From Farm to ’Fridge, Naoki and Rose Honda are Keeping Tsukemono Culture Alive

Arnold Hiura
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

Tsukemono just might be one of the most underrated components in Japanese cuisine. Many local folks have grown up with that simple side dish of pickled veggies that provides a refreshing crunch and palate-cleansing sparkle at every meal.

In the old days, tsukemono was almost always made at home with whatever grew in the family garden or was given to them by friends and neighbors. Daikon (radish), won bok (Chinese cabbage), tamanä (cabbage), radish, mustard cabbage and rakkyo (Chinese onion) were among the favorites. Some were simply salted and placed in a crock with a cover of some kind and a heavy stone on top, while others were pickled in vinegar and seasoned with shöyu, sugar and other spices.

Very few folks make their own pickles anymore. On the Big Island, that role has largely been assumed by Naoki Honda and his wife, Rose, who own and operate Honda Food Processing in Hilo. There, in a 3,000-square foot space in the Kanoelehua Industrial Area, Honda Foods prepares a variety of pickled products made with locally grown produce.

Honda himself isn’t exactly sure how he ended up as the one keeping the tsukemono tradition alive on the Big Island. He was born and raised in Tökyö, the son of a government worker. “Nobody in my family was a farmer,” he says with a shake of his head, “but, somehow, I love agriculture.” Honda’s mother told him that as a child he loved to grow things in the family’s modest backyard — even going out in the rain to water his prized plants.

Honda pursued his passion for growing things through high school and college. He attended Tokyo University of Agriculture, where he enrolled in a program that required students to experience hands-on work in order to graduate. “You must work at least three months on a farm either inside or outside of Japan,” he explains.

Anxious to experience life overseas, Honda considered going to Brazil. In 1978, however, his fate was determined by an international farm association headquartered in San Francisco, which, each year, assigned some 100 applicants to farms and ranches throughout the United States. Before he knew it, Honda found himself reporting to work at Diamond Head Papaya in Kea‘au.

Having completed three years of college at that juncture, Honda decided to stay in Hawai‘i and work for a full year before returning to Tökyö. After returning to Japan, he completed his degree and worked several jobs before returning to Hawai‘i in 1985.

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Arnold Hiura is the executive director of the Hawaii Japanese Center in Hilo and a former Hawai‘i Herald editor. Arnold and his wife Eloise also own and operate the editorial and communications company, MBFT Media.

. . . And Takes Command of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency

Gregg Kakesako
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

Earlier this month, a grandson of immigrants from Okinawa whose Nisei father served in the Military Intelligence Service in World War II became the fourth American of Japanese ancestry in U.S. military history to be elevated to four-star general and appointed director of the National Security Agency and head of U.S. Cyber Command.

On May 4, 54-year-old Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, a Minnesota-born sansei with deep Hawai‘i roots, assumed leadership of the two intelligence agencies. Nakasone now faces what deputy secretary of defense Patrick Shanahan called “the dawn of a new era, facing the reality of war’s changing character — the emergence of cyberspace and outer space as contested war-fighting domains, equal in importance with land, sea and air.”

THE MISSION

Gen. Nakasone brings a decade of experience in combatting cyber warfare that began with a 2008 security breach involving a thumb drive. Following that incident, he played a major role in the design and creation of U.S. Cyber Command, which was formally established in June 2009 when it became the 10th fully unified, stand-alone combatant command, headquartered at Fort Meade, Md.

In October 2016, after deployments to South Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan, Nakasone assumed the leadership of the Army’s Cyber Command. As its commanding general, he created joint task force areas charged with attacking and disrupting ISIS (Islamic State) online operations. He was also instrumental in expanding Army Cyber Command by recruiting thousands of digital “warriors.”

In announcing Nakasone’s promotion as the incoming head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command earlier this year, Rob Joyce, special assistant to the president and cyber security coordinator on the National Security Council, praised Nakasone’s strong background in cyber issues. He said Nakasone “brings great experience and strong cyber background” to his new post and called him “an exceptional leader for two exceptional organizations.”

U.S. Cyber Command became the 10^th combatant command — four of which, like U.S. Cyber Command, have specific missions: Transportation Command, Special Operations Command and Strategic Command; and six with geographic areas of responsibility: U.S. Africa Command, Central Command, European Command, Northern Command, Pacific Command (headquartered in Hawai‘i and headed by Adm. Harry Harris) and Southern Command.

In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee in March, Nakasone said Russia, Iran and North Korea pose the most serious cyber threats. He added that U.S. Cyber Command is prepared to use its cyber intelligence and attack capabilities to target funds and other assets of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“We face a challenging and volatile threat environment, and cyber threats to our national security interests and critical infrastructure rank at the top of the list,” he told the committee during a March hearing on his nomination. Nakasone cited the significance of public-private partnerships in the advancement and implementation of new technologies to address security risks.

