Janice Sakoda
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

Mid-May of 1944 was a pivotal period in the history of the 100th Infantry Battalion, highlighted by the Allied effort to wrest the 1,700-foot high Benedictine monastery called Monte Cassino from German control. The 100th’s involvement in this five-month-long campaign left the unit decimated. The 100th Battalion had arrived in Italy in September 1943 with some 1,300 men; by mid-May 1944, only 512 were fit to continue fighting. It was here, in the battle for Monte Cassino, that the 100th earned its nickname, the Purple Heart Battalion.

The travelers at the Rapido River Crossing Memorial. From left: Ed and Janice Sakoda, David and Judy Fukuda, our guide Serena, Eleanor and Alvin Shimogaki, Glenna Koyama, and (back row, right) Bryan Yagi and Vanessa Perry.

My dad, Gary Uchida of Headquarters Company, was seriously wounded near Cassino. So when my husband Ed and I heard about a tour to Italy that would include a stop in Cassino to mark the 70th anniversary of the town’s liberation, we thought it would be a good opportunity to learn more about the area where Dad was wounded. Our two-week tour of Italy took us to Rome, Florence, Pisa, Santa Margherita, Bolzano (once part of Austria) and Venice.

In preparation for the trip, I spent time talking story with longtime friends of my dad — Edward Ikuma (HQ), Kenneth Higa (C), and Sonsei Nakamura and retired Judge Takashi Kitaoka (both B) — all 100th Battalion “originals,” like my dad, who had sailed out of Honolulu Harbor in June 1942. I wanted to find out what they remembered about their time in Italy. Seventy years have passed since they fought in Italy, but I was amazed to find that their memories of Italy are deeply etched in their minds and hearts. The ports, towns, hills, rivers and events they mentioned, once just names to me, became real as we visited these locations on our trip, leaving me with good memories.

This stained glass window at Monte Cassino was donated by the veterans of the 100th Infantry Battalion, whose insignia can be seen under the panel with the word PAX. (Photos courtesy Janice Sakoda)

We arrived in Rome late in the day on Sunday, April 27. It was an auspicious day: the canonization of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII, both of whom were being elevated to sainthood.

Our tour group spent three days exploring Rome and included a visit to Fontana di Trevi, or Trevi Fountain. Sonsei Nakamura had told me that after a month of treatment for trench foot (what we now know as frostbite), he was assigned to the Albergo Marino Hotel, which was located near Trevi Fountain, to help American soldiers as they arrived for rest and recuperation (or relaxation or recreation). I promised Sonsei that I would take a picture of the Albergo Marino Hotel, if it remained. At my request, our tour guide had researched the hotel before we arrived. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find it. It had either been torn down or renamed, which is what I think happened.

Since returning from the trip, I’ve had some time to reflect on our tour of northern Italy, trying to pick out my “favorite” part. But I’ve come to the conclusion that each place we visited was special.

What stands out in my mind is the camaraderie Ed and I formed with our fellow 100th Sansei — David Fukuda (son of Mitsuyoshi Fukuda, A Company) and his wife Judy, Wayne and Carol (daughter of Arthur Komiyama, HQ) Matsunaga and Alvin Shimogaki (son of Calvin Shimogaki, HQ) and his wife Eleanor. We socialized with others on the tour, but especially enjoyed the special bond that developed between the Hawai‘i travelers.

Our northern Italy tour ended in Venice. Then began our Monte Cassino mini tour. Our Hawai‘i group caught the train south to Cassino, where we met up with Don and Corinne (daughter of Susumu Kunishige, A) Hamano; Don’s sister, Val Nomura and her husband Scott; Glenda Koyama (daughter of Yasuo Takata, B); Bryan Yagi (nephew of a 442nd RCT veteran) and Vanessa Perry.

As we approached the town, we were excited to catch glimpses of Monte Cassino between the trees. High on the distant hill, it looked so majestic.

It was fitting that we visited the Salerno Museum on the first day of our mini tour, as the men of the 100th Battalion took their first steps on Italian soil at Salerno on Sept. 22, 1943.

The 100th’s landing at Salerno was the start of Operation Avalanche, the largest amphibious operation in history, exceeded only by the Allied invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. What moved me to tears at the Salerno Museum was seeing a railcar that was used to transport people to Hitler’s gas chambers. In addition to the Jews, I learned that Romanis, often referred to as gypsies; the handicapped; gays and even the elderly were rounded up for extermination. As I stood in front of the railcar, it suddenly hit me that this is what the war was about

. . . to end the tyrannical rule of the Nazis and to liberate not only the Italians but also all of the oppressed. I felt deep gratitude and immense pride in my dad and the men of the 100th for all they went through so that we could live as free people. I can’t imagine what life would have been like had Hitler succeeded.

We stopped later in Sant Angelo d’Alife to see a memorial that was erected in October 2004 to commemorate 59 members of the 34th Infantry “Red Bull” Division, who were killed. Of the 59 killed, 21 were from the 100th. This list provided by the Japanese American Veterans Association identified them as: PFC Harold J. Arakawa (A), Pvt. Matsuei Ajitomi (C), Pvt. Kaoru Fukuyama (D), Pvt. Fred Y. Hamanaka (D), PFC Kiyoshi Hasegawa (C), Pvt. Yutaka Hirayama (C), Pvt. Satoshi Kaya (C), Sgt. Ronald S. Kiyabu (A), PFC Arthur A. Morihara (A), Pvt. Sakae Murakami (C), S/Sgt. Richard K. Murashige (A), Pvt. Martin M. Naganuma (C), Pfc. Hideo Nagata (C), PFC Kaoru Naito (A), Sgt. George Y. Ozawa (A), Pvt. Masatsugu Riyu (C), S/Sgt. Louis K. Sakamoto (C), Pvt. Ted T. Shikiya, (A), Pvt. Yoshinobu Takei (A), Cpl. Richard K. Toyama (A) and PFC Thomas I. Yamanaga (A).

Although we do not know exactly where the 100th Battalion crossed the Volturno River, we knew they crossed the river three times during the war. We found these youngsters playing on the riverbank.

On tap for our second day in Cassino was our visit to Monte Cassino. That morning, we awoke surrounded by a thick fog — so thick that we couldn’t see beyond 100 feet. At breakfast, I remember thinking that the fog was befitting the day, as we were headed to the place where one of the bloodiest battles of World War II took place, perhaps even the bloodiest in all of Italy.

As I tried peering through the fog, I recalled a story David Fukuda had told us. Willie Goo, a 100th Battalion C Company veteran from Maui, had shared it with David. The 100th was just about to launch an attack against the Germans in the mountains in the thick fog when the fog suddenly lifted. The suicidal mission was aborted and the men were called back to the rear lines.

The fog cleared for us, enabling us to make our first stop of the day — a memorial service at the Polish Cemetery, containing the graves of more than 1,000 Polish soldiers who were killed while storming the abbey of Monte Cassino in May 1944. During the ceremony, a young man or woman stood beside each of the grave markers, visually emphasizing the many soldiers who were killed in the battle. It was a sobering moment.

After the ceremony, we enjoyed a typical Italian lunch of pasta and wine. We also walked along the Cavandesh Road, an old mule track that was improved and served as a “back door” to the monastery during World War II, enabling the Allies to outflank the German positions.

Finally, it was time to visit Monte Cassino.

The view was breathtaking and it made me understand why taking it from German control was so important. From that vantage point, the Germans had a 360-degree of any ground movement.

The Monte Cassino abbey is home to the Benedictine Order, founded by St. Benedict in 529 AD. It’s hard to imagine that 70 years ago, this monastery and all the trees surrounding it were totally decimated by Allied bombs. The area was fully restored and is now teeming with visitors. Even the trees and shrubs have grown back.
Our guide Serena said that the abbey was completely destroyed, but when the rubble was cleared, the only object found whole and intact was the statue of St. Benedict. Hearing that gave me goosebumps!

We went downstairs to the basement, where we learned that everyone who had taken refuge under the abbey survived, including some of the townspeople. As the daughters and sons of 100th soldiers, we were especially proud to see the emblem of the 100th Infantry Battalion in a stained glass window that the men donated to the abbey.

We returned to the town of Cassino, where we saw a World War II tank. On it was a plaque that had been presented by the 34th Infantry “Red Bull” Division. It read: “This plaque is dedicated to the memory of those Americans and Italians who joined together to bring freedom to this country. Let the sacrifice of the soldiers and civilians who died in World War II never be forgotten.”

On the third and last day of our mini tour, we visited Anzio, where German bunkers are still intact on the beach. Kenneth Higa told me that when they were in Anzio, they encountered German fire and had to hunker down during the day. At night, however, they could get out of their foxholes and walk about without being shooting targets.
We also visited the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery in Nettuno, where there are 7,861 headstones of American soldiers who died in battles in Sicily, Salerno and Anzio. While no 100th/442nd enlisted men are buried there, we learned that four 100th/442nd officers are buried there, including Jack Johnson, who was killed in action at Cassino in January 1944.

Additionally, two Nisei soldiers from Hawai‘i are listed on the marble Wall of the Missing — Toshio Sasano (A) and Sunao Kuwahara (C). If anyone reading this story knows where these men are buried, please email me at club100vets@gmail.com and we will forward the information to the appropriate authorities.
When a missing soldier’s remains are located and confirmed by authorities, a rosette is placed beside his/her name to indicate that the soldier’s remains have been recovered and identified. We hope that rosettes can be placed beside the names of Toshio Sasano and Sunao Kuwahara.

Later that day, we visited a memorial and the Bell of Peace at the site of the Rapido River crossing. The memorial was dedicated in 1990. It was initiated by Georges Henri, then-mayor of Biffontaine, France, as a tribute to the men of the 100th Infantry Battalion. It is without question a memorial to the Nisei soldiers, as a plastic maile/‘ilima lei is draped behind the plaque. Although of the text is in French, we could make out a few words that we surmised were related to the 100th: “A La Memoire . . . 100eme Batallion D’Infanterie . . . 34eme Division D’Infanterie.”

Our “official” mini tour of Monte Cassino ended much too soon, but we accomplished and learned so much about the war, about Monte Cassino and about what the 100th had faced in battle.

The 100th Infantry Battalion has a website, 100thbattalion.org, which enables people all over the world to learn about the 100th, as well as the other units in which the Nisei soldiers served.

Thanks to Damiano Parravano and our guide Serena, I was able to visit Pozzilli, where my dad was seriously wounded.

One person who found the website was Damiano Parravano, from Cassino, Italy. Damiano is a historical researcher with the Associazione Linea Gustav. (The Gustav Line was a German defensive line drawn across central Italy, just south of Rome. Monte Cassino is located here. From their fortified vantage point on its slopes, the Germans could see anyone coming through the valley.) Damiano emailed the 100th Battalion veterans clubhouse office in Honolulu, asking for permission to use a couple of photos from the website for a display in Cassino. Through this contact, Damiano learned of our planned trip to Monte Cassino and of my interest in visiting Pozzilli, near Hill 600, where my dad was wounded. He wrote:

Janice, we have spent years on the battlefields recovering the historical memory of the men who seventy years ago fought over there, but all this has a meaning if we can use our knowledge to the service of the veterans and their relatives who feel important to reach those places. I would like to tell you that it will be a pleasure to meet you and your husband and I will do as much as possible to lead you on the hill where your father was injured.

On May 22, Damiano picked us up in Cassino and together with Serena, our guide and interpreter, we headed to the town of Pozzilli and Hill 600. Years ago, when my dad gave me a copy of the book, “Remembrances,” published by the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans Club, he marked an “x” on a map to indicate the area in which he was wounded. It was because of this map that we had a general idea of the terrain and surroundings of the battle.

