Remembrance – THE ONE AND ONLY SONNY CHIBA

Lois Kajiwara Special to The Hawai‘i Herald Commentary Upon reading about Shinichi “Sonny” Chiba’s passing on Aug. 19, 2021, I felt a rush of emotions: disbelief, shock and a sense of deep loss. I first saw him...

Remembrance – SEN. AND REV. BOB NAKATA

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...

Remembrance – ALOHA ‘OE, REV. YOSHIAKI FUJITANI

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...

Remembrance – ALOHA ‘OE, FUJIO MATSUDA

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...
Longtime friends Jon Shirota and Professor Katsunori Yamazato. Yamazato is a retired president of Meio University in Nago, Okinawa. (Photo by Barbara Shirota)

ALOHA ‘OE, JON SHIROTA

A Maui Son’s Writing Brought Hawai‘i’s Okinawan Experience Into the Light
Executive Director Cyndi Osajima and Founding Administrator Rose Nakamura at Project Dana’s 30th anniversary celebration on Sept. 28, 2019, at Dole Cannery’s Pomaika‘i Ballroom. (Photo by Kevin Kawamoto)

ROSE NAKAMURA’S LEGACY OF CARING

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...
Irene Hirano Inouye (center) with (from left) then-U.S.-Japan Council board chair Dennis Teranishi, Consul Rumi Ariyoshi from the Japanese Consulate in Honolulu, Island Holdings chair and USJC member Colbert Matsumoto, Hirano Inouye, and USJC Emerging Leaders Program participants Lynn Miyahira and Brandon Marc Higa at a 2016 reception in Honolulu for visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (Photo courtesy Lynn Miyahira)

Remembrance – Remembering Irene Hirano Inouye

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.....
USJC President Irene Hirano Inouye

Remembrance – In Her Own Words

“. . . 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,....
Photo of KTA Chairman and CEO, Barry Taniguchi

Remembrance – Aloha ‘Oe, Barry Taniguchi

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....
Bamboo Ridge Press colleagues Marie Hara (far left) and Eric Chock (far right) joined the late Milton Maruyama and wife Dawn Pine for a group photo in November 2008. (UH Press photos by Carol Abe)

Remembrance – Remembering Marie Hara

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....

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