Gen. Nakasone assumes leadership of the NSA at a time when it faces several major security breaches, the loss of technical talent and reorganization. The National Security Agency, which conducts electronic surveillance and protects U.S. national security agencies’ computer networks against hacking, employs about 38,000 civilians, soldiers and analysts and works with about 17,000 contractors. U.S. Cyber Command, with 7,000 military personnel and civilians, faces the challenge of effectively countering cyber threats.

In a statement to The Hawai‘i Herald after assuming his new duties, Nakasone said he was honored to lead the two organizations.

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

Living to Tell the Story of War and the Importance of Life and Peace

Jodie Chiemi Ching

On June 23 in Japan’s southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, people will pause to remember those who died in a bloody battle that lasted only three months, but took over 200,000 lives. “Irei no Hi,” as it is referred to honors all who died — Okinawans, Americans, Japanese and other Allies. All lives are precious, they believe.

And in Hawai‘i, Janice Suetomi, who was born Fumiko Tamaki in Okinawa, will remember, too, what she saw and what she experienced 73 years ago in her homeland.

A Young Girl’s Dream

As a young girl of 11, Suetomi dreamed of becoming an elementary school teacher. With the encouragement of her teachers, she studied hard and was the only student from her neighborhood of Taira in southern Okinawa’s Tomigusuku village to pass the entrance exam to the Okinawa First Girls’ High School. Of the 400 applicants from throughout the prefecture, only 40 students were accepted, and she was one of them. The school’s motto, “Aim for the Development of Highly Intellectual and Well-Cultivated Women,” inspired young Fumiko to pursue her dream. Everyone, except her parents, praised her achievement.

“I was the eighth child of 10 children from a poor family. After finishing elementary school, all my brothers and sisters went to work as housekeepers for other families and contributed to our family’s income,” explained Suetomi. Finally, at the urging of her teachers, her parents allowed her to continue school. The future looked bright for her . . . until the spring of 1945.

Preparing for War

On April 1, 1945, U.S. forces came ashore on Okinawa. On the eve of the Battle of Okinawa, the imperial army’s Okinawa Defense Unit was already on the island and had drafted civilians into the war effort. Their goal was to contain the invasion and prevent the Americans from bringing the land battle to the Japanese mainland. Japanese soldiers hid in underground caves from the Americans, who possessed far more firepower. The U.S. naval bombardment from offshore came to be known as the “Typhoon of Steel.” It would last only three months, but claim the lives of over 200,000 combatants and civilians.

School buildings were converted into barracks. Students, male and female, at 21 secondary schools were mobilized for the war effort. Class hours were reduced. The students assisted the Japanese forces in building encampments and gathering food supplies. Their role then expanded and they soon found themselves on the battlefield.

Anticipating further mobilization of the students to work in army hospitals, military surgeons began training female students between the ages of 15 and 19 to work as nurses. They came to be known as the Himeyuri, or the Lily Corps. The Tekketsu Kinötai — Blood and Iron Loyalist Student Corps — included male students between the ages of 14 and 19. They exposed themselves to heavy bombardment daily while transporting supplies, repairing bridges and electric cables and delivering telegraphs.

The Okinawa First Girls’ High School and Okinawa Female Normal School were situated next to each other in the Asato district of Naha City. From these two schools, 18 teachers and 222 students were sent to the Okinawa Army Field Hospital in Haebaru Town. Suetomi and her teachers and fellow students had no clue of what awaited them.

The field hospital turned out to be about 30 cave tunnels that had been dug into the mountains. A typical cave tunnel was dark and damp, about 6 feet high and 230 feet deep, lit only by candles. The “walls” were bare dirt and rock.

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The Hawaii United Okinawa Association will observe “Irei no Hi” on Thursday, June 21, at the Hawaii Okinawa Center. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with the program to start at 6 p.m. The program will include the sharing of personal experiences from the Battle of Okinawa. HUOA’s “Irei no Hi” program is open and free of charge to the public.

The Gannenmono’s Legacy is Considered 150 Years After Their Arrival

Jodie Chiemi Ching

Insight into the history of one of Hawai‘i’s most visible ethnic groups — the Japanese — took a giant step forward last week with the events commemorating 150 years since the first group of immigrants arrived in Hawai‘i from Japan. The approximately 150 men and women were known as the Gannenmono, or “First-year People,” as they arrived in the first year of Japan’s Meiji era.

The commemoration events were organized by Kizuna Hawaii, a consortium of about 20
Japanese community organizations, in cooperation with the Consulate-General of Japan in Honolulu.

One of the main attractions was a daylong symposium on the Gannenmono’s history and impact on Hawai‘i’s history at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. The speakers at the June 7 symposium included scholars, descendants of the Gannenmono, community leaders and students. They provided insight into what life might have been like for the first immigrants who arrived in a strange new land called Hawai‘i on June 19, 1868, and for the roughly 50 that made the Islands their permanent home.

