History

How Significant is “The Japanese Vote?” Richard Borreca Special to The Hawai‘i Herald Asking about ethnic voting in Hawai‘i is like posing the question: “Is it raining in Hawai‘i?” Yes, somewhere in Hawai‘i almost every day, rain is falling and, yes, Hawai‘i voters take ethnicity into consideration when they go to the polls. But it....

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:....

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....

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....

Two UH Researchers Bid Farewell to Historic Center Kevin Y. Kawamoto Special to The Hawai‘i Herald Their names have been synonymous with oral history research in Hawai‘i for decades. But when the fall 2017 semester begins at the University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa later this month, Dr. Warren Nishimoto and Michi Kodama-Nishimoto will have already....

Academy Award-Nominated Film is an Insightful Essay on Race Relations in America Alan Suemori Commentary Special to The Hawai‘i Herald In 1979, the great American writer James Baldwin sent a short letter to his literary agent Jay Acton, outlining an ambitious project that would require the author to undertake a long-delayed journey back into his....

Twenty-five Years Later, Former Kaua‘i Mayor JoAnn Yukimura Remembers ‘Iniki’s Fury Richard Borreca Special to The Hawai‘i Herald On the evening of Sept. 10, 1992, the lives of JoAnn Yukimura and the 50,000 people living on Kaua‘i were about to change dramatically. Just after 6 p.m., Yukimura, the fresh-faced, new, liberal mayor of Kaua‘i, was....

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....

“Images of America” Series Highlights the Old Plantation Town’s Living History and Heritage Kevin Y. Kawamoto Special to The Hawai‘i Herald You can learn a lot about the history of a place through books and oral histories, photographs and video documentaries. But one way to really experience that history, firsthand, is through its architecture and....

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....