Later, Damiano surprised me by asking me to describe my dad. Although we had met numerous people who knew about the 100th, Damiano was the first to ask me this question. As I was describing my dad, I suddenly remembered something he told me decades ago. He said that he was knocked unconscious for several hours and that by the time he regained consciousness, the sun was low in the sky. He said that just before regaining consciousness, he saw a bright light in the distance — like the light at the end of a long tunnel. As it approached, it became brighter, and just as it hit him, he regained total consciousness. After recounting this story to Damiano, he was quiet for a few seconds and then said, “Your dad must have been near death.” The thought shocked me, but I think he was right. A couple of times over the years, I recall my dad wondering why he was spared while many of his friends died. While we will never know the answer this side of heaven, I am grateful that he was spared so he could be my dad.

We left Pozzilli and Hill 600 and began our search for the Volturno River. Although we didn’t know exactly where the men crossed the river — they crossed it three times — we did find some boys playing in the river. It made my heart happy to hear them playing, shouting and laughing and made me wondered what their lives might have been like had the Allies lost the war.

La Pace Hotel owner Pino Valente with his collection of World War II memorabilia, including some items on the 100th/442nd.

As we stood on the riverbank and saw the boys shivering from the cold, I tried to imagine how much colder it must have been in November 1943 when the 100th had crossed it. I knew from Judge Takashi Kitaoka’s recollection that on one crossing, the water was chest-high and freezing cold. Kenneth Higa mentioned that during one of the crossings in which the water wasn’t too high, he decided to take off his shoes to keep them dry. Midstream, however, he had to put them back on because the water was so cold and he felt like he was stepping on shards of glass whenever he stepped on a rock. That told me that the water level was high and that it was very cold. But only the men who lived through those experiences know what it was truly like.

They had good memories, too, though. Kenneth Higa remembers that while crossing the river, he found a cluster of grapes. Without thinking to wash them — he was, after all, in the water — he consumed them with gusto.

Before taking us back to our hotel, Damiano drove us to see the mountains near the Rapido River, where the 100th Battalion fought in late January 1944. He pointed to the area containing remnants of barracks. All we could see, however, was a wall of vegetation.

I am so grateful to Damiano for so generously sharing his time and expertise with us. And, I am grateful to be home and to be able to attend Wine Gang gatherings at the clubhouse and listen to the veterans share their wartime experiences. Now when they tell me a story, I can visualize the context of their stories.

I have one final story to share. In many ways, it sums why this trip was so special for all of us.

In Cassino, we stayed at the Hotel La Pace, which is centrally located in the town. The owner of the hotel, Pino Valente, is an avid World War II history buff and displays his World War II memorabilia in the hotel lobby. He has a wide assortment of books (some in English), and there was a television channel that aired the documentary, “The Battle for Monte Cassino.” Pino also had an American flag and a Red Bull patch on display, to which he added photos of Robert Takashige (B), Goro Sumida (A) and Jerry Sakoda (B), given to him by Bryan Yagi. My husband Ed and I presented Pino with a limited edition coin of the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans Organization and an abridged edition of the book, “Remembrances,” containing the names of all of the 100th soldiers who were killed in action. He was so appreciative for all the memorabilia and information on the 100th Battalion.

While chatting with Pino, we learned that his grandfather was one of the townspeople who had taken refuge in the basement of the abbey, thus surviving the bombing. In fact, a part of the hotel was once his grandparents’ home. During the annual anniversary commemoration in May, Pino hosts an Apéritif, the equivalent to our cocktail hour, and invites veterans and/or their families to meet each other, even if they are not guests at the hotel. As a result, we met a Canadian veteran who fought at Monte Cassino. After the war, the Canadian soldier became an Episcopalian priest. Another evening, we met an Austrian soldier who was court-martialed by Germany for not firing his weapon against the enemy, the Allies. He said he was captured and held as a prisoner of war by Britain. It was an honor meeting these two gentlemen, as well as a few others at the Polish Cemetery Commemoration Service.

We also met residents who knew about the 100th. I asked one of them to tell me what was so special about the 100th. After all, the battle to take Monte Cassino was an Allied assault involving numerous nations. He said it was because the 100th fought with valor. And they’re right. But you would be hard-pressed to reach that conclusion on your own just by talking story with the veterans because they never boast — after all they did, all you see is humility and modesty, even 72 years after they went to war for our country.

Janice Sakoda’s father, the late Gary K. Uchida, was an original member of the 100th Infantry Battalion. This trip was to Italy was her first trip to Europe — she hopes to visit France in the near future and learn more about the 100th/442nd.

Jodie Ching
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

TOBE! . . . FLY!
Choichi Terukina-Sensei, a National Living Treasure of Japan in the Afuso style of Okinawan uta sanshin (singing and playing sanshin simultaneously), has always believed in seeking makutu, which, in Okinawan language, means “the ultimate truth.” Music is his starship for connecting humankind and sharing truth and messages of peace around the world.

On Saturday, Oct. 18, at the Hawaii Okinawa Center, the school Terukina-Sensei established in Hawai‘i — Afuso Ryu Choichi Kai Hawaii — will celebrate its 30th anniversary with a program of music, dance and theatre. Whether you are a newcomer to Okinawan performing arts or a longtime aficionado, here are five reasons why I hope you will attend this special performance.

Reason No. 1: It will be something different. You will be treated to the soothing yet haunting sounds of classical Ryükyüan music composed over 200 years ago, when Okinawa was an independent kingdom. That music became the foundation of today’s Okinawan music.

And then there is the amazing energy of Afuso Ryu’s members, including Terukina-Sensei’s young grandsons — 13-year-old Tomofumi and 3-year-old Ryuto — both of whom will be part of the production. The talent and discipline of these two youngsters will leave you in awe.

Reason No. 2: The show will NOT be boring. Some people are under the mistaken impression that koten, or classical Okinawan music, will lull you to sleep because of its slow pace. If that’s what you think, you are in store for a treat. When Terukina-Sensei produces a show, he makes sure that it is filled with musical solos, dances and performances in play form that are interesting and inspiring and that reveal entertaining stories from Okinawa.

This philosophy is rooted in the beliefs of Seigen Afuso, who established Afuso Ryu in the late 1800s. Seigen Afuso believed that the best way to master a song is by listening to it not only with your ears, but more importantly, through your heart.

He also believed that the mastery of uta sanshin is a lifelong journey and an evolution that is as much a philosophy of life as it is the learning of notes on a music sheet. When one is young, you singing from your heart in a way that is different from singing from your heart when you are older and have possibly experienced a deep love with a soul mate or the heartache of losing a loved one. The one lesson all Afuso Ryu sensei learn and pass on to their students is the importance of “singing from the heart.” This is a basic philosophy has been passed on from Seigen Afuso-Sensei and on through the generations.

Reason No. 3: It’s rare and authentic. Terukina-Sensei could have picked anywhere in the world to establish the first school of Afuso Ryu outside of Japan. He chose Hawai‘i, and in 1984, selected Grant Murata, a young yonsei already proficient in sanshin, to be Afuso Ryu’s first teacher in Hawai‘i.

By 1994, Grant “Sandaa” Murata had achieved certification as a kyoshi, or teacher, of Afuso Ryu — the first in Hawai‘i. Sandaa-Sensei continued his study of the Afuso Ryu style of uta sanshin, traveling back and forth between Hawai‘i and Okinawa, and finally receiving the blessing of the headquarters in Okinawa to establish the Hawai‘i chapter of Afuso Ryu.

Sandaa-Sensei credits the success of Afuso Ryu in Hawai‘i to support he received from respected musicians in the local community — people such as Nomura Ryu shihan (master instructor) Eugene Arakaki, a cousin of Terukina-Sensei; Yorito Tengan and Chuck “Chiso” Jitchaku; minyo (folk music) shihan Kiyoshi Kinjo and Shoei Moriyama; koto shihan Katsuko Teruya and Bonnie Miyashiro; and community supporter Dr. Albert Miyasato, among many others.

As artistic director and president of the Hawai‘i branch, Sandaa-Sensei has always encouraged Afuso Ryu students to further their study of uta sanshin by traveling to Okinawa and experiencing the unique teaching style of Afuso Ryu directly with grandmaster Terukina-Sensei. It is a face-to-face teaching style that fosters a lifelong bond between student and teacher.

Like Sandaa-Sensei did in his younger years, many students take advantage of the opportunity — and not just once. They continue to return to Okinawa, engaging in rigorous training and pursuing proficiency certification.

Onstage and off, the Afuso Ryu ‘ohana is a close-knit family that continues to grow. It is amazing to think that the Hawai‘i school got its start in 1984 with a handful of students who crowded in Sandaa-Sensei’s modest living room in Ainakoa, seeking to find themselves through their culture.

Today, uta sanshin classes are held at five locations: Aiea Hongwanji Mission, Soto Mission of Hawaii in Nu‘uanu, on Kaua‘i and Maui and in Los Angeles.

Kenton Odo and June Nakama, both shihan, along with Calvin Nakama, Sean Sadaoka and Melissa Uyeunten, all kyoshi, teach the Aiea Hongwanji Mission classes. Sandaa-Sensei, who is a shihan, his wife Chikako Shimamura, a kyoshi, and Tom Yamamoto, a shinjinsho who holds first-level proficiency in uta sanshin, lead the class at Soto Mission of Hawaii. Once a month, Sandaa-Sensei flies to Kaua‘i to teach students there, while Kenton Odo-Sensei teaches a monthly class on Maui. Additionally, Ryan Nakamatsu, a kyoshi from Hawai‘i, teaches classes in Los Angeles, where he currently resides.

In all, Afuso Ryu has over 700 members worldwide, with about 100 members making up the Hawai‘i branch.

Reason No. 4: The chickenskin factor. No matter how many times you hear it, Terukina-Sensei’s powerful voice will give you chickenskin and set your heart aflutter. Sensei’s voice is his trademark and it must be experienced live to be truly appreciated. His voice comes from a pure heart and makutu, and passing on this spirit to his students and those who listen to Afuso Ryu music is his ultimate goal. When you listen to the voices of his three shihan — Grant Murata, Kenton Odo and June Nakama — you know that he has infused in them this special gift. And now, as teachers themselves, they seek to share the gift with their students.

Reason No. 5: Peace and remembrance. Only people who have suffered through war truly understand the preciousness of peace. Okinawa was the only prefecture of Japan where World War II came ashore and into the small villages, forcing the people to flee and take refuge in caves, where some eventually died. In just three months of fighting between American and Allied forces and Japanese imperial forces, more than 100,000 Okinawan men, women and children lost their lives. Some were caught in the crossfire of battle; others starved to death or died of diseases such as malaria.

Classical Okinawan music survived the horror and sadness of losing loved ones in the Battle of Okinawa and helped to heal the people and instill peace in their hearts.

In this day of electronics and information overload, it is crucial that we connect our children to the ancestral values of people like Seigen Afuso, who believed that music is the path to discovering the essence of one’s heart. War, religious differences and materialism are about divisiveness. Music, taught Seigen Afuso, is eternal and a universal language that has no geographic borders.

Because of Terukina-Sensei, Seigen Afuso’s message of music as a universal language music made its way across the Pacific Ocean 30 years ago, and it thrives in the students of Afuso Ryu Choichi Kai Hawaii. Although far in distance and time, it will leave you with a feeling of a home for all.

Jodie Ching, who earned her bachelor’s degree in Japanese from the University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa, studied at the University of the Ryükyüs in 1998. She is currently the office manager for a Honolulu accounting firm, as well as a wife and the mother of two young children. Ching has studied Okinawan dance with Tamagusuku Ryu Senjukai Frances Nakachi Ryubu Dojo and sanshin with Afuso Ryu Choichi Kai Hawaii.

