Community Focus

Hawai‘i Island’s much-anticipated Wailea Village Mochi Pounding will be held on Saturday, Dec. 28, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Akiko’s Buddhist B&B in Hakalau (15 mile marker) along the Hämäkua Coast. The community mochi pounding that attracts residents and visitors alike is in its 22nd year. A short film on the event by....

Chaminade University’s Mystical Rose Oratory was the setting for the Christmas Concert for PEACE and Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day Commemoration on Dec. 7. The program by Tinkerbell, a handbells performing group from Japan, and Tsugaru Shamisen music, also from Japan, was organized by the BDK – Rev. (Yoshiaki) Fujitani Interfaith Program at Chaminade University and....

The Hawaii United Okinawa Association presented its Legacy Award to eight individuals — four from Hawai‘i and four from Okinawa — for their contributions to the Okinawan and larger local and global community. The awards were presented at a luncheon banquet at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom on Nov. 2. Honored from Hawai‘i were....

Yumiko Uyeno was recently installed as Sawai Koto Kai Hawaii’s new president. Also installed as officers were vice presidents Keiko Akamine and Mary Yanagihara; secretaries Pamela Honbo and Mariko Dotzler and treasurer Diane Tokumaru. Uyeno, who is a Hiroshima native, began studying koto at the age of 5 under Grandmaster Yoshiko Mihara of the Ikuta....

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Karleen C. Chinen Commentary Japan was hit hard last month with two major disasters — killer Typhoon Hagibis, which hit northern Honshu, taking lives, and a devastating fire in Okinawa that burned historic Shuri Castle to the ground. The people of Hawai‘i are responding with aloha to both tragedies. On Oct. 12, Typhoon Hagibis made....

The Deigo Club marked the 70th anniversary of its founding with a special gathering at the Hawaii Okinawa Center on Oct. 27, putting on a show that featured performers from Hawai‘i’s various Okinawan music and dance studios. The celebratory “Karii!” and “Kampai!” toasts were offered by Hawaii United Okinawa Association president Jocelyn “Jo” Ige and....

Gov. David Ige has appointed Brig. Gen. Kenneth S. Hara as the state’s new adjutant general, effective Dec. 6. He will succeed Maj. Gen. Arthur “Joe” Logan, who will retire from the post at the end of the year. Ige thanked Gen. Logan for his leadership and service to Hawai‘i. Ige said Hara has been....

On Sunday, Nov. 24, the Hawai‘i chapters of Azama Honryu Traditional Okinawan Dance School and Nomura Ryu Dento Ongaku Kyokai (Denon), a school of classical Ryukyu music, will present their first concert entitled, “Uchinamun Family Variety Show,” at 2 p.m. at the Hawaii Okinawa Center in Waipahu. The performance will highlight the Hawai‘i members of....

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