Island Values

The Mamoru and Aiko Takitani Foundation, named after the issei businessman from Yamaguchi and his wife – who met and wed on Maui then together co-founded Hawaiian Host chocolates in Kaimukī – donated funds to 59 college-bound students across Hawai‘i, for a total of $218,000 in scholarships. The latest wave of Takitani Foundation moneys, allocated....

Rev. Bert Sumikawa Helps Descendants Honor Ancestors at the Bellows Japanese Cemetery Gregg K. Kakesako Special to The Hawai‘i Herald This year, obon — the 500-year-old Japanese Buddhist custom honoring ancestors’ spirits — will deepen Ann Nakata’s connection with her family roots. Just two months ago, 72-year-old Nakata, a retired Kapahulu florist, discovered she had....

Grandma Nonaka’s Legacy Still Lives Carolyn Morinishi Special to The Hawai‘i Herald “Kyö wa Odaisan yo. Pau kaukau, we go.” Takano Nonaka of Hanapëpë, Kaua’i, or Baban as her grandchildren affectionately called her, was as committed to spirituality as she was to her family. Every month during the 1960s, she would call to her grandchildren....

The KizunAloha coalition, composed of more than 20 companies, government agencies and nonprofits based in Hawai‘i and Japan, recently unveiled a communications campaign designed to support future and economic recovery efforts by engaging the Japanese market during the coronavirus pandemic. While the state has currently imposed a 14-day quarantine for all incoming travelers and has....

Backed By Experience From Rebuilding Kaua‘i’s Economy In The Past Richard Borreca Special to The Hawai‘i Herald One evening during the closing days of April, Senate President Ron Kouchi was watching the evening news when he was startled to hear Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell starting to volunteer Kouchi’s home island, Kaua‘i, as a test site....

Trysen “TK” Kaneshige’s Many Art Forms Vibrate Positivity Across the 808 Jodie Chiemi Ching “WHEREAS, hard-working, determined, passionate, and talented are words that describe Trysen ‘TK’ Kaneshige, in his journey towards an auspicious career in the creative arts as a local Kaua‘i boy with a simple, but in no way small, dream …” reads 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....

Jodie Chiemi Ching Commentary Because I am a writer for The Hawai‘i Herald and an Okinawan performing artist, people might think that I’m the type of mother who forces my two sons, 14-year-old Gavin and 12-year-old Cameron, to attend or participate in Japanese and Okinawan cultural activities. Actually, I rarely do. I try to encourage....

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....