Editor’s note: The following two pieces were shared with the Herald by two subscribers from Hilo. We decided to save them and include them in this Big Island edition as “Your Story” contributions. Thank you to subscribers Walter Tachibana and Patsy Adachi for sharing them.

ONCE I HAD AN UNCLE

Walter S. Tachibana

In Honor of Mitsuo “Benty” Tachibana
Co. K, 3rd Bn, 442nd RCT

Once I had an uncle, but now he is no more;
A father of four and a husband to one.

Born in a Hakalau sugar plantation camp;
He was the youngest of three to my Aunty and Dad.

Raised in the camps, Pepe‘ekeo and ‘Amauulu Camp 1.
He grew up and played basketball with his Camp 1 pals.

Then came the 1943 call to serve the nation
And to save his people who were under suspicion.

The Second World War was a worldwide conflict
Against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

Japanese Americans got locked up in “camps;”
That denied them their right as U.S. citizens.

But the AJAs responded magnificently, you see;
Ten thousand stepped forward when only 4,000 was needed.

The folks in ‘Amauulu sent off five of their sons,
To form the fighting infantry of the “442nd.”

On 27 March of 1943, assembled in historic Hilo Armory,
They were sworn in before hundreds of their moms and dads.

Then on sacred ‘Iolani Palace’s spacious grounds
The whole regiment formed, then marched to the troop ship.

Once on the Mainland, hidden in troop trains,
They went to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, to toughen for war.

In segregated towns of the Deepest South,
White lines had separated the Negroes from white areas.

When Nisei boys went to both areas for female dates,
They suddenly were ordered to stay only on the white side.

Entering frontline combat in Southern Italy
They could have been first to march into Rome.

But they were held back on purpose; you see,
Someone else got the nice publicity.

In October of 1944 came the order to fight
In the hilly lands of Southern France.

To the storied lands of the intriguing Cathars,
The peaceful people who really were Buddhists.

In Languedoc and sunny Provence once lived
A blooming, unique culture and civilization.

Roman soldiers, Palestine Jews and Germanic Visigoths
All came for peace, life and freedom.

But then in 1209 C.E. came Crusaders from Northern French lands;
For Christian Pope Innocent III couldn’t stand their “heretic” beliefs.

At Beziers, at Carcassonne, and at Toulouse, Cathars in the hundreds
Were defeated, tortured and massacred over 40 years.

From dear Languedoc, you see, came troubadours,
Who sang the praises of their secret sweethearts and also of Mary Magdalene and John the Baptist, but not the Christ.

Then, too, from Languedoc came the Knights of the First Crusade
And of the ideas of chivalry, courtly love, the Holy Grail and the Knights Templar.

Through such “Buddhist” lands did the Buddhist 442nd pass through
To rescue the “Lost Battalion,” (1st Battalion, 141st Regiment, Texas 36th Infantry Division)

In Eastern France’s Vosges Mountains, with the 100th Battalion on the right,
The 3rd Battalion in the middle, and the 2nd Battalion on the left.

The exhausted 442nd made their greatest
“Banzai” charge,
And pierced the enemy’s lines on 29 October 1944.

Two hundred eleven Texas boys were rescued there
But, oh, what a price was paid by the 442nd.

Over four hundred Nisei were killed or wounded
Every AJA lost someone he knew.

When later to give “thanks” to the 442nd, General Dahlquist was furious
Because only 26 came to his formal ceremony.

He scolded the 442nd colonel for such a poor showing;
In a sad voice, the colonel replied, “That’s all of K Company left, Sir.”

No AJA soldier was smiling, no one was grinning;
They were just too sad for the cost of their winning.

Then, back to northern Italy and the Po River Valley campaign,
The 442nd fought once again in a Cathar homeland.

When other U.S. units could not capture a hilltop position,
The 442nd was told to take it, but that it would be a week or month.

The 442nd took ropes and climbed the steepest cliff-side.
Men who lost their grip on the rope fell down in silence.

The others knew when it happened,
When they felt a rush of air brush by in the dark.

The hilltop that others had said would take weeks,
The 442nd did it in just 34 minutes.

These were the outstanding Yankee Samurai.
They who came from Hawai‘i’s plantation camps and the U.S. “concentration camps.”

Benty, being the youngest in his mortar squad,
He was always protected by his buddies.

Of the five volunteers who left ‘Amauulu
Camp 1,
Only Takeo “Smokes” Sato failed to return home alive.
And he had lived just three houses uphill from Benty’s home.

Oh, I once had an uncle, a brave one was he;
His roots came from a land afar across the sea.

Fukushima had brave sons, who were teenagers, too;
The White Tiger Corps was loyal and true.

They faithfully served their Aizu cause and lord,
Just as Benty did for the red, white and blue.

He was in the Greatest Generation, you see,
They all sacrificed so much for you and me.

In the Spirit World of his Zen Buddhist calling
All know him now as Dai An Mando Koji.

On his long, solitary journey over the water
To the Spirit World, he will soon see his mom, dad, brothers and sister.

May he have a grand, happy family reunion there
Until next year, when they all return to us here.

Oh, I once had an uncle, and now he is gone
It was truly an honor to have had him in life.

Walter S. Tachibana is a retired high school history teacher and past president of the Hawai‘i-Shima Fukushima Kenjin Doshi Kai and Hilo Taishoji Soto Zen Temple. He is a former ‘Amauulu Camp 1 resident.

Frances H. Kakugawa
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

When I was 40, poet Georgia Heard asked, “When did you start becoming a poet?”

“It began in Jackson, Michigan,” I said, “where I lived in a cozy little attic, like Emily Dickinson, above my penpal and her family, teaching first graders at a nearby school. I looked out one afternoon and saw orange and red maple leaves dancing past my window in a slow dance. In the silence, I heard Roger Williams’ “Autumn Leaves” — leaves and piano keys all becoming one. What a contrast that was to the Twist, which was raging the country. It was my first fall.

“When winter came, I looked out that same window and saw the ground covered in freshly fallen snow. I walked in the snow, leaving my footprints behind me. It was a time for such sadness as I walked and walked, knowing I couldn’t do anything about the beauty of seeing my lone footprints in the mounds of snow. I didn’t have the words, yet. I could only think of Longfellow’s “Footprints on the Sands of Time.” But it wasn’t mine. Did it begin here, that morning of my first winter?

“Or,” I continued, “maybe it was that summer I fell in love. It was a time for poetry once again. I offered him “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and he hand-wrote “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. When we parted, I memorized poems from “Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle” and listened to Kui Lee’s “I’ll Remember You.” To keep from dying, to keep from driving my car into one of the trees along the Pähoa road, I began to write poems of things broken inside of me. The first volume of these poems would be published less than a year after I had penned the last poem. It must have begun there.”

“Are you sure?” she asked. “How about your childhood?”

“Kapoho?” I asked. “Do you know what Kapoho was like? I did everything to get out of there.”

“Perhaps,” she said, “it’s time to return.”

So I’m back in Kapoho with a shovel, digging for memories and images.

I’m lying on my back on a branch on a kukui nut tree at Pohoiki Beach near Kapoho. My body aligned against the rough bark of the branch, a giant back scratcher, it massages my back with each careful movement I make to keep my balance as I watch, mesmerized by the waves as they tumble in over the coarse black sands. I have a book in my hand; I lean into the branch and watch the body surfers and swimmers sharing waves. I know what aloneness and silence mean even as the voices of the swimmers break into my tranquil space.
“Time to eat!” is the final break, and I scurry down to rice balls, fried Spam, fried hot dogs, and potato and macaroni salad. I dip my hand into the aluminum washtub, filled with blocks of ice and water, to find a bottle of Coke.

After resting an hour after my last bite, I go to the outhouse to change into my bathing suit. The stench makes me want to throw up. Now our own outhouse, it was different. It was my place of refuge, where I spent hours, reading whatever books or magazines I could get ahold of to avoid household chores.

It’s Monday morning and I’m walking to school, bare-footed, dressed in my oversized home-sewn dress with my home-sewn schoolbag swung over one shoulder. There’s no mystery in school, especially in my teachers, because I knew them by their first names before they became my teachers. My teachers are young ladies from the village.

“Eh,” I complain to anyone who will listen, “I bet kids in Hilo have fancy, college-educated teachers, and here I’m stuck with teachers who only graduated from high school. I wonder what city kids are learning. All they do here is let us read; they read to us and force us to grow vegetables to sell to the cafeteria.” No one hears me.

Today is music day. Our music is a one-book music curriculum. It’s no wonder I would almost fail my basic music course in college years later. It was a good thing the professor was old and he liked my poetry.

For half an hour, we sing from the vomit-colored green book of Stephen Foster songs. There’s a copy for each student. So we sing “Old Folks at Home,” “Old Black Joe,” “Massa’s in de Cold Ground” and “My Old Kentucky Home.” These spirituals of sorrow and brokenness make me feel Kapoho isn’t that bad. I could be on an auction block, being sold to a slave owner. Or living in slave quarters with scars of whiplashes on my back.

I become a sucker for sad feelings and stories. A pulse is created deep inside of me. I borrow books on slavery and human suffering, romance and relationships to feed this pulse. At home, we sing Japanese songs of soldiers out on battlefields, calling out their mother’s name as they lay dying. As history would have it, wars would tail me for the rest of my life, feeding into my own humanity.

Today I’m in the fifth grade in a combination class. Miss Fujii gives us a reading assignment to last about an hour while she teaches the sixth graders. I finish my work ahead of time and walk to her desk to hand in my assignment. I return to my desk. I get up and walk to the bookshelf to get a dictionary. I take the dictionary back to my desk and pretend to look for a word. I close the dictionary and walk to the shelf to return the book. I walk back to my desk, then get up and walk to the shelf for the dictionary, again. I repeat this a few more times to entertain myself. My classmates have their heads over their work.

Miss Fujii’s voice jerks our heads up.

“Frances!” she threatens, “if I see you walk one more time, I’m going to glue you to your seat.” I hear smirks from my classmates.

I take my reading book and pencil and scribble a note on the first page. I pass the book to Kay, who’s on my right. Her shoulders shake as she reads my note: “I glue her to her own ass!”

Kay returns the book, still trying to contain her laughter.

I rip a sheet from my notebook and scribble another note for my appreciative audience of one.

“When she smile,” I write, “she looks like obake. (Japanese woman ghost, a crone of a hag). Her teeth so ugly, I elect her the ugliest obake in the world. Her hair looks like steel wool. No wonder she single.”

Kay snorts with laughter when she gets my note, scribbles a few words and gives it back to me.

Miss Fujii’s commanding voice stops me before I can read Kay’s note.

“Frances! Bring those notes up to me right now.”

Nani, who sits behind me, is returning to her seat after going up to the teacher to whisper something in her ear. She passes me with a smirk on her face.

I take both note and book up to Miss Fujii. She reads them and says to the class, “Frances has been writing notes about her teacher instead of doing her work. Look, she even wrote in her reading book. How shall we punish her?”

The class turns into a field day.

“Rubber hose!” a 16-year-old yells out. “Send her to the principal for the rubber hose!”

Rumor has it that there is a rubber hose behind the principal’s desk that is used on the big bad kids, bad kids meaning the 16-year-olds. Nani is one of these students.
“Suspension!” another voice rings out. “Suspend her for a month!”

“Expel! Expel!”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

She sends me to the principal. The thought of swallowing evidence never occurs to me. The principal, Mrs. Iwasaki, looks at me and quietly says, “Frances, I want to teach you something today. If you had kept these notes in your head without writing them down on paper, there would be no proof of what you did. Next time, when you get upset with your teachers, just think them. Don’t write them down.

