History

Stacy Lee Special to The Hawai‘i Herald N95s, KN95s, KF94s, 3-ply-surgical, cotton masks; bandanas and face shields. Been there, done that. Still doing it.  We have been inundated with masks during the past year and a half. For Americans,...

Underdog Champion for the Community Melvin Inamasu and Violet Harada Courtesy: Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i Editor’s note: This bimonthly series, “Honoring the Legacy,” is a partnership between The Hawai‘i Herald and the Japanese Cultural Center of...

Hamakua Jodo Mission Working to Preserve History  Jodie Chiemi Ching  The Hamakua Jodo Mission, in Pa‘auhau Mauka on Hawai‘i Island, was the first sanctioned Buddhist temple in the state of Hawai‘i. It was built in 1896 at the epicenter of the five sugar plantations on the island, and served the community of Japanese contract laborers.....

Dr. Lorraine S. Mito, Ed.D Special to The Hawai‘i Herald My father, Gisaburo Yamane, was born in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1909. At the age of 13, his parents sent him to Kona, Hawai‘i, to become the adopted child of his uncle and aunt, who were childless. Dad was the second son of his birth parents....

Creating the Maui Nisei Veterans Memorial Center Melvin Inamasu and Violet Harada Courtesy of the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i Persistence and grit are essential attributes of leadership. Leonard Oka possesses both in spades. It took Oka over three decades to realize his vision of a center on Maui to honor Nisei veterans. In the....

Some of the Most Valuable Life Lessons Were Learned in the Pineapple Fields of Wahiawä Dan Nakasone Special to The Hawai‘i Herald “You have to learn the value of a dollar,” Dad would tell me. Other kids in Wahiawä and the surrounding area likely heard a similar “lecture.” It was the mid-’60s. I was 15....

TÖKYÖ — A former official of the Japan National Tourism Organization has released an English-language version of his research on the wartime escape of Jews from Nazi persecution via Japan. Akira Kitade, 70, published his...

Japanese Immigrants Helped Put Kona’s Coffee Bean on the Map Dan Nakasone Special to The Hawai‘i Herald As I listened to Takeo Nakasone’s story, I was struck by a sense of place and time that began on a coffee farm on the western slope of Hualälai on Hawai‘i Island. It is where Takeo grew up....

An American Story is Being Told Daily in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo District Gregg K. Kakesako Special to The Hawai‘i Herald As the summer sky slowly turned a shade of pale orange, the near-capacity crowd of 58,000 in Dodger Stadium saluted a 94-year-old American veteran of Japanese and Hispanic ancestries who served in the 442nd....

Chronicler and Narrator of the Japanese in America Experience Melvin Inamasu and Violet Harada Courtesy: Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i Editor’s note: This bimonthly series, “Honoring the Legacy,” is a partnership between The Hawai‘i Herald and the...