“Their story is an interesting and compelling one, full of surprises, hardships and also joys, but above all, it illustrates their courage and determination, and should serve to inspire us even today,” wrote Dr. Mark McNally, professor of Japanese history at the University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa, in the symposium’s printed program.

Lily Kahele-lani Lyons, a descendant of Gannenmono Tokujiro Sato, opened the program with an oli (chant) and a hula.

Gov. David Ige welcomed the symposium participants, recognizing especially those Nikkei — people of Japanese ancestry born outside of Japan — who had traveled from faraway places like the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, and North and South America with the Association of Nikkei and Japanese Abroad.

Japan’s imperial couple — Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko —who attended the symposium for a short time, expressed their country’s feelings of deep friendship with Hawai‘i. They also expressed sorrow for those currently being impacted by the eruption of Kïlauea volcano on the Big Island. The couple was kept busy throughout the week, participating in a variety of events.

Additionally, Japan’s minister of foreign affairs Masahisa Sato, delivered a congratulatory message for the Gannenmono celebration on behalf of the Japanese government.

In her keynote address, U.S.-Japan Council president Irene Hirano Inouye spoke of the importance of strengthening the Nikkei community in Hawai‘i and abroad as it moves into the future. Hirano Inouye, also the founding president and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, emphasized the importance of providing opportunities for Nikkei to learn about Japan and their ancestry while also finding ways for people in Japan to understand the Nikkei experience, the importance of being inclusive and collaborative as the community becomes more diverse and to invest in the next generation of Nikkei leaders.

“Like the Gannenmono who took a risk to venture to an unknown part of the world, we can be bold and adventurous as we chart new pathways forward. Let us use today to get to know each other, to learn from each other, to commit to work together and to create new opportunities for those that will follow us in the future,” she said.

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Artist Kirk Kurokawa is Living His Dream

Melissa Tanji
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

Kirk Kurokawa was in the first or second grade when knew he wanted to be an artist.

“As long as I can remember, I have always liked art,” said the 44-year-old award-winning painter.

Like many youngsters, the Wailuku resident was fond of comics and animated movies. But he also had an affinity for painters like Norman Rockwell and local artists, including Hawaiian historian and Polynesian Voyaging Society co-founder Herb Kane. He was also impressed by the work of Maui-born artist Tadashi Sato, whose circular mosaic piece, “Aquarius,” graces the rotunda of the Hawai‘i State Capitol. Sato, who served with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in World War II, made the iconic work from six million tile pieces that had been imported from Italy.

And now, Kurokawa is on his way to becoming just as famous as the artists he has always admired.

Last July, Kurokawa’s commissioned portrait of former Hawai‘i Gov. Neil Abercrombie was unveiled at the Hawai‘i State Art Museum. The oil on canvas portrait measuring 48 inches by 36 inches shows Abercrombie standing on a länai at Washington Place. It is now displayed in the ceremonial room of the governor’s office along with the portraits of Hawai‘i’s 17 previous governors.

Abercrombie selected Kurokawa from a field of 46 artists from across the nation who applied for the commission. Some had previously painted portraits of presidents, chief justices and members of Congress. The selection process also included an interview with Abercrombie, who said he was impressed with Kurokawa’s work and passion.

“I’m completely impressed and totally confident in not only his (Kurokawa’s) talent but his commitment to our values in Hawai‘i,” Abercrombie said of Kurokawa’s selection in a 2017 news release issued by the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.

The 1992 Baldwin High School graduate said he was proud to have received the commission from SFCA, which paid Kurokawa $38,750, including his artist’s fee, framing, shipping and travel. At the time, Kurokawa said it was the “most significant” work he had done to date, noting that it is now a part of Hawai‘i’s history.

“I did feel confident in my abilities to paint a good portrait, but I definitely felt the weight and importance of the project,” he said. “There were parts of the portrait process that were very challenging, but the most stressful part is the anticipation of finding out what the community and Governor Abercrombie were going to think when it was done.”

From application to unveiling, the process took Kurokawa two years to complete and included several trips to O‘ahu to meet with Abercrombie and the selection team. Kurokawa said he spent about three months actually painting the former governor at his home studio in Wailuku.

Kurokawa, who is Japanese, Chinese and Hawaiian, was born and raised on Maui. He said his artistic interests were supported and encouraged from a young age. His mother enrolled him in art classes, where he learned painting, drawing and ceramics.

“I am not sure what drew me to art, but I have a very artistic family. I have a few cousins and family members that are artists, as well.”

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Melissa Tanji has been a reporter for The Maui News since 2000. The Maui native earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa.

UH Law School Professor Eric Yamamoto Examines Those Lessons His New Book, “In the Shadow of Korematsu”

Alan Suemori
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

To many of us, we are living in an America that today appears increasingly unrecognizable. As our nation makes a hard turn to the right, we are voyaging through the shadow side of the American dream. Instead of listening to our higher angels of compassion, justice and tolerance, we have as a nation retreated into the darkness of isolationism, exclusion and persecution. The landmarks of this new geography may look the same as yesterday, but the terrain is decidedly different.