“I’m going to suspend you for one day. I need to do this because your teacher is very upset. Stay home tomorrow and when you return, apologize to her. I’m sure all will be fine after you apologize to her.”

I walk back to my class, thinking of Miss Fujii and her “Some people’s children are so d-u-m-b” comments addressed to me whenever I gave incorrect answers. I’ll bet Hilo teachers treat their students better than this, maybe like Mrs. Iwasaki, who seemed to be on my side.

“Frances is suspended!” spread all over school.

“Oh no, I hope my brother Paul keeps his mouth shut.”

He does. He keeps my secret, and the next morning I awake with a stomachache and stay in bed all day. I pretend to swallow the black tar-like Japanese medication prescribed for stomachaches. I write a note of apology to Miss Fujii.

The morning after my suspension, I put on my Academy Award face of looking solemn and regretful and hand the note to her and add, “I’ll never do this again.”

She looks at me and simply asks, “Are you sure?”

It’s a good thing she didn’t ask what I had learned. I would have told her, “No write, no get in trouble.”
When I left sixth grade, Miss Fujii’s last words to me were said in private.

“Keep on writing. Don’t ever stop writing.”
I so wanted Kapoho to be the Eden of my dreams, a place of perfection, where I was taught by college grad teachers, have parents as perfect as those in novels and classmates who didn’t tattle on me. I so wanted to be taught How to Write or How to Become a Poet from fancy textbooks, like those kids in Hilo and in New York City. I thought I was living deprivation and I couldn’t wait to get away. But it looks like I didn’t need the fancy city stuff. Kapoho had something no other city could offer. Why didn’t someone tell me then?
I put my shovel away . . . for now.
Frances Kakugawa, whose “Dear Frances” caregiving column is published monthly in the Herald, was the middle of five children, all of whom grew up on the Big Island. When Frances was 18 years old, a lava flow swept through her hometown of Kapoho, forcing her family to move to Pähoa.

Frances currently resides in Sacramento. She is perhaps best known for her writing on caregiving after having served as her mother’s primary caregiver for five years following her diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease. Frances continues to write and give workshops and talks on caregiving and writing. By coincidence, she is currently in Hawai‘i, speaking on caregiving and writing.

William H. “Pila” Wilson, Ph.D.
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

Which elementary school on the island of Hawai‘i has the most intensive program in Japanese language? Would you believe it is a Hawaiian language medium school, specifically, Ke Kula ‘O Näwahïokalani‘öpu‘u — Näwahï, for short — located in Kea‘au in the Puna District? And, would you believe that it is a school in which over 95 percent of the students are of Hawaiian ancestry?

Näwahï Japanese language program is part of the school’s “heritage language program” to honor non-Hawaiian ancestors. Japanese language has been taught at Näwahï since 1994 and is the strongest part of that program. The current Japanese teacher, “Pilialoha” Kimiko Tomita Smith, has three Hawaiian language degrees: a B.A., teaching certificate and an M.A. And, she teaches Japanese to her students speaking Hawaiian.

Näwahï School grew out of the Hawaiian language revitalization effort that began in the early 1980s. It is the main laboratory school site of the Hawaiian language college at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo and includes a preschool through grade 12 program that is taught, operated and administered totally in Hawaiian. There are 360 students on its main campus in Kea‘au, with satellite campuses in Waimea on Hawai‘i island and in Wai‘anae on O‘ahu.

The Harman keiki have been taught their Japanese mo‘okü‘auhau (genealogy) in Hawai‘i. Their great-great-grandparents, Noburo (kneeling, third from left) and Mariah (Lono) Suganuma (standing, third from left), are pictured in this photo with Noburo’s parents, Seiji and Nao Suganuma (wearing lei). (Photo courtesy Harman family)

The mission of Näwahï is to restore Hawaiian as a living language of families and communities. In 1986, the state Legislature removed a ban that had been placed on Hawaiian medium education in 1896. Ninety years of English medium education had totally broken transmission of Hawaiian from grandparents and parents to children on Hawai‘i island.
That break is beginning to mend.

Today at Näwahï, approximately 33 percent of the children enrolled have spoken Hawaiian from birth. Their parents either learned Hawaiian at Näwahï itself or at a university program. Still other parents began to learn and use Hawaiian with their children after the children began school at Näwahï.

But Hawaiian isn’t the only language spoken by Näwahï students.

At Näwahï Kea‘au campus, oral and written Japanese is studied by all students in grades one through six. At grade five, English is introduced as a world language, continuing on through grade 12. English classes are the same length as Japanese classes and, like the Japanese classes, are taught through Hawaiian and from the perspective of the Hawaiian language.

By the end of grade 10, students have had more Japanese language instruction than English. By high school graduation, however, Näwahï students have enough proficiency in English to function in English medium universities. Like foreign students who enroll in American universities, Näwahï students have the cognitive advantage of high bilingualism, and, also like them, Näwahï students must devote some extra time in college to learning English equivalents for academic terms from the non-English language they used in high school. That bit of extra work is accepted as part of revitalizing Hawaiian. This shared non-English high school background, plus a background in Chinese characters, provides a unique connection with East Asian foreign students in college.

Since its first graduating class in 1999, Näwahï has had a 100 percent high school graduation rate, with over 80 percent of its students enrolling directly into college. Most enroll in the University of Hawai‘i system. Among other universities from which Näwahï students have graduated are Seattle University, Portland State, Loyola Marymount, Northern Arizona and Stanford. Näwahï high school graduation and college enrollment rates are considerably higher than the state’s average.

My own association with Näwahï is as a university linguist affiliated with it and researching its programming. I am also the parent of graduates from Näwahï. One of my areas of interest is the conflict between English medium testing requirements under the federal No Child Left Behind law and best practice for education through Hawaiian.

The majority of parents at Näwahï have boycotted NCLB testing. Partnering with American Indian schools, Näwahï is seeking a solution from the U.S. Department of Education parallel to that given to Puerto Rico, where public education is through Spanish. Of assistance in this effort are a number of federal laws relating to indigenous peoples. There are also U.S. Supreme Court decisions supportive of language minorities, including one from Hawai‘i regarding Japanese language schools (Farrington vs. Tokushige).

The Harman family is one of the Näwahï families in which only Hawaiian is spoken in the home. I interviewed the three Harman children last month regarding their Japanese language studies. The oldest daughter, Kalämanamana, is in grade eight. Her sister Pine is in the third grade, and Leha, their brother, is in the fourth grade. Our interview was conducted in Hawaiian. I have translated and summarized their responses.

Wilson: “How long have you been studying Japanese?”

Leha: “I have had four years.”

Pine: “Three years.”

Kalämanamana: “I had four years. My courses ended at grade five and Japanese started in second grade for us.”

Wilson: “What do you and other students think about studying Japanese at Näwahï?”

Leha: “We really like it. The Japanese students, like ourselves, want to know our language. Most of the students in my class are Japanese and feel we need to learn it. But, even the children who are not Japanese like learning Japanese.”

Kamaehu Glendon, a fourth-grader, reviews kanji.

I knew that the Harman children were part-Japanese, but I did not realize that in some Näwahï classes, a majority of students had Japanese ancestry. Näwahï integrates the Hawaiian cultural focus on ancestors into its curriculum, including the study of genealogies. Students have a good idea of their various ancestries, even in the lower grades. The Harman children told me that besides Hawaiian and Japanese, they are German, Filipino, Welsh, Korean, Irish and Scottish.

In answer to my questions regarding what they liked about studying Japanese, the Harman children chimed in about songs, games and also about learning to read the language. They described an annual school Japanese Day held with special visitors and hands-on cultural presentations that included taiko, origami, kimono dressing and calligraphy.
I then asked them about Japanese culture outside of school.

Kalämanamana said that their mother takes them to bon dances, that they eat Japanese foods and that they sometimes watch Japanese cartoons. Leha mentioned that he had a Boy’s Day carp in his room.

The Harman children said they had opportunities to speak Japanese with visitors to the school from Japan. There were two types of such visitors — those interested in language revitalization who came during regular school time, and others who visited the afterschool hula group taught by their mother and father. The Harman children said they had the most contact with the visitors interested in hula, some of whom only spoke Japanese. They also said that their aunt had traveled to Japan for hula and that they had met other Japanese speakers through her.

And, they said, “She gave us a kendama (wood and string toy) from Japan that is different from those that the other children have at Näwahï. It has a longer string!”

Leha said that some of the Japanese visitors could speak English and that he used English with those Japanese speakers when he could not express enough in Japanese. I asked him how he had learned to speak English. As a fourth-grader, he had not yet studied English in a classroom setting.

“I learned it from talking to my cousins,” he said. “What about reading English?” I asked. “Can you read English, too?” “Some,” he replied.

I did not test Leha on his English reading ability. However, we videotaped his older sister just before she entered the fifth grade. The tape shows Kalämanamana reading a random page in the book, “The Chronicles of Narnia.” In the tape, she says that she could already read Hawaiian, so she just started reading English on her own without any adult help.

The way in which Näwahï students teach themselves to read English once they are proficient Hawaiian readers is what linguists call “literacy transfer.” Literacy transfer is easiest between languages that share the same or similar features of their writing systems, such as the way Hawaiian and English share the Roman alphabet.

The Japanese language program at Näwahï uses another form of literacy transfer in teaching children to read Japanese. It has its source in the Hawaiian reading program at Näwahï, which teaches initial literacy through a syllable chart. That Hawaiian syllable chart has direct parallels with the hiragana (alphabet) chart used to teach initial reading in Japan. Because of the similarity in syllables, Näwahï students can learn to read Hawaiian represented by hiragana and kanji characters. Once students are reading and writing Hawaiian with this system, reading actual Japanese is relatively simple.

Pilialoha-Sensei contrasts the difference between teaching students at Näwahï how to read Japanese with teaching it to other students.

“Learning Japanese is very challenging for any learner,” she said. “Learning Chinese characters (kanji) is the hardest aspect of the Japanese language. I used to teach Japanese at UH-Hilo. At that time, many non-Asian university students frequently mentioned about this difficulty. For Näwahï students, it is a totally different story. Since they are already bilingual in Hawaiian and English, learning an additional language and writing system is not difficult for them. They always tell me that learning Chinese characters is very easy.
“My experience is that these Hawaiian children are visual learners. They can visualize a Chinese character as a picture and retain that image very well. This is very amazing for a native speaker of Japanese, like me, because as a child, I had to write the same character hundreds and hundreds of times before memorizing it. It was not fun at all. Näwahï students love writing Chinese characters.

“Another advantage that Näwahï students have in learning Japanese is the similarity in pronunciation between Japanese and Hawaiian. My students speak Japanese without any strong accent. After practicing a new Japanese song a few times, they soon start singing it with ease, like Japanese kids.”

I do not know of any elementary school on Hawai‘i island that teaches oral and written Japanese as regular graded academic content. On O‘ahu, however, there are a number of schools that have implemented the “International Baccalaureate Program” for various languages, including Japanese.

The International Baccalaureate guidelines call for approximately 12 hours per year of second language study at grade two and below, 18 hours between grades three and five, and 50 hours at grade six and above. Näwahï requires 70 hours (35 hours in oral Japanese and 35 hours practice in the writing system) at all elementary-level grades.

“Pilialoha” Kimiko Tomita Smith-Sensei with her Näwahï students.

Not many people in Hawai‘i know about Näwahï teaching of Japanese through Hawaiian. Neither do they know about modern Hawaiian language medium education. Ironically, however, Hawaiian medium education is fairly well known in Japan.

