) 942-4783 or gail.honda@hawaii.rr.com.

Virginia Couple Funding Digitization of “Rice and Roses” Programs

Richard Borreca
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

Much of Hawai‘i’s unique plantation history sits in a climate-controlled vault in the library of the University of Hawai‘i-West O‘ahu, waiting to be saved.

The 12 pallets of videotapes — more than 3,000 cassette tapes — representing the archives of the long-running television series from the 1980s and ’90s, “Rice and Roses,” which aired on Hawaii Public Television, KHET (today, PBS Hawai‘i). The tapes are being tended to with tender loving care by the series’ director, Joy Chong-Stannard, and producer, Chris Conybeare, under the administration of CLEAR — the Center for Labor Education and Research.

The programs delved into all aspects of Hawai‘i’s plantation past — from the picture brides brought over from Asia at the turn of the century; to the prolonged sugar, pineapple and dock strikes; to plantation politics; to the various traditions that brought about Hawai‘i’s blended culture.

The archives at UH-West O‘ahu’s ‘Ulu‘ulu — the state’s archive of moving images — includes some 30,000 videotapes and 400 motion picture film reels. ‘Ulu‘ulu is a project of the University of Hawai‘i’s Academy for Creative Media.

The “Rice and Roses” tapes are in peril because they are slowly disintegrating, said Conybeare.

“We can’t even play them without risking damaging the tapes. We have videos where we are talking to picture brides coming to Hawai‘i in 1918 and ending up in a labor strike in 1920. It is the only tape in the world of this,” Conybeare said.

But a rescue operation is underway.

Enter Frank Moy and Marcia Mau, two federal retirees living in Vienna, Va.

Moy was born in Washington, D.C., and Mau in Honolulu. They are longtime friends of Barbara Kawakami, who authored two major books on Hawai‘i plantation life: “Ja-panese Immigrant Clothing in Hawai‘i: 1885-1941” and, more recently, “Picture Bride Stories.” Both were published by the University of Hawai‘i Press.

In July 2016, Moy and Mau attended the launch of Kawakami’s “Picture Bride Stories” at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i. In his presentation, Conybeare showed pictures from the videos he had produced while working with Kawakami on a series about the picture brides, the immigrant women who came to Hawai‘i from mainland Japan, Okinawa and Korea between 1908 and 1924 as the wives of sugar and pineapple plantation laborers who they had never previously met in person and knew only through the exchange of mailed photographs.

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Richard Borreca is a veteran Honolulu journalist. He has worked for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, KHVH News Radio, KHON-TV, Honolulu Magazine and The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, for whom he now writes a Sunday column.

A Living Legacy of Nisei Soldiers in Maizuru

Lawrence M.G. Enomoto
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

Sixty-eight years ago, a Nisei soldier from Hawai‘i arranged for the planting of 100 cherry tree saplings on a hill overlooking the war-torn Japanese port town of Maizuru in Kyöto Prefecture. As the trees began to blossom in their pink splendor recently, a group of Japanese citizens gathered to celebrate Takaki’s simple gesture of aloha.

That soldier, Fujio “Wymo” Takaki from Mokulë‘ia, O‘ahu, had been assigned to interview Japanese soldiers who were being repatriated from Soviet custody at Maizuru. One of them turned out to be his kid brother. To help the people of Maizuru recover from the devastation, Takaki ordered 100 cherry tree seedlings and arranged for them to be given to city officials.

Before the seedlings arrived, however, he was assigned to another area of operations, so he wasn’t able to witness their arrival and planting. He saw them for the first time in 1994 when the people of Maizuru invited Takaki and his wife to the city to participate in their cherry blossom festival.

The trees were planted on a hill in Kyoraku Park. Today, a monument there explains the origin of the “Aloha Sakura,” as they are known, as a symbol of friendship between the people of the United States and Japan.

I learned recently that Wymo Takaki and my father, Gulstan N. “Toshi” Enomoto from Maui, studied Japanese language together in the February 1944 class at the Military Intelligence Service Language School in Camp Savage, Minn. Both served in Japan during the occupation — Wymo at Maizuru in Central Japan, and my father at Hakodate in Northern Japan. However, unlike Wymo, who remained with the Army’s Counterintelligence Corps in Japan until the start of the Korean War in 1950, my father was discharged at the end of 1945 and returned to Maui.

In January of this year, a woman named Noriko Noguchi — nicknamed “Aloha Liko” — visited Hawai‘i. She introduced herself as the president of the Aloha Sakura Preservation Society, which she had formed just a month earlier (December 2017). Noguchi-san came to invite the Nisei veterans and their families to participate in the Aloha Sakura tree planting re-enactment ceremony that would be held in Maizuru’s Kyoraku Park on Saturday, March 10.

A gung-ho group of 20 Japanese and non-Japanese volunteers known as B Company, 100th Infantry Battalion/442nd RCT Reenactment Group had actually planted the trees. They were led by Petty Officer 1st Class Hidenori Koda, who serves on the operational staff of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force’s JS Mashu, a supply ship home-ported at Maizuru Base.

As the president of the Military Intelligence Service Veterans Club of Hawaii, I felt that I should represent our members at the ceremony. My son, Stephen, kindly offered to escort me on this short trip. I had notified all of the MIS club members about this event, but probably because of the advanced age of the veterans — most are in their mid-90s — only one MIS veteran, Glen Arakaki, expressed interest in attending the ceremony. Glen was stationed in Maizuru and knew Wymo. He and his grandson, Reed Kamimura, decided to travel with us to Maizuru.

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