Into this morass has come a remarkable book from Oxford University Press, a leading academic publisher, that attempts to offer a way out of our current dystopia. Penned by legal scholar and University of Hawai‘i William S. Richardson School of Law professor Eric K. Yamamoto, “In the Shadow of Korematsu: Democratic Liberties and National Security” is a clear-eyed yet eloquent appeal to common sense and reason in a time of chaos.

The subject is more than academic to Eric Yamamoto, the Richardson School of Law’s Fred T. Korematsu Professor of Law and Social Justice. In the 1980s, as a young practicing attorney in Honolulu, he left his law firm to join his mentors and classmates from the University of California Berkeley law school in San Francisco, who were pulling together the coram nobis case of Fred Korematsu, a San Leandro draftsman. The experience changed Yamamoto’s life forever. He never returned to law practice, deciding instead to teach aspiring young lawyers about America’s Constitution and the wartime injustice that had been dealt to Fred Korematsu and Japanese Americans on the West Coast and in Hawai‘i.

In teaching and writing about the law and social justice, Yamamoto found his calling. He was recognized nationally as the 2006 Outstanding Law Professor by the Society of American Law Teachers and has been awarded the University of Hawai‘i’s Regents Medal for Teaching Excellence. Besides “In the Shadow of Korematsu,” Yamamoto also authored the award-winning “Interracial Justice: Conflict and Reconciliation in Post-Civil Rights America” in 2000, and “Race, Rights and Reparation: Law and the Japanese American Internment” in 2013.

While Yamamoto says his latest work is a specific examination of the role of the courts and the importance of judicial independence, his book goes far beyond that narrow boundary as he tries to help us make sense of a world that has turned upside down.

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

On Aug. 11, Hawai‘i voters will decide who will advance to the general election in both the Democratic and Republican primaries for governor. On the Republican side, polls show state Rep. Andria Tupola leading former state senator John Carroll and former Marine and Hawai‘i Department of Education administrator Ray L’Heureux.

But the race being watched most closely is the hotly contested Democratic primary race for governor between the incumbent, David Ige, and U.S. Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, who decided earlier this year to leave the Congress to challenge Ige. Hanabusa’s entry into the race suddenly spiced up the contest.

The following stories focus on the views of Colleen Hanabusa and David Ige.

COLLEEN HANABUSA: UP FOR “A GOOD FIGHT”

Richard Borreca
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

Ask Colleen Hanabusa what she likes and she might say making ikebana flower arrangements, or eating at old-school local diners, or even attending the summer bon dances. But review her 20-year political career and what becomes abundantly clear is that what Colleen Hana-
busa really enjoys is a good fight.

In an early Honolulu Star-Bulletin profile on her, one legislative colleague borrowed the local slang for a tough woman, calling Hanabusa “a tita with brains.”

“I’ll take it as a compliment,” Hanabusa responded. “As long as they take me seriously and they take what I’m doing seriously.

“And, as long as they realize that it is not going to be an easy battle if we are going to fight,” she added.

As a youngster, Hanabusa recalls growing up in Waianae and battling it out with the neighborhood boys.

“We would play samurai and run around with little sticks,” she recalled in a 1999 profile.

Her election battles have had the same combat intensity.

Colleen Hanabusa launched her political career running against — and beating — longtime Democratic incumbent and then Senate President
James Aki.

She then immediately tangled with former Hawai‘i attorney general Margery Bronster. Hanabusa questioned the large number of over-votes in her district’s election, to which Bronster responded that the area’s “education level” might have been a problem.

DAVID IGE: WALKING THE TALK

Karleen Chinen

T

he “Year of the Dog” began happily for Gov. David Ige. With three years under his belt as Hawai‘i’s chief executive, he was looking forward to launching his campaign for a second term. But his glee quickly turned into a nightmare on the morning of Jan. 13, when many cell phones, but not all, blared a warning message about an incoming nuclear missile, saying the alert was not a drill. Panic ensued throughout the state. The alert turned out to be a false alarm, mistakenly triggered by an employee of the Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency, or HI-EMA.

On television newscasts that evening, Gov. David Ige stood before cameras to explain what had happened and why it had taken 38 minutes to cancel the alert. But eight months later, the incident continues to dog the governor as he battles for re-election.

“I’ve not run from it,” Ige told the Herald in wide-ranging interview in early July. “So, let’s go to that 38 minutes,” he said. “The alert went off and me, like everyone else, was startled by the alert. Security rapped on the door: ‘Protocol is we take you to the shelter.’” Ige said he knew “there was no capability for a missile launch, so I said I’m going to confirm. I tried to contact Emergency Management. The lines were all busy. Continued to make calls. The adjutant general (Joe Logan) finally called me to confirm that it was a false alert.