A unit on Hawaiian medium education is included in the Japan government-approved middle school English curriculum. Millions of students in Japan read this selection annually.
A Japanese perspective, however, is very evident in how both Hawaiian and English are viewed within the unit. For example, the reading includes a reference to Hawaiian being a “very musical language” with “only 45 syllables,” compared to the 46 basic Japanese hiragana symbols, rather than the Roman letters of English.

The unit closes with the following thoughts for Japanese students to consider: “Imagine that English has taken the place of the Japanese language here in Japan. What happens to your culture and identity?

. . . In this class we are going to study English of course, but I want you to remember that your mother tongue is the most important language in the world.”

For Näwahï students, the Hawaiian language is the most important language in the world. But, the question of identity is often more complex than in Japan. At the end of my interview with the Harman children, I asked them if there was anything else that they wanted to add. They started whispering among themselves. I heard the word “mo‘okü‘auhau.” Then Kalämanamana said to me.

“You forgot to ask us our mo‘okü‘auhau (genealogy). The name is Noburo Suganuma. He was the first Japanese in our mo‘okü‘auhau. He is our great, great-grandfather.”
For Näwahï Hawaiian language medium school, identity involves honoring all of one’s ancestors in a Hawaiian way — through genealogy — and through building connections to ancestral homelands through a special talent for language learning.

Dr. William H. “Pila” Wilson was born in Honolulu to parents who settled in Hawai‘i during World War II. He teaches at Ka Haka ‘Ula o Ke‘elikölani College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai‘i – Hilo, where he specializes in Hawaiian grammar, the history of the Hawaiian language and language revitalization. Wilson has also played a key role in developing state laws for education through Hawaiian and in establishing federal policies to protect and promote native American languages. He and his wife, Dr. Kauanoe Kamanä, were among the founding members of ‘Aha Pünana Leo, the Hawaiian language immersion preschool program. Their two children were educated at Näwahï and their son was in the first graduating class of Näwahï in 1999.

Jaden Risner
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

In March 2011, I was honored to have been able to aid my mother’s homeland as a first responder after the disastrous earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan. At the time, I was a U.S. Navy helicopter pilot stationed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. We were out at sea when we received the first reports about the disaster. A short time later, our commanding officer announced that we were being diverted to Japan.

The USS Ronald Reagan was one of the first vessels deployed to the eastern coast of Honshu on March 11. Upon arriving in the area, search and rescue efforts were immediately focused along the coastline and at sea, as the retreating surge of the tsunami had swept everything in its path out into the open ocean.

It was still late winter in Japan and the frigid ocean temperatures made the probability of survival for anyone who had been swept out to sea very low.

Operation Tomodachi. This drawing by 5-year-old Saki
Owada, who survived the disaster, was given to another crew in Jaden Risner’s unit.

Our immediate mission was to try to find survivors, which meant an overwater search. This type of search typically requires multiple layers of communication and coordination, with an on-scene commander overseeing all aspects to ensure full coverage of the area. The flight pattern, speed and height of every unit is determined by a formula that takes into consideration multiple factors — visibility, weather, sea state, time of day — all to maximize detection of the object of our search.

We immediately began searching the area 30 to 50 miles off the coast and along the coastline, flying as low as possible near each boat, pier, container and pile of drifting debris. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and U.S. forces stationed in Japan were also conducting overwater searches.

It has been almost four years since the disaster, but I still remember the sight of the ocean that day: It was covered with boats drifting in the open ocean, and yet, my own squadron could not find even one survivor.

From my vantage point in the air aboard the helicopter, I could see the profound devastation of the cities and villages along the coast. There were boats on hillsides miles inland. Entire villages were completely destroyed, multiple fires were burning and once-forested areas had been leveled.

As the overwater search continued, other crews prepared for the ground operations that were about to begin. All of the Reagan crewmembers gathered up supplies and even donated personal items to be flown in as a part of the relief efforts. The loading of the helicopters was truly an amazing sight to see. It continued into the next day as sailors loaded boxes packed with supplies onto the helicopters that lined the flight deck.

My mother is from the Tökyö and Tochigi areas of Japan, not far from the disaster-stricken area. As I had a background in Japanese, I was able to help develop talking point cards, which enabled our aircrew to communicate with those on the ground. This aided our aircrew in gathering critical information to provide the appropriate assistance needed. As a Japanese American, I was proud to be able to help the two countries that mean so much to me.

I will never forget the discipline and composure of the Japanese people during that time of crisis. It was truly amazing. I cannot say enough about how the Japanese people came together. Despite their lives being turned completely upside down, they continued to maintain their humble, loyal and hard-working character. Some even turned away supplies we attempted to deliver, requesting that we take them to other locations that they thought were in more critical need. This is rare among humanitarian relief operations.

The mission came to be known as “Operation Tomodachi,” meaning “Operation Friendship.” For a number of reasons, this assignment hit closer to my heart than any other I had previously undertaken. My mother came to the United States as a Nihonjin — a Japanese — to attend college. Here in America, she met, fell in love and married my American father. As a young Japanese American who was raised to be proud of both my American and Japanese heritages, I was determined to serve my country. I chose to do it through military service.

I had been in the Navy for eight years when the earthquake struck. I feel fortunate and thankful that I was in the right place at the right time so that I could serve the two countries that mean the most to me.

Following my deployment, I had the opportunity to visit my grandmother in Japan. It meant so much to me to hear her words of gratitude, support and affirmation for what we had done to help her country. My grandmother’s acknowledgement demonstrated the real-life importance of continuing to strengthen the many bridges that cross the Pacific and connect the United States and Japan.

As a military humanitarian mission, Operation Tomodachi continues to have a profound and permanent impact on the ever-important U.S.-Japan alliance. The experiences and bonds forged during the operation will last forever.

As a U.S. service member, I understand how important the U.S.-Japan alliance is to the security of the entire western Pacific, and as a United States naval officer, I am committed to doing my best to maintain that relationship and keeping it strong. I believe that the security of the United States is tied to our bilateral relationship with Japan and that it should be a long-term effort.

The U.S.-Japan alliance is an ongoing friendship that continues to strengthen over time. It is truly amazing to think that a tragedy led to my being able to help those I consider family. The circle of life is truly amazing.

The USS Ronald Reagan at sea.

This brings to mind a story that is very special to me. Several years before joining the Navy, I visited my great-uncle in Tökyö. I told him of my plans to join the Navy and become a pilot. The circle of life at its finest, he took out a pair of U.S. Army Air Corps aviator wings, which I had never seen before. My great-uncle proceeded to tell me the story behind the aviator wings. He said that after World War II, he and a young U.S. Army Air Corps pilot became close friends. Before returning to America, the pilot presented my great-uncle with his wings as a symbol of their deep friendship.

Today, I have my own set of gold U.S. Navy aviator wings. Like his American friend, I, too, have worked in Japan as a U.S. military pilot. The circle of life never ceases to amaze me. Maybe someday, I will pass on my aviator wings to someone else who is committed to working to strengthen America’s ties to Japan.

My involvement in the Japanese American community continues to grow through the U.S.-Japan Council’s Emerging Leaders Program. I encourage everyone to think seriously about how they can contribute to the future of U.S.-Japan relations at the people-to-people level, with Hawai‘i serving as the center point.

The U.S.-Japan Council will hold its annual conference in Waikïkï from Oct. 9 through 11. Information on the conference is available at usjapancouncil.org.

Lt. Jaden Risner was born and raised in California. He is a 2007 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he earned a B.S. in political science, with an emphasis in international relations. He was subsequently assigned to flight school and received his “wings of gold” as a naval aviator in 2009. Lt. Risner is currently a member of a helicopter squadron based in San Diego, Calif.

Karleen C. Chinen

Members of the Peru-Kai know what it’s like to be without a country and to be stripped of all their rights. They know because that is what happened to them during World War II. But instead of harboring bitterness, they continue to educate their families and the public about the wartime injustice inflicted upon themselves and other Japanese Latin Americans — and to cherish opportunities to get together with their fellow internees from nearly 70 years ago.

Three generations of Peru-Kai families from O‘ahu, the neighbor islands, the continental U.S. and Japan spent Aug. 2 and 3 at the Ala Moana Hotel, talking story and sharing memories of their pre-World War II lives in Peru and later in a desolate barbed wire-enclosed camp in Texas, where they came to know each other in the 1940s. The camp, located about 110 southwest of San Antonio, was known as Crystal City.

Even in their 70s and 80s, they greet each other like childhood friends. Their Spanish names, especially the women’s names — Elsa, Libia, Rosa, Blanca, Anita — give away the fact that they were different from the internees who were uprooted from their homes along the West Coast of the United States and in Hawai‘i.

Most of the people in this group, like reunion organizer Maurice Yamasato (assisted by his wife Jean) and his sisters, were born in Peru and imprisoned at Crystal City after being deported by the Peruvian government following the outbreak of World War II.

Most of the Nisei attending the reunion were the children of Issei who had immigrated to Peru from Japan and Okinawa around the turn of the 20th century to start new lives. Most had started families were living happy and prosperous lives — until Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Japanese Peruvians were then uprooted and forcibly sent to the Crystal City Family Alien Internment Camp, which was supervised by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. The Issei fathers were taken first and imprisoned in other INS camps in Texas. They were later allowed to join their families at Crystal City.

Japanese Peruvians weren’t the only group interned, however. The U.S. government orchestrated the forced deportation of 2,264 Japanese from 12 Latin American countries — Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. The majority of the deported Japanese — about 80 percent — were from Peru. The plan was to use them as hostage exchanges for American prisoners of war who had been captured by the Japanese. For the most part, the plan failed.

Crystal City was among the last of the confinement sites to close, remaining open until late 1947 because the Peruvian government refused to allow its own citizens back into their country and because the U.S. government considered Japanese Peruvians to be illegal immigrants and refused to release them into the general community. Additionally, few internee families wanted to return to Japan.

Eigo and Elsa (Higashide) Kudo, both of whom were born in Peru, shared their life experiences, mainly for the sake of the younger generations in attendance who know very little about their parents’ unique history. Elsa said their lives were “turned upside down” after the war broke out.

Her father, Seiichi Higashide, immigrated to Peru in 1931 from his native Hokkaidö and became a successful businessman. Higashide, whose story is documented in his book, “Adios to Tears,” was forced to close his businesses after Pearl Harbor and was deported to the United States. After spending six months in another Texas camp, he was finally reunited with his family at Crystal City. Thanks to civil rights attorney Wayne Collins, the Higashide family was allowed to settle in Hawai‘i.

Eigo Kudo’s family was interned at Crystal City, as well. The Kudos were subsequently “paroled” to Seabrook Farms, a frozen food processing business in New Jersey that was in need of workers. Their parole was also due to the efforts of attorney Wayne Collins. Eigo recalled that prior to Seabrook Farms coming to recruit workers for their plants, no one could leave the camp unless they had a sponsor who would vouch for them.

Because they were not American citizens at the time of their incarceration, Japanese Peruvians and other Japanese Latin Americans were excluded from the apology and $20,000 redress payment given to each surviving Japanese American internee covered by the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. They were forced to file a class-action lawsuit against the U.S. government. The settlement, reached in 1998, gave each Japanese Peruvian internee who joined in the suit a settlement of $5,000.

Four of the attendees whose families decided to restart their lives in Japan after the war traveled to Hawai‘i for the reunion. Mitsuaki Oyama from Kawasaki City said other Peru-Kai members in Japan wanted to attend the reunion, but decided against it because of their advanced age and health challenges.

This year’s reunion was attended by nearly 65 people and featured homegrown entertainment by the young grandchildren of Maurice and Jean Yamasato and the musical group Pali, led by Nä Hökü Hanohano Award winner Pali Ka‘aihue. It was the Peru-Kai’s 16th gathering. Previous reunions have been held in various locations, including California, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Texas, Hiroshima, Okinawa, and the homeland, Peru.

