History

History of the Gannenmono: "Should Server to Inspire Us Even Today" Dr. Mark McNally Published with Permission On June 19, 1868, the first group of Japanese immigrants arrived in Honolulu. Their group consisted of about 150 people, all of whom were adult men with the exception of five (or six) women who had accompanied their....

Scholarship Fundraising Drive Underway to Honor the Engineering Pioneer Kristen Nemoto Jay Special to The Hawai‘i Herald As we observe Women’s History Month, we shine the spotlight on a humble and quiet woman who inspired other women like her to chase their dreams. It’s been a while since Susan Nishioka flipped through the pages of....

Retired Brig. Gen. Thomas S. Ito, only the fourth Japanese American to be promoted to the rank of general in the U.S. military, died Jan. 26 at the age of 90. Ito began his military career in 1951 when he joined the Hawai‘i Army National Guard as a field artillery officer. He spent 37 years....

Gov. David Ige Published with Permission Editor’s note: Close to 450 people turned out to honor and celebrate the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team at its 74th anniversary banquet on March 26 at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. Of the roughly 442 people in attendance, 47 were World War II Japanese American veterans, all of whom....

Gail Honda Special to The Hawai‘i Herald The following interview write-up is the third of seven that will be published in The Hawai‘i Herald this year. It is part of a series titled, “In Their Own Words.” In the spring of 1980, I had the opportunity to interview seven former internees of Honouliuli Internment Camp....

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:....

Richard Borreca Special to The Hawai‘i Herald In 1968, Rona Adams, a retired Army captain now living in Kailua, O‘ahu, was serving as the head emergency room nurse for the 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon. Memories of that experience rushed back to her this past May during a Honolulu memorial service marking the 50th anniversary....

A “TRIPLE PASSAGE” Michael Malaghan Special to The Hawai‘i Herald The weather was miserable, so we didn’t go to the Imperial Palace. I viewed this imperial turnover in the context of a “triple passage” because my wife Tomoko and I got engaged in Japan just as Emperor Hirohito died, bringing the Showa Era to an end, and we....

Melissa Tanji Special to The Hawai‘i Herald After more than 30 years of silence, a temple bell cast in Japan in the 1920s sounded once again last month in Upcountry Maui. It was rung in memory of five young men who died tragically nearly a century ago while on a Good Friday weekend hike to....

The “People of the First Year” Were Hawai‘i’s First Japanese Immigrants Kei Suzuki Re-edited from “Hawai‘i’s AJA Pioneers” Editor’s note: The year 2018 marks 150 years since the Gannenmono, or “First-Year People,” arrived in Hawai‘i in June 1868. This first group of immigrants planted the seeds of today’s Japanese community in Hawai‘i. This milestone anniversary....