Remembrance

Remembering a Compassionate Social Activist Richard Borecca Commentary Special to The Hawai‘i Herald Rev. Bob Nakata was one of Hawai‘i’s most influential and unlikely social activists. Nakata was 80 when he died in July after suffering a stroke...

Former Hongwanji Bishop Lived His Life with Gratitude and Aloha Karleen Chinen Commentary Special to The Hawai‘i Herald A minister. A former bishop. Keiki o ka ‘äina — a child of Hawai‘i. Son. Brother. Husband. Father. Grandfather. A...

Karleen Chinen Commentary, Special to The Hawai‘i Herald Fujio Matsuda belonged to the World War II cohort that journalist Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation.” I don’t know if Matsuda, a veteran and the nation’s first Asian...

A Maui Son’s Writing Brought Hawai‘i’s Okinawan Experience Into the Light

Kevin Y. Kawamoto Special to The Hawai‘i Herald Sometimes the mere mention of a name can make people feel good and smile. For many, that name was Rose Nakamura, who passed away on July 10, a...

Karleen C. Chinen “Determined, unflappable, tireless and tenacious.” That is how Dr. Akemi Kikumura-Yano is remembering Irene Hirano Inouye, her friend and former colleague, who died April 7 in Los Angeles after an extended illness. She was 71 years old. Most people knew Irene Hirano Inouye primarily as the widow of the late U.S. Sen.....

“. . . George, Dan and Fuj, you all have been in leadership positions. Yet, so many of our Sansei went into professions that were ‘safe.’ They’re professionals — they became lawyers and doctors and accountants and so forth. If we look at the high education level of Japanese Americans — the Nisei, Sansei and,....

Karleen Chinen Commentary I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat another hotel banquet salad without remembering fondly the happy face of KTA Super Stores chairman and CEO Barry Taniguchi enjoying his dinner salad . . . with a pair of hashi (chopsticks), instead of a fork. That is an image I will not....

Karleen Chinen Commentary Hawai‘i’s literary community lost one of its kindest, most talented and most generous souls with the passing of Marie Hara on Aug. 23 at the age of 75. I had lunch with Marie about a month earlier. We talked about some of her health challenges. It’s a common topic of conversation among....

Marie Hara From “Bananaheart and Other Short Stories” Published with Permission My mother enjoys telling my young daughters scary stories about the plantation days. The girls always ask to hear about the Coffin Lady. Mama sits down by the kitchen table, her face busy thinking. Her childhood and O-Baban, her own mother, are ready to....