Libia (Maoki) Yamamoto, who now gets around with the help of a walker, traveled from Richmond, Calif., for the chance to see her old friends. Fighting back tears, she recalled the terror and humiliation she felt at being forced to strip naked and being sprayed with DDT after arriving in America.

But Yamamoto also recalled the mixed feelings she and other that Crystal City internees felt when their “neighbors” left to begin new lives outside the barbed wire fences. She said the internees would gather and sing the old cowboy song, “Red River Valley,” as their friends departed.

“From this valley they say you are going. / We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile, / For they say you are taking the sunshine / That has brightened our pathway a while . . .”

The United Japanese Society of Hawaii honored 36 O‘ahu Nikkei who were born in 1934 and are turning 80 this year with a grand birthday party at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i on Sept. 21. The event was UJSH’s 40th annual Nenchosha Ian Engei Taikai (Senior Citizen Festival). The honorees were treated to lunch and a full day of Japanese and Okinawan music and dance — and even some exercises.

The program, which was attended by 375 people, began with the observance of a moment of silence for the deceased. A celebratory dance, “Bashi Nu Tui Bushi,” was performed by Mitsuko Toguchi Nakasone, kaishu of the Ryusei Honryu Ryuko Kai, and her student Diana Kawaguchi.

The Nenchosha Ian Engei Taikai is organized annually by the UJSH in conjunction with “Respect for the Aged Day,” a national holiday in Japan. Every year, UJSH asks the various O‘ahu kenjinkai, senior citizen clubs and community centers to submit the names of members who are turning 80 that year so that they can be honored at the Nenchosha festival.
Each of the 37 honorees was introduced during the program and presented a certificate. They also had their picture taken with UJSH president Rika Hirata and 2014-15 Cherry Blossom Queen Sarah Kamida.

Congratulatory messages were offered by Linda Chu Takayama, director of the city’s Office of Economic Development, and Deputy Consul General of Japan Kazunari Tanaka. Takayama represented Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell, who was traveling, and Tanaka represented Consul General of Japan Toyoei Shigeeda.

The 2014 honorees were: Henry Asahina, Yasuko Duhaylongsod, Shizuko Ellis, Emiko Fujiwara, Henry Fukuhara, Faith Fujimi Fukumoto, Edward Ginoza, Ruriko Hayashi, Lillian S. Inatsuka, Kazuo Inouye, Elsie Ishiki, Tamie Kashiwamura, Edward Kashiwamura, Hiromi Kawaji, Joella Kawamoto, Yolanda Kekaula, Betty Koike, Amy Masui, Harold M. Matsumoto, Hatsuko Matsuoka, Allen Matsuoka, Ann Matsuyama, Richard T. Miyao, Umeko Mogi, Sadako Ogino, Jane Sato, T. Raymond Sekiya, Miriam Stevens, Kenneth Tamashiro, Patsy Tanimura, Harry Tokuda, Franklin Toma, Roy H. Tominaga, Judy Uehara, Yoshie Wear and Wilma C. Yee.

The 2014 Nenchosha Ian Engei Taikai honorees with UJSH president Rika Hirata (standing, far left).

New octogenarians Roy Tominaga, a former UJSH president, and Raymond Sekiya, past president of the Honolulu Fukuoka Kenjinkai, were asked to represent their fellow 80-year-olds in presenting floral bouquets to the two women who were key in organizing the event, Mabel Yonemori and current UJSH president Rika Hirata. State Rep. Bertrand Kobayashi, a past Fukuoka Kenjinkai president, led a rousing banzai to the honorees.

During a performance by the Harada Nao Azusa Kai, emcee Ralston Nagata invited audience members to participate in a “Tanko Bushi” bon dance, which many did happily.
The program closed with a lively Okinawan eisä performance by the Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko Hawaii, directed by Akemi Martin-Sensei. RMD also led the audience in a lively kachashi to close the event.

This year’s festival was co-chaired by Mabel Yonemori, Rev. Akihiro Okada, Nancy Yokoyama and James Sato.

Karleen C. Chinen
Commentary

Strike up the band! We made it! This is the Herald’s Second ANNUAL Big Island Edition . . . and it feels great to be sending it to press.

If you remember, after an absence of many years, we decided to revive our neighbor island issues last year, beginning with the Big Island of Hawai‘i. That issue came out last October, and, earlier this year, Kaua‘i and Maui came on board.

I’ve said this before — we are rebuilding these issues as best we can. Gone are the days when we ourselves could spend a few days on an island, meeting people and listening to their stories for our neighbor island specials. Our staffing and financial situation today is a far cry from what it was in the 1980s and ’90s. But that is not a reason for us to not try to find another way.

With the support of talented and knowledgeable contributing writers like Corey Masao Johnson, Dr. William “Pila” Wilson and Frances Kakugawa, we made it to our second annual Big Island edition. We also received contributions from Herald subscribers Walter Tachibana and Michie Kuwaye.

Working with contributing writers means we must work around their schedules. Oftentimes, as much as they would like to contribute a story to the Herald, their own personal and professional commitments prevent them from doing so.

Corey enjoys writing for the Herald, but he is also a Stanford University doctoral student and that has to be his priority, as it is his future.

Pila, who is on the faculty of the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, is very supportive of what we do at the Herald. He had a trip to Chicago scheduled, so he did his interviews and cranked out a pretty clean draft before boarding the plane. Once on the ground in the Windy City, he emailed me his final.

Frances was about to begin a speaking tour that would bring her home to the Big Island and O‘ahu, but she emailed her story on her memories of Kapoho before leaving Sacramento.
Walter Tachibana snail-mailed his tribute to the Nisei soldiers and his “Uncle Benty,” and Patsy Adachi mailed Michie Kuwaye’s story on Onomea’s Inouye family a while back. I held on them for possible inclusion in this issue. We are grateful to all of these generous souls.

Building an issue in this manner is unconventional and challenging. There are current news and human interest stories brewing on the Big Island that we would include in this issue if we could find a qualified writer. Just days before the primary election, Tropical Storm Iselle tore through Puna, leaving residents without basic human needs. That was a story, and now, residents of Pähoa, which has a Japanese community that dates back to the area’s sugar plantation days, may lose their homes to Madame Pele.

So, although this has been designated our “Big Island Edition,” rest assured that our efforts to bring you stories from Hawai‘i island — and all the neighbor islands — are an ongoing, year-round effort. That is a promise.

For a little over a year, we have enjoyed a wonderful partnership with KTA Super Stores, which began selling The Hawai‘i Herald in its grocery stores island-wide. This was a totally new experience for us, so I expected to encounter some glitches along the way. Surprise! Surprise! It has been smooth sailing all the way.

Working with KTA president and CEO Barry Taniguchi and members of his team — Craig Hamamoto, Elvis Kimura, Pearl Daimaru and KTA’s various store managers — has been an absolute joy. They do their jobs so well and we are tremendously grateful to them for helping to increase our presence and following on Hawai‘i island. We are still hoping to find partners on Maui and Kaua‘i.

We also want to thank our Big Island subscribers for being such loyal supporters by continuing to renew their subscriptions every year. Your support means the world to us.
Lastly, the publication of this issue was possible because of the support of our many friends on the Big Island. We are very grateful to them. Please support them and their products and services in your daily lives — and when you see their owners or managers on the street, please stop and tell them that you saw their ad in the Herald and thank them for  supporting The Hawai‘i Herald.

Amano Fishcake Factory
Alumside Products
Big Island Candies
Big Island Delights
Café 100
Country Samurai Coffee Co.
Dodo Mortuary
Don’s Grill
Dragon Mama
Green Point Nursery
Hawaii Printing
Hilo Bake Company
Hilo Termite & Pest Control
Kadota’s Liquor/K’s Drive-In/Mr. K’s Recycle
Kawamoto Store
Kimura Lauhala Shop
KTA Super Stores
Nori’s Saimin & Snacks
Restaurant Kenichi
S. Tokunaga Store
Suisan Company
Tanimoto Dharma Designs
Two Ladies Kitchen
Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home

Corey Masao Johnson
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

The first scratch of dawn has yet to mark the sky. Wiping away tired eyes, I cut the car engine a few steps away from the entrance to Hilo Lunch Shop. It’s a good 10 minutes or more before their 5:30 a.m. opening, but even then I’m not the first to arrive. A lone figure is joined by another, then another, and another, as one minute slips into the next. In the store’s double doors, freshly made okazu are arranged neatly, encased under glass and light.

At 5:28, the small crowd is let in, and by a quarter to 6, there’s a line wrapping around the storefront’s large windows. Construction workers in highlighter shades of yellow and orange buy breakfast and lunch for the worksite, mixing in with early-bird office workers in aloha attire and pressed slacks. Occasionally, a customer catches a familiar eye in line, sharing a few words be-fore heading out, box lunch in hand. The door’s metal hinge swings open and shut; the sky turns to grey. I wait for a chance to snap a photo of the employees behind the counter, but the line gets in the way.

“It’s just gonna get longer,” owner Al Nakamura tells me as I duck into the kitchen. I guess the photo will have to wait.

Hilo is still enveloped in darkness as early-bird customers place their orders at Hilo Lunch Shop. (Photos by Corey Masao Johnson)

Hilo Lunch Shop is one of a handful of longtime okazuya in town. Along with Cafe 100, Suisan Fish Market and a few others, it’s on my “must-eat” list of “while in Hilo” places that I’ve come to appreciate after being away. At the same time, the allure of local-style okazu is hard to explain to the uninitiated. I’ve brought friends from England and New York into Hilo Lunch Shop, describing okazu as a kind of à la carte Japanese takeout and okazuya as the mom-and-pop eateries that specialize in them. On O‘ahu, Fukuya, Mitsuba, Gulick and Sekiya‘s brand themselves as Japanese “delicatessen.”

One of my more amusing experiences in the shop came while I was waiting in line a half-dozen steps back from an awestruck Japanese tourist, saying in Japanese to no one in particular, “Wow — Hilo Lunch Shop. To think I could find this on vacation.” On second thought, maybe we’re better off calling it “Japanese soul food.”

The word okazu is centuries-old. In the hidden language of Japan’s Imperial Court, the term arose with ladies assembling a “number,” or kazu, of items to accompany a simple meal of rice, broth and tsukemono, or pickled vegetables. An austere diet was paired with a single okazu, while a meal with three okazu was usually reserved for special days or as an extravagance for visitors. The term was first recorded in a Christian missionary’s journal during the Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1573-1603) and published in the “Nippo Jisho,” a Japanese-Portuguese dictionary dating from 1603 to 1604. As the word entered common usage by the end of the Edo Period (1603-1868), okazuya arose as convenient places to easily pick up side dishes for the family dinner.

In Japan today, stand-alone okazuya are a rare sight. This past summer, I was surprised enough to snap a photo of a local okazuya I stumbled across two blocks from the Kamakura beachside. (It had closed for the day, unfortunately.) Instead, chain bentö shops are a common find, while the easiest place to source okazu in Japan are the dedicated warm food counters at the edge of most supermarkets. These okazu are often snapped up as quick sides for dinner, or else as late-night snacks for lonely bachelors, discounted an hour or so before closing.

Even on O‘ahu, some of my favorite okazuya have shuttered in recent years. On the other hand, Hilo has no shortage of choices. Hilo Lunch Shop is joined by Kawamoto Store and Asami’s Kitchen, both downtown, along with Hiro’s Place next to the Puainako KTA. Likewise, Cousin’s Seafood and Bento on Lanikäula Street and a dozen other places offer premade bentö to go.