“There is a very strict chain of command when it comes to emergency management; we don’t want the public to get mixed messages and so there is a very strict protocol about keeping the public informed. And the protocol was followed,” Ige insisted.

He said the alert identified several flaws in the system that told HI-EMA their its plans were not as complete as they should have been. “Clearly, we’ve initiated action to make sure that we do that.” The changes also included replacing HI-EMA’s leadership.

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Hawai‘i’s Largest Ethnic Festival is Moving to the Hawai‘i Convention Center

Gregg Kakesako
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

The birth of the state’s largest ethnic festival — the Okinawan Festival — on Labor Day weekend can be traced to 1980 and a concerted effort by a group of Sansei Uchinanchu leaders to perpetuate and share the Okinawan culture of their ancestral homeland with the larger Hawai‘i community. It began with their participation in a life-changing tour to Okinawa in 1980.

Thirty-five years after that first festival, mother nature and other forces have prompted the festival’s sponsor, the Hawaii United Okinawa Association, to reassess. After staging the festival at Kapi‘olani Park since 1990, this year’s festival will move indoors, to the Hawai‘i Convention Center for the next three years. The festival will still be held over the Labor Day weekend, which this year falls on Sept. 1 and 2.

THE SITUATION

Courtney Takara, who, at 31, is the youngest president to lead the HUOA, said the volunteer electricians, plumbers and construction workers required to install the festival’s temporary infrastructure has diminished over the years. Without these skilled volunteers, the association would have to pay for the work, resulting in additional costs, Takara said.

She acknowledged that “an outdoor festival atmosphere is hard to recreate indoors,” but said she hopes the move to the Hawai‘i Convention Center will give families “the opportunity to start new traditions.”

Logistically, Takara said it costs about $100,000 to operate the festival. Expenses relating to the purchasing the supplies for the food booths are about the same.

“That is one of the easier benchmarks for us. This (holding the festival at the convention center) was more manageable for us based on the manpower and the level of skill sets needed to execute it than when we hold it at Kapi‘olani.”

Takara said the estimated logistical costs of holding the festival at Kapi‘olani Park and at the convention center are similar. At the convention center, HUOA will have to pay for the exhibition halls and set-up of the stage, tables and chairs. The park costs, on the other hand, included hiring off-duty Honolulu Police Department officers to provide around-the-clock security for a week before the festival began, renting golf carts, toilets, trailers, chairs, tables and tents and erecting the tents, booths and chairs.

“We are trying to be prudent about our expenses,” said Takara, an (inactive) attorney and compliance officer with Central Pacific Bank. “Even more so with this festival because there are a lot of unknowns, which is expected when you do move.”

Takara said the HUOA made a concerted effort to communicate with its 50 member-clubs about the reason for the change in venue because many of the volunteers only know what occurs during the two days of the festival and nothing about the weeks and months of planning and preparation that go into each year’s festival.

HUOA officials decided to give the convention center a three-year trial, which will give them time to work out the kinks, Takara said. HUOA did not sign a three-year contract with the convention center, leaving the door open for a possible return to Kapi‘olani Park, she said.

“We don’t want to put the square peg in the round hole. If, after assessing everything at the end of this festival, it doesn’t seem like a good fit for us, we don’t want to be locked in. If it seems like it is not going to work, we don’t want to force it,” Takara said.

One of the advantages of moving to the 1.1 million square foot convention center is that it is air-conditioned, making it more comfortable. It is also safer for the elderly and disabled who use canes, wheelchairs and walkers, and there’s more space for them to relax and enjoy the activities, said the festival’s chairwoman and HUOA president-elect Jocelyn “Jo” Ige, a retired state Department of Education specialist.

“The weather can be unpredictable at that time of the year, said Ige. “It is hot, humid and wet.”

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Further information can be found on www.okinawanfestival.com and www.huoa.org;
Facebook: Okinawan Festival; Instagram:

@okinawanfestival, hashtag — #okifest2018.

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

Mission Accomplished, Thanks to My Big Village

Jodie Chiemi Ching

It was about a year ago that I decided to take on the challenge of earning my Yüshü-shö certification in classical Okinawan uta-sanshin, the art of singing and playing the three-stringed sanshin instrument simultaneously. Yüshü-shö is the second of three major certifications — Shinjin-shö being the first and Saikö-shö being the third.

“What in the world was I thinking?!”

I had reasoned that my boys were a little older now, 11 and 13, so they didn’t need my attention as much as they did before. Also, much of my work as a writer guided me toward subjects connected to my ancestral roots, and I was ready for a new challenge.

Some Background

Twenty years ago, I was fortunate to have received an Okinawa Prefectural Government scholarship for the descendants of Okinawan immigrants. The scholarship allowed me to study at the University of the Ryukyus (also referred to as “Ryudai”) for a year. I attended classes at Ryudai during the day; at night, I studied uta-sanshin at Grandmaster Choichi Terukina’s dojo, Ryukyu Koten Afuso Ryu Ongaku Kenkyu Choichi Kai, in Naha.

