History

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko Have Redefined the Imperial Family Kevin Y. Kawamoto Special to The Hawai‘i Herald After the last of their three visits in the 1960s, Akihito and Michiko did not visit Hawai‘i again for 27 years. When they did return again, much had changed in their lives. By 1994, they had raised....

Fifty years ago, all of Hawai‘i state government’s elected big shots — from then-Gov. John Burns and his lieutenant governor, Tom Gill, to state senators and representatives — closed their ‘Iolani Palace offices and walked across what was then Hotel Street to America’s newest state capitol building. As they walked into Hawai‘i’s political and governmental....

Dance Sensei Shares Memories of Kennedy Theatre’s First Kabuki Performance Jodie Chiemi Ching The last time Hawai‘i residents were treated to an authentic kabuki performance from Japan was half a century ago, in December of 1963. So, fans of the centuries-old theatre art are probably counting down the days until March 2 when kabuki returns....

Exhibit Celebrates 150th Anniversary of the Meiji Restoration and Immigration to Hawai‘i Wayne Muromoto Commentary Special to The Hawai‘i Herald In the “I Ching,” there is a popular canard, or myth: In crisis or change, there is opportunity. This is based on a false and superficial reading of the Chinese characters, or hanji (in Japanese:....

Visitors to the Hawai‘i State Library in downtown Honolulu are now greeted by the newly installed monument honoring the late Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first woman of color — and the first Asian American woman — to serve in the United States Congress. The Maui-born lawmaker’s decades in public service won her accolades as a....

Jodie Chiemi Ching Neatly displayed in the home of Hozen “Lefty” Shimabuku are precious mementos of the 32 years (1966 to 1998) he worked as a Washington Place groundskeeper, serving four Hawai‘i governors — John A. Burns, George R. Ariyoshi, John D. Waihe‘e III and Benjamin J. Cayetano. That’s a lot of memories. But the....

Susan Nunes Published with Permission Sketches by Ryo Shinoda Editor’s note: In observance of Veterans Day, we are pleased to share with you this excerpt from writer Susan Nunes’ short story, “Biffontaine.” It is part of her collection of short stories titled “Paradise Café: A Family Memoir in Stories.” Nunes is a Hilo native who....

Kevin Y. Kawamoto Special to The Hawai‘i Herald The University of Hawai‘i’s Center for Oral History on the Mänoa campus is open for business once again, and longtime Ethnic Studies Professor Davianna Pömaika‘ºi McGregor has stepped up to serve as the center’s new director. McGregor was among the early supporters of the Ethnic Studies Oral....

A Look Back on the Case That Rocked the AJA Community 90 Years Ago Jonathan Y. Okamura Commentary Special to The Hawai‘i Herald This year — Sept. 18, to be exact — marks 90 years since Myles Yutaka Fukunaga, a 19-year-old Nisei, killed Gill Jamieson, a 10-year-old Punahou student in Waikïkï. In a highly publicized....

Dan Nakasone Special to The Hawai‘i Herald It was noon on Sept. 27, 1948, when the USS John Owen made landfall at White Beach, the U.S. naval facility on the eastern coast of Okinawa island, near the tip of Katsuren peninsula. Onboard the ship was a precious cargo of 536 pigs that had survived the....