I find myself with a few days left in Hilo as summer lazes to a close, giving me some time to hang around the shop and talk story. Led by Al Nakamura, Hilo Lunch Shop is on its fourth set of owners. Al is joined by his wife Junette, her parents Susumu (“Sus”) and June Shigemasa and her sister Suzette. Collectively, they bought the shop almost a decade ago, with Sus negotiating the sale from a childhood friend. After clean-up on a Thursday afternoon, I pull up a worn chair windowside and chat with Sus about the shop’s history.
Sus tells me that the shop started “many, many moons ago. Must be about thirty years or more.” Originally located on Keawe Street in downtown Hilo between Kaläkaua and Haili streets, it was opened by the Okuna family before being sold to a Mrs. Honda, one of the store’s employees. After operating near Chiefess Kapi‘olani School (kitty-corner from Cafe 100), the third owner, Stanley Maeda, relocated to the shop’s current location on Kalanikoa Street, across from the Hilo Civic Auditorium. Maeda occupied just a corner of the current storefront, but when the neighboring business, Airport Flowers, left the building, he expanded into the vacated space.

Sus and Stanley were both born and raised together in Ka‘u, and when Stanley ran the lunch shop, Sus used to help him out in the back once in a while. Eventually, Stanley began thinking about retirement.

“Well, it took two years for the previous owner to really consider who to sell it to,” Sus‘ wife June explains, taking a seat next to her son-in-law. “And Al wanted a career change. That’s how it all happened.”

The handover took place on Oct. 1, 2005, in what Al calls a “turnkey” transition, with the shop’s employees passing along the know-how involved in preparing the shop’s signature foods. Sus and June agreed to help out with the business for a decade during what might have otherwise been a quiet retirement.

“One thing, I’ve never gone through so many tennis shoes in my life!” June notes. “If I wash them, they last longer. This pair is less than a year — nine months. You see the hole on the left toe? I didn’t realize I had that.”

What happens next October, when the 10 years are up?

Sus is quick to answer: “I ain’t gonna come! I’m gonna play more golf if I’m living.”

Hilo Lunch Shop is staffed by dedicated employees, and I can tell that Al takes pride in his business. It’s not for everyone, though. For one, he starts earlier than most.

“Three in the morning,” he says, thinking through his routine. “Cook the rice. Bring out whatever has to be heated up and cooked. Then we start making. The other worker kinda comes in around 3:30, 4 o‘clock. Mostly all the food is out front be-fore we open. One person makes all the salads, gets it out. When we get catering, we get double duty,” he says, remembering how busy the shop gets. “Ah, that’s how it goes.”

Was it a good decision to take over? “Oh yeah,” Al says without hesitating at all.

It may be one of the best things brought over from Japan, but Hawai‘i’s okazu has evolved over the years to cater to local tastes. Okazu in Hawai‘i tends to be meat-heavy, while its image in Japan leans toward grilled fish and prepared vegetables. Spam musubi is a local favorite that has sadly yet to make the return journey back across the Pacific. There are even some variations between the islands in Hawai‘i.

O‘ahu tends to have garlic chicken on the menu, while Hilo favors Korean chicken. What’s the difference? From what I’ve seen, the sauce for garlic chicken tends to be cooked until the sugar caramelizes, thickening into a glaze, while Korean chicken is dipped in a thinner sauce more likely to have a mix of roasted sesame seeds, green onion and red pepper. Korean chicken is usually made from wings and drummettes, while garlic chicken is more often boneless. Likewise, as the name implies, garlic chicken has, well, more garlic. Other than that, I’m not sure — I’ve even heard people mistake one for the other. I guess it’s sort of like the difference between shave ice and ice shave, or else whatever you call that blue-lined loose-leaf paper that elementary school students bring to class: binder paper, folder paper or notebook paper, depending on where you went to school. Whatever works for you.

The numerous mouthwatering selections available at Hilo Lunch Shop make it difficult to choose.

One of my favorite okazu at Hilo Lunch Shop is the 95-cent hot dog musubi, completed with a crisp slice of takuwan. Also a must-have is their nori chicken, deboned and deep-fried with a thin strip of the dried seaweed holding everything together. Along with their pork hash, it often sells out an hour or more before lunchtime.

The menu isn’t strictly Japanese, with pork blood on Tuesdays, chow fun on Wednesdays, and kalua pork on Fridays and Saturdays. Business ramps up during football season, and they also feature seasonal specials like lomi maki for the Merrie Monarch Festival events, some of which are held across the street at the Hilo Civic Auditorium every spring.

“With the hälau (hula school) upstairs (from the shop) — it’s a very exciting week. After rehearsals, they would come and pick up lunch,” Al recalls, thinking about the line stretching out the door. Lomi maki, a Hilo Lunch Shop original, pops up on the menu whenever Kamehameha Schools puts in an order for lomi salmon. On those occasions, Al makes a little extra lomi salmon to use in the lomi maki for the okazuya. Lomi maki? My mouth waters as Al explains. “We drain the liquid from the lomi salmon and then lay it on a bed of regular rice and roll it, wrapped with nori.” Mmmmm . . .

On the whole, though, the menu has not changed much over the years.

With no shortage of out-of-town customers, one common question is whether Hilo Lunch Shop will ever open a branch in Kona, since there’s nothing like it on the other side of the Big Island. Al shakes his head, smiling at the thought. “Too much work.”

I ask him why he thinks customers keep coming back. “You can come to the Lunch Shop every day and eat something different.” It’s true — there are close to sixty different offerings on their menu. I ask about their best sellers and Al rattles off a list: “Nori chicken, cone sushi, maki sushi. Our mac salad is really popular, too. They see that, they see that,” he says, pointing. “They fill up the box.”

I know the feeling. With eyes too big for my stomach, my box is stuffed to the brim. It’ll be two days before I get through it all.

Corey Masao Johnson is a Ph.D. student in the Program in Modern Thought and Literature at Stanford University. The Hilo High School alumnus earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard University and worked in the JET Program in Fukui Prefecture before continuing his studies at Oxford University.

KEEP HANDY INFO:
Hilo Lunch Shop
421 Kalanikoa St., Hilo
(808) 935-8273
Open Tuesday – Saturday, 5:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Hilo Lunch Shop, Inc.

1) UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD THE UNITED STATES SEND GROUND TROOPS INTO IRAQ AND SYRIA AS COMBATANTS IN THE CURRENT CONFLICT WITH ISIL (ISIS, OR THE ISLAMIC STATE)?

CAM CAVASSO (Republican)
When an enemy declares war on us, we should not pretend for public approval that we are not at war. ISIS is a serious threat, to the region, and to American security. If airstrikes prove ineffective (and they have), we must have the courage to engage at all levels to protect our interests, our allies, our people and our ideals. Anything less is either cowardice or political double-mindedness that will cost us more dearly in the future.

BRIAN SCHATZ (Democrat)
I strongly oppose putting U.S. combat troops on the ground, but ISIS cannot be ignored.  We must coordinate with NATO allies and partners in the region to craft a deliberate, multilateral strategy.  We need to continue to evaluate and refine our strategy to ensure that American airstrikes can help stop ISIS’ advance, disrupt its training and help deter new recruits from joining its ranks.

2) DO YOU AGREE WITH THE DECISION TO RELEASE THE FIVE GUANTANAMO PRISONERS IN EXCHANGE FOR THE RELEASE AND RETURN OF SGT. BOWE BERGDAHL? WHY OR WHY NOT?

CAM CAVASSO (Republican)
Absolutely not. We released terrorists who will return to action and cost brave American lives in exchange for a deserter. Bergdahl deserted his comrades and turned his back on his country. We owe the soldiers he abandoned our support. We should have requested he be returned to the U.S. to be tried for treason.

BRIAN SCHATZ (Democrat)
Yes. It is a shame that the circumstances under which Sgt. Bergdahl was released have become so politicized given that recovering him was a bipartisan priority.  Ultimately, Sgt. Bergdahl should answer for his actions in a military court, not the court of public opinion.  As for the five Taliban prisoners that were sent to Qatar, the President has made clear that if they rejoin the fight against the United States and our allies, we can and will hunt them down.

3) WHAT SHOULD THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DO WITH THE TERROR SUSPECTS BEING HELD AT THE GUANTANAMO PRISON?

CAM CAVASSO (Republican)
They should be released and Gitmo (Guantanamo Prison) closed — just as soon as their comrades and leaders lay down their arms and agree to terms of surrender. Until then, they are legitimate prisoners of an ongoing war and their release threatens American combat troops and American civilians. Our security and safety demand they stay imprisoned.

BRIAN SCHATZ (Democrat)
I support the closure of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, but I recognize the legal issues that must be addressed in order to move forward.  For more than a decade, the detention center has discredited our country’s commitments to human rights, harmed our international standing and served as a recruitment tool for terrorists.  Congress must pass legislation that lifts restrictions on detainee transfers to make it possible to close the detention center.

4) IN YOUR EYES, IS EDWARD SNOWDEN, WHO LEAKED INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION WHILE A TECHNOLOGY CONTRACTOR FOR THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, AN AMERICAN PATRIOT, OR A TRAITOR TO HIS COUNTRY?

CAM CAVASSO (Republican)
I believe the families of the people endangered by his actions should get to answer this question. As an employee, he violated the terms of his contract. As an American, he betrayed the trust of his country. Is he a hero? Consider who has protected and embraced him. No country is perfect. I believe we are better than any other, and try harder to stay that way. Where we fail, we work together to improve. We do not hand our secrets to our enemies. Snowden deserves to be tried as a traitor.

BRIAN SCHATZ (Democrat)
The main issue is not what we think of Edward Snowden, but how we need to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).  One of my first votes in the U.S. Senate was against reauthorization of FISA, because I did not think it protected our privacy within the confines of the Fourth Amendment.

Tom Coffman
Commentary
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald

In 2007, a writer named N.N. Taleb published a book called “The Black Swan Event.” It was about events “outside the realm of regular expectations because nothing in the past can convincingly point to its possibility.” Following a Black Swan event, “human nature makes us concoct explanations for its occurrence after the fact, making it explainable and predictable.”

The theory of the unheralded Black Swan originally was associated with the unraveling of the Soviet Union and 9/11. But as the words have entered our vocabulary, we might say the 2014 primary election for governor of Hawai‘i is a Black Swan. No one predicted the outcome, but we are compelled to make it “explainable and predictable after the fact.”

As 2014 dawned, everyone “in the know” knew that sitting governors are re-elected, that Hawai‘i’s economy was doing well, that the state administration had not suffered a significant scandal and that Neil Abercrombie was an accomplished campaigner. If you were assigned to oppose Abercrombie in the classroom speech contest, you might hope to be saved by the school bell. Last but not least, his $5 million campaign fund was certain to paper over whatever unpopularity he was experiencing.

As everyone now repeats with a nod, David Ige was a little-known figure. Weirdly, Ige is still best known today by that description — “little-known.” In his 29 years of public service, he was never forced to organize and conduct a campaign, not even at the legislative level. He mainly knew how to talk about the state budget. He did not have the central knack of higher-level political candidates, which is to weave strands from here and there into a story about why he or she should be elected. Nor did he have the money to buy the production of such a story in paid media. In fact, he had almost no paid media of any kind, and what he did have was forgettable.

Abercrombie began the year with a substantial lead in the polls, but Ige did better than expected. Immediately, political watchers assumed that Abercrombie’s advantages would soon kick in.