Prior to leaving for Okinawa in 1998, I had begun studying sanshin with Choichi-Sensei’s first and top Hawai‘i student, Grant “Sandaa” Murata, who continues to be my teacher today.

Choichi-Sensei encouraged everyone who came as exchange students to train for Shinjin-shö, the first level certification. Having no idea of what I was getting myself into, I readily agreed. “Hai!” I said enthusiastically.

Although there isn’t much I remember from 20 years ago, a few memories have stuck with me. I remember the tears of frustration as we worked every day to polish and perfect the song we were learning, “Nufwa-bushi,” a bittersweet love story.

Whenever one of us got discouraged, Choichi-Sensei was especially empathetic and supportive. “Daaiijoouubu,” he assured us. I trusted him that everything would be OK and continued to persevere.

Another emotion I recall is the feeling of “Yatta! . . . I did it!” It was a reward, but it also made me realize that if I worked hard, I could overcome any obstacle. I guess that’s why I am such a glutton for punishment –– I love that amazing feeling of accomplishment.

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An Immigrant’s Dream is Realized

Frances Kakugawa
and Karleen Chinen

Editor’s note: As most of you know, Frances Kakugawa, The Hawai‘i Herald’s “Dear Frances” columnist, was born in Kapoho on Hawai‘i Island, where she spent her early childhood. The eruption of Kïlauea Volcano in 1955 forced her family to relocate to nearby Pähoa, where they began a new life and quickly became calabash ‘ohana to Alberto Aguinaldo, a young, hard-working immigrant from the Philippines. Shortly after Kïlauea Volcano began erupting in full force in May, Frances sent me a heartwarming story about her family’s ties to the Aguinaldo family.

I Googled the name of Alberto’s only child, Gilbert Aguinaldo, and found a West Hawaii Today news story about a village of 20 micro-units in Pähoa that Gilbert had played a major role in developing for people who had been forced to flee their homes. I recalled watching news stories about how that village had sprung to life in the span of a day and reflecting on what is possible when people put their hearts, minds and hands together for the good of the community.

So, Frances and I are sharing the byline for this story that begins with her family’s flight from Kapoho and transitions to this year’s eruption and the Aguinaldo family.

Over 600 homes were destroyed when Kïlauea Volcano roared back to life on the Big Island of Hawai‘i on May 3, putting on lava shows that were at times hauntingly beautiful and yet, at other times, unbelievably scary.

Frances has followed the volcano news from Sacramento where she now lives, wondering when it will all end. As she stared at the online photographs of perfectly paved roads that suddenly split open from the earthquakes and of Madame Pele engulfing homes in her path, memories of her own family’s escape from their home in Kapoho more than six decades earlier came to mind.

During the 1955 eruption, Frances’ Kapoho house came close to being swallowed up by a huge crack in the earth beneath the house. The Kakugawa family had their house lifted off its foundation and moved to Pähoa, where they settled after having rented a plantation home in Kea‘au for a year while the land Frances’ father had purchased in Pähoa was being cleared. Their old houselot in Kapoho, which had remained vacant all these years, was recently covered over by a heavy carpet of black lava.

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And the Power of Hibari’s Classic “Kawa no Nagare no Youni”

Jodie Chiemi Ching

Hawai‘i’s enthusiasm for Japanese popular music started after World War II. “By 1950, nisei orchestras were flourishing and performing to enthusiastic Japanese American audiences. These orchestras whetted the appetite for Japanese popular entertainment that was cautious at first and grew with enthusiasm in postwar Hawai‘i,” writes Dr. Christine Yano, professor of anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa in her book, “Crowning the Nice Girl.”

After starring in the movie, “Kanashiki Kuchiyube,” Misora Hibari’s fame as a prodigy found its way to Hawai‘i. Even as a child, she was considered to have the understanding and emotional maturity of an adult. So when the 12-year-old superstar arrived in the Islands, she was welcomed with a lively audience that filled the old Civic Auditorium from wall to wall. Hibari also performed at McKinley High School and on the Big Island. Proceeds from her shows went to help build the Club 100’s clubhouse honoring the World War II 100th Infantry Battalion soldiers.

The popularity of enka over the years has become a bridge connecting Hawai‘i and Japan for many years. And the song, “Kawa no Nagare no Youni,” in particular, has transcended time. It was the last song Misora Hibari recorded and performed after being diagnosed with cancer before she passed away in 1989.

We couldn’t help but ask ourselves, “What is it about this song?” It brought to mind two fabulous singers — one a professional entertainer and the other an “amateur” talent — who shared a love for the song.

“Kawa no Nagare no Youni” means “Like the Flow of the River” — a metaphor for life’s journey. Perhaps it could be best described by the Japanese idea of mono aware — the pathos of things, the bittersweet awareness of impermanence. Youth, romance and the seasons are not to be mourned, but cherished and appreciated for their temporary existence, for from that comes beauty.

