My Hawaii

Colin Sewake Hawai‘i Herald Columnist Last month, over 800 Hawai‘i Uchinanchu, Uchinanchu-at-heart, family members and friends attended the Hawaii United Okinawa Association’s 70th installation banquet. Outgoing president Jocelyn “Jo” Ige turned over the leadership reins to 2020 president, Lynn Miyahira. I met Lynn for the first time in Okinawa in 2007. She was working for....

Colin Sewake Hawai‘i Herald Columnist “Okinawa is such a beautiful place, not just the ocean and scenery and culture, but the people. I’ve been treated well and taken care of by many people here in what has become ‘My Hawai‘i.’” — Colin Sewake ’TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS IN NAGAHAMA, YOMITAN Every year, I look....

Colin Sewake Hawai‘i Herald Columnist In March of last year, I was pleasantly surprised to receive some correspondence from Dr. Roy Hanashiro, a professor of East Asia and Japan history at the University of Michigan-Flint. Dr. Hanashiro, who was born, raised and educated in Hawai‘i, said he subscribes to The Hawai‘i Herald and has been....

Colin Sewake Hawai‘i Herald Columnist “Okinawa is such a beautiful place, not just the ocean and scenery and culture, but the people. I’ve been treated well and taken care of by many people here in what has become ‘My Hawai‘i.’” — Colin Sewake GINOZA-SON — I now live more than 4,800 miles away from my....

Colin Sewake Hawai‘i Herald Columnist The tradition of proudly receiving your diploma in a cap and gown to the tune of “Pomp and Circumstance” is pretty much a given at any high school or college graduation ceremony in the United States.  It was no different in the ’80s when I attended Leilehua High School in....

Colin Sewake Hawai‘i Herald Columnist ORION BEER’S HEISEI CAN By the time you read this, Japan will have said “Sayonara” to Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko and the Heisei Era and the country will be three days into the new Emperor Naruhito’s Reiwa Era. I was fortunate to get a few special edition Orion Beer....

MY HAWAII By Colin Sewake IN THE GUTTER Location: Nagahama, Yomitan; January 2019 No, I’m not referring to my bowling ball, but rather to my Nissan Serena minivan.I left home to pick up my son Yoshiaki (“Aki”) from Yomitan High School and then take him to his juku (cram school) in Okinawa-shi (Okinawa City). For....

MY HAWAII By Colin Sewake “Okinawa is such a beautiful place, not just the ocean and scenery and culture, but the people. I’ve been treated well and taken care of by many people here in what has become ‘My Hawai‘i.’” — Colin Sewake The passing of Malani Bilyeu, one of Kalapana’s original members, came as....

MY HAWAII By Colin Sewake On Saturday morning, Sept. 29, I woke up at about 5:30 to pretty strong winds outside. The lights in the kitchen and the digital clocks were flickering. I turned on my laptop and went online to check the Kadena Air Base Facebook page and learned that the U.S. military bases....

MY HAWAII By Colin Sewake I took a friend to the new Yuntanza Museum a week after it opened. The opening ceremony was held June 22 and the museum officially opened to the public the next day. General admission is ¥500 and only ¥200 for village residents. I had an annual passport made without any....