Contrary to expectation, the gap between Abercrombie and Ige shrank. Then it closed. Nonetheless, the expectation of an Abercrombie victory continued virtually unabated until just before the primary election, when the most widely published poll gave Ige an 18 percent lead. Finally, it seemed that Ige might do the unthinkable. Maybe he would actually eek out a win, but, of course, not by such a wide margin. When Hurricane Iselle hit just before the election, various broadcasters hinted that with a crisis of nature to battle, Abercrombie might actually avoid defeat.

Instead, Ige won not merely by the poll margin but by twice that margin. The difference of 36 percent, we were told by political scientists, dealt Abercrombie the worst loss by an incumbent governor in a primary election in U.S. history.

It is interesting to reflect that if David Ige had not made his lonely decision, we would not have known that a large majority of primary voters thought something was going wrong in the governor’s office. There would have been no parting of the curtains and no Black Swan.

At the risk of trying to make the Black Swan “explainable and predictable after the fact,” I will share two stories that came to me, somewhere in the region between gut and brain.

Foremost was the growing frustration of the former governor, George R. Ariyoshi, with the Abercrombie administration, most particularly the Wild West approach to developing Kaka‘ako. This was coupled with Ariyoshi’s almost mystical belief in grassroots politics. Those with long memories recall that in 1966, Ariyoshi made headlines by casting the vote that tipped the scales against the Maryland Land Law, which was essentially a land redistribution law. Enraged Democrats and various labor unions organized to defeat him in the next election. He responded by talking his way through small group after small group, riding out the storm and returning to the state Senate, from there to emerge as lieutenant governor and then governor. His campaigns became million-dollar affairs, but he continued to promote the virtue of coffee hours as a matter of faith. When he was busy being governor for three terms, he was often represented by his wife Jean, who talked with people from the heart about their outlook on life and about how their families were doing.

One of Ariyoshi’s thousands of acts as governor was to fill a vacant Pearl City House seat by appointing 30-year-old David Ige to it. Last year, when Ige began thinking the unthinkable, he first spoke with Ariyoshi. Defying conventional wisdom, Ariyoshi urged Ige to run for the state’s highest office. He said that if Ige held a lot of coffee hours, he could overcome Abercrombie’s advantages.

To great skepticism, I first heard of the Ige idea from Ariyoshi. I went to two such coffee hours, which were short of spectacular. My main impression is that, as he went forward, Ige, in his modest way, incrementally improved his presentation without ever really developing a narrative about why he should be elected.

The second story goes back to when I was a young political reporter, covering the 1970 contest between John Burns and Tom Gill. I wrote a column describing the far-reaching powers of Hawai‘i’s governorship. I cited the highly centralized structure of Hawai‘i state government, the governor’s control of its many departments and agencies, the governor’s appointive power over the judiciary and the general influence a governor can exert over the Legislature.

In a brief nod to history, I described how the office had descended from the ruling Hawaiian chiefs to kings and queens, to the presidency of the Hawai‘i Republic, to the appointed territorial governors and then to the martial law governors of World War II.

Gov. John A. Burns fixed me in that grave stare and announced that in this instance, I had gotten it right.

From such experiences, I developed a sense of the governorship as the ballast of Island society. We are a small population with a small economy and a fragile environment, bound together by tenuous relationships. The governor is an arbiter. The governor sets a tone. He or she consolidates gains, softens blows and mediates disputes. Metaphorically, all paths lead to the governor’s office.

Such pervasive influence may not be ideal, but it’s what we’ve got. He or she, to serve well, must be a source of equilibrium. Uniquely, among the state of Hawai‘i’s seven elected chief executives, Neil Abercrombie governed in an ongoing state of disequilibrium, which he projected onto public events and public processes.

The unforeseen rejection of his performance was astonishing in its depth and breadth. Many of the post-statehood alliances and movements have been turned upside down in the process. This is not only post-Abercrombie time, but also post-Inouye, post-Burns, post-Gill and post a lot of other things. It is even post-Ariyoshi, but let us remember this 88-year-old for his catalytic challenge to conventional thinking.

Despite such change, it feels as if we have quickly pivoted to politics as usual, not only in the media, but also in the campaigns and in the community conversation. The Black Swan has become explainable and predictable.

My own notion is that, having experienced an abrupt upheaval, we are none too consciously searching for a new equilibrium in the institution of the governorship. When we arrive at this new equilibrium, it will, I think, be with us a long while.

Tom Coffman is an independent researcher, author and documentary producer. His latest book, “How Hawai‘i Changed America,” an in-depth community history of World War II, was published this past summer. In the 1960s and ’70s, Coffman covered state government and politics for Honolulu’s two major dailies, the Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. He has also authored several other books of note, including, “Catch a Wave: A Case Study of Hawai‘i Politics”; “The Island Edge of America,” a political history of Hawai‘i; “Nation Within: The Story of America’s Annexation of Hawai‘i”; and “I Respectfully Dissent,” the biography of the late Hawai‘i Supreme Court Justice Edward H. Nakamura.

Photo: Black Swan by Marko Knuutila

1) DO YOU AGREE WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA’S STRATEGY FOR COMBATTING ISIL (OR ISIS, OR ISLAMIC STATE) MILITANTS? PLEASE EXPLAIN YOUR POSITION.

CHARLES DJOU (Republican)
Yes. The radical Islamic State is a threat to the American people. It is important for our national security to confront this terrorist organization. The President’s strategy of airstrikes, combined with a unified diplomatic effort and forces from allied nations, is the appropriate approach in dealing with ISIS.

MARK TAKAI (Democrat)
I support President Obama’s efforts to build a coalition to deal with ISIL, and I also support the use of airstrikes in Iraq to reverse the gains ISIL has made. However, I have serious reservations about the decision made to arm the Syrian rebels. This is precisely the same sort of situation that helped to create the Taliban. We don’t know who these rebels are and what their overall goals will be. If we are going to commit to an extended conflict, President Obama needs to return to Congress and introduce a plan that will ensure long-term regional stability.

2) WHAT SHOULD THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DO WITH THE TERROR SUSPECTS BEING HELD AT THE GUANTANAMO PRISON?

CHARLES DJOU (Republican)
Guantanamo is an appropriate holding site for extreme international terrorists. The Obama administration is properly complying with the Supreme Court directive to appropriately adjudicate all individuals being held at Guantanamo. Holding terrorists at Guantanamo is a better option than holding such individuals in the U.S.

MARK TAKAI (Democrat)
The terror suspects being detained at the Guantanamo Bay Prison must be processed through our legal and military systems. I support congressional action to lift restrictions on the transfer of detainees. And I support the closure of the Guantanamo Bay Prison.

3) WHAT WOULD YOUR COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION POLICY FOR UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS INCLUDE?

CHARLES DJOU (Republican)
I support comprehensive immigration reform. As a congressman, I voted in favor of the DREAM Act and cosponsored legislation to expand the number of high technology visas for foreign nationals who earn degrees in engineering and sciences in the U.S. I support a plan that could allow undocumented immigrants who pay a fine and properly apply for legalization in their home country to find a path to legal residency.

MARK TAKAI (Democrat)
I would include a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who have been living and working in our country. These individuals pay taxes and are valued members of the community, yet they are unable to openly participate due to the constant threat of deportation. Immigration makes America stronger and I will continue to support initiatives such as the DREAM Act until our country truly implements comprehensive immigration reform. While in the state Legislature, I authored Hawai‘i ’s version of the DREAM Act.

4) SHOULD THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AUTHORIZE CONSTRUCTION OF THE KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE THROUGH THE UNITED STATES? WHY OR WHY NOT?

CHARLES DJOU (Republican)
Yes. I support a plan to bring the U.S. into energy self-sufficiency using resources entirely generated in North America. Our nation exports too much of its wealth to purchase energy resources from despots in other parts of the world. Building the Keystone XL Pipeline will not only boost job creation in the U.S., but will also help lead to North American energy self-sufficiency for our nation.

MARK TAKAI (Democrat)
I would not support the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. The environmental impact will be tremendous and will very negatively impact the surrounding communities. I feel that we need to focus our efforts not on increasing our access to other forms of fossil fuels, but developing more sustainable energy efforts. While the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline would temporarily lower our energy costs, the overall effect would be to only further increase our dependency on fossil fuels. We need to create a more sustainable future for our children.

1) AS GOVERNOR, WHAT WILL BE YOUR TOP FIVE PRIORITIES UPON TAKING OFFICE?

JAMES “DUKE” AIONA (Republican)
Hawai‘i will be facing some significant challenges in the next four years and, as such, the governor of this state will need to be an innovative and strong leader who is prepared to represent the people of Hawai‘i, not just the special interests.
As governor, my first goal will be to lower the cost of living and strengthen the economy. By focusing on these two issues, we can take steps towards solving many of the other problems the people of Hawai‘i face. For example, if we attract better and higher wage jobs to Hawai‘i and make starting and keeping a business in Hawai‘i easier, then our other efforts to lower the cost of living are felt two-fold.
Hawai‘i individuals and businesses are the most heavily taxed in the country. Increased taxes make it harder for people to earn a fair wage, since more goes to the government. More economic activity allows us to reduce the tax burden on individuals, and that lowers the cost of living, also.
As a former substitute teacher, I know how hard they work. My education initiatives focus on community and teacher empowerment so our students are better prepared for the global 21st-century economy.
Affordable housing will remain a priority of mine until we solve the problem. I know there are creative and innovative ways to solve this issue for the long term so all of Hawai‘i’s residents can afford to stay close to their ‘ohana.

MUFI HANNEMANN (Independent)
My immediate priority upon taking office is to assemble a nonpartisan cabinet, just like I did when I was mayor, that will be selected based on qualifications and merit and not on politics. Second, review the legislative package that we’ll inherit as to whether it makes sense, as well as take steps to begin an audit and review of certain programs by a volunteer group aimed at making government more efficient and accountable, something I did at the city when I was first elected as mayor. Third, reach out to the Legislature to signal a new era of collaboration and invite other elected officials and the community to participate in this dialogue. Fourth, invite county mayors to be part of the Hawaii Council of Leaders, where we will demonstrate that five minds are better than one in tackling the state’s most challenging issues, like homelessness, state hospital system, energy, affordable housing and the like. Fifth, meet with our congressional delegation so that we identify priority federal issues we would need help on and lay out a strategy where we will speak with one voice.

DAVID IGE (Democrat)
There are many areas that my administration will focus on if I am elected governor. The top five priorities include:
• Improving our public education system, allowing our children to reach their highest potential, which will translate into a Hawai‘i workforce with the skills and knowledge necessary for a strong economy.
• Strengthening our economy and creating well-paying jobs to support a strong middle class and provide opportunities for our young people is a top priority. Examples include supporting and growing our visitor industry by creating another entry port through Kona Airport and working with our congressional delegation to improve the immigration and pre-clearance for international visitors; working to restore the federally funded jobs that have declined in recent years; developing a new information industry, bringing with it business opportunities and high-paying jobs; and facilitating the availability of risk/venture capital for entrepreneurs and innovators in strategic growth areas.
• Addressing the homeless issue, as it is reaching near-crisis levels in our Islands. Homeless issues and solutions are complex because the homeless population is diverse. It includes families with children, the elderly, victims of domestic abuse, the disabled, veterans, unemployed or underemployed workers, and individuals with mental illness or victims of substance abuse. Each group has different needs and, as governor, my administration will produce solutions ranging from emergency shelters to transitional housing for working families and affordable rentals.
• Affordable housing is a critical issue facing many in our state. I see my own three children, now away at college, struggling with the decision to come home because of the concern that they will not be able to afford a place to live. Please read my response to the specific question below on affordable housing.
• Hawai‘i’s environment is truly special. My administration will be proactive in preserving and protecting our fragile environment for future generations. We can have both a healthy environment and responsible economic growth through comprehensive planning that engages environmental interests, development interