Island Values

Colin Sewake Special to The Hawai‘i Herald Tucked away on the corner of Dillingham Boulevard and Kokea Street, Nisshodo Candy Store is a hidden treasure. Despite our familiarity with the area, Editor Jodie Ching and I...

Never Too Young to Learn Why We Should Always Strive for Peace Karleen Chinen Commentary Special to The Hawai‘i Herald This year, International Peace Day (Sept. 21) is being observed just a few weeks after the 75th anniversary...

Jodie Chiemi Ching Jan Iwase’s memoir “Leading with Aloha: From the Pineapple Fields to the Principal’s Office” came into my hands at the perfect time. With just two months of editorship at The Hawai‘i Herald under my belt, I still feel like I am learning to walk. Nostalgic, comforting and practical, “Leading with Aloha” was....

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....

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....

Hawaii Foodbank President Ron Mizutani Comes Full Circle Jodie Chiemi Ching This past April’s devastating floods forced residents of Kaua‘i’s North Shore to once again muster their inner strength and power through the crisis. It was almost a repeat of September 1992, when Hurricane ‘Iniki, a category 4 storm, came ashore on the Garden Island,....

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....