Singers Karen Keawehawai‘i and the late Lorraine Kaneshiro both experienced emotional moments of “mono aware” in the context of living and performing “Kawa no Nagare no Youni.”

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KAWA NO NAGARE NO YOUNI

Lyrics by Yasushi Akimoto

Shirazu shirazu aruite kita

Hosoku nagai kono michi

Furikaereba haruka tooku

Furusato ga mieru

Dekoboko michi ya

Magarikunetta michi

Chizu sae nai sore mo mata jinsei

Ah-ah kawa no nagare no you ni yuruyaka ni

Ikutsu mo jidai sugite

Ah-ah kawa no nagare no you ni tomedo naku

Sora ga tsogare ni someru dake

Ikiru koto wa tabi suru koto

Owari no nai kono michi

Ai suru hito soba ni tsurete

Yume sagashinagara

Ame ni furarete nukarunda michi demo

Itsuka wa mata hareru hi ga kuru kara

Ah-ah kawa no nagare no you ni adayaka ni

Kono mi o makasete itai

Ah-ah kawa no nagare no you ni ustsuriyuku

Kisetsu yukidoke machinagara

Ah-ah kawa no nagare no you ni odayaka ni

Kono mi o makasete itai

Ah-ah kawa no nagare no you ni itsumademo

Aoi seseragi o kikinagara

Translation

I came walking on this long, narrow path without knowing it

When I turn around,

my distant hometown is visible

The uneven path twists and turns

and doesn’t even have a map

So is the road of life

Ah, like the flow of the river

the era passes by leniently

Ah, like the flow of the river

the sky is just endlessly dyed at twilight

Living and taking a journey,

an endless path

Take the person I love to my side

while searching for a dream

Even if I’m rained on and the path is muddy,

Some day the sunny day will come again

Ah, like the flow of the river

I want to calmly go with the flow

Ah, like the flow of the river

Forever while listening to the blue babbling river

DAVID IGE: WALKING THE TALK

Karleen Chinen

The “Year of the Dog” began happily for Gov. David Ige. With three years under his belt as Hawai‘i’s chief executive, he was looking forward to launching his campaign for a second term. But his glee quickly turned into a nightmare on the morning of Jan. 13, when many cell phones, but not all, blared a warning message about an incoming nuclear missile, saying the alert was not a drill. Panic ensued throughout the state. The alert turned out to be a false alarm, mistakenly triggered by an employee of the Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency, or HI-EMA.

On television newscasts that evening, Gov. David Ige stood before cameras to explain what had happened and why it had taken 38 minutes to cancel the alert. But eight months later, the incident continues to dog the governor as he battles for re-election.

“I’ve not run from it,” Ige told the Herald in wide-ranging interview in early July. “So, let’s go to that 38 minutes,” he said. “The alert went off and me, like everyone else, was startled by the alert. Security rapped on the door: ‘Protocol is we take you to the shelter.’” Ige said he knew “there was no capability for a missile launch, so I said I’m going to confirm. I tried to contact Emergency Management. The lines were all busy. Continued to make calls. The adjutant general (Joe Logan) finally called me to confirm that it was a false alert.

Mission Accomplished, Thanks to My Big Village

Jodie Chiemi Ching

It was about a year ago that I decided to take on the challenge of earning my Yüshü-shö certification in classical Okinawan uta-sanshin, the art of singing and playing the three-stringed sanshin instrument simultaneously. Yüshü-shö is the second of three major certifications — Shinjin-shö being the first and Saikö-shö being the third.

“What in the world was I thinking?!”

I had reasoned that my boys were a little older now, 11 and 13, so they didn’t need my attention as much as they did before. Also, much of my work as a writer guided me toward subjects connected to my ancestral roots, and I was ready for a new challenge.

An Immigrant’s Dream is Realized

Frances Kakugawa
and Karleen Chinen

Editor’s note: As most of you know, Frances Kakugawa, The Hawai‘i Herald’s “Dear Frances” columnist, was born in Kapoho on Hawai‘i Island, where she spent her early childhood. The eruption of Kïlauea Volcano in 1955 forced her family to relocate to nearby Pähoa, where they began a new life and quickly became calabash ‘ohana to Alberto Aguinaldo, a young, hard-working immigrant from the Philippines. Shortly after Kïlauea Volcano began erupting in full force in May, Frances sent me a heartwarming story about her family’s ties to the Aguinaldo family.

I Googled the name of Alberto’s only child, Gilbert Aguinaldo, and found a West Hawaii Today news story about a village of 20 micro-units in Pähoa that Gilbert had played a major role in developing for people who had been forced to flee their homes. I recalled watching news stories about how that village had sprung to life in the span of a day and reflecting on what is possible when people put their hearts, minds and hands together for the good of the community.

And the Power of Hibari’s Classic “Kawa no Nagare no Youni”

Jodie Chiemi Ching

Hawai‘i’s enthusiasm for Japanese popular music started after World War II. “By 1950, nisei orchestras were flourishing and performing to enthusiastic Japanese American audiences. These orchestras whetted the appetite for Japanese popular entertainment that was cautious at first and grew with enthusiasm in postwar Hawai‘i,” writes Dr. Christine Yano, professor of anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa in her book, “Crowning the Nice Girl.”

After starring in the movie, “Kanashiki Kuchiyube,” Misora Hibari’s fame as a prodigy found its way to Hawai‘i. Even as a child, she was considered to have the understanding and emotional maturity of an adult. So when the 12-year-old superstar arrived in the Islands, she was welcomed with a lively audience that filled the old Civic Auditorium from wall to wall. Hibari also performed at McKinley High School and on the Big Island. Proceeds from her shows went to help build the Club 100’s clubhouse honoring the World War II 100th Infantry Battalion soldiers.

Hawaii Foodbank President Ron Mizutani Comes Full Circle
Jodie Chiemi Ching

This past April’s devastating floods forced residents of Kaua‘i’s North Shore to once again muster their inner strength and power through the crisis. It was almost a repeat of September 1992, when Hurricane ‘Iniki, a category 4 storm, came ashore on the Garden Island, packing sustained winds of 145 miles per hour that tore rooftops off of buildings and downed trees and power lines throughout the island.

By contrast, the storm that wreaked havoc on Kaua‘i’s North Shore in April was largely a rain issue. But the 28 inches of rain that deluged the island for 24 hours straight triggered major landslides and flooding, cutting off residents from the rest of the island.

At least five landslides shut down Kühiö Highway, the island’s main thoroughfare, forcing the Kaua‘i Fire Department to use jet skis to rescue stranded residents. Houses were swept off of their foundations and Hanalei Valley looked like a huge lake. These were some of the postings on Facebook in the days after the April 14 flood. 

Meanwhile in Honolulu, veteran KHON newsman Ron Mizutani was wrapping up a long career in television news and gearing up for a new role as president and CEO of the nonprofit Hawaii Foodbank.

November is the month film lovers in Hawai‘i look forward to with great anticipation. That’s because the curtain will rise once again on the Hawaii International Film Festival. It’s an opportunity to take in films that bridge East and West and the rest of the world through cinematic storytelling.

HIFF 38 — the Hawaii International Film Festival presented by Halekulani —will feature 187 films from 35 countries. On O‘ahu, the festival will run two weeks, from Thursday, Nov. 8, through Thursday, Nov. 18. Of the 187 films, 30 are from Japan or have Japanese-related themes. Many of them were selected for screening at HIFF after being shown at the prestigious Sundance, Cannes and Toronto film festivals.

The Herald culled through all of the film titles and put together a list of the films from Japan or that have Japanese-related themes. They are listed here by HIFF “section” and in ascending order by their first screening date, along with a synopsis of the film. Tickets can be purchased at hiff.org. Most of the Japanese-related films are being shown in Hawai‘i for the first time, six are receiving their North American premiere at HIFF, four are receiving their U.S. premiere and two their international premiere.

Gregg K. Kakesako
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

Nearly half a century ago, 32 people were arrested while protesting the mass eviction of Kalama Valley residents, including farmers and native Hawaiians, by landowner Bishop Estate to pave the way for suburban development in East O‘ahu. Among those arrested was community and anti-Vietnam War activist — and future journalist and playwright — Gary T. Kubota.

Kubota’s newly released book, “Hawaii Stories of Change,” is a collection of 34 oral history interviews with people who were on the front lines of the Kalama Valley eviction struggle, as well as with some who played supporting roles in the conflict and others who were involved in the native Hawaiian movement. The actions of the protestors in the arid 250-acre valley is considered by many as a pivotal moment in the “Hawaiian Renaissance” — a movement that began as a land struggle and eventually led to the effort for native Hawaiian autonomy.

Gov. David Y. Ige
(Photos by Jodie Chiemi Ching)

Good morning and aloha.

First, I would like to thank the people of Hawai‘i for electing me to another term as your governor.

I find myself eager and excited about the prospect of tackling all that is before us.

And I look forward to working with all of you.

I know it sounds like a given — that we all work together.

But that is often easier said than done.

Moreover, without that collaboration — as we’ve seen in our nation’s capital — it can easily lead to gridlock.

And so, let us move forward, together.

‘Oni like käkou.

S. Sanae (Imada) Tokumura
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

Got kadomatsu, or kadomatsu plans? If not, there’s still time to gather the essential pine boughs and other symbolic elements to create Hawai‘i’s essential New Year’s decoration. Kadomatsu, literally “gate pine,” is originally a

Shintö practice, but placing kadomatsu outside homes and/or businesses is largely no longer a religious ritual in Hawai‘i. Rather, it has become a nostalgic, stylish, generationally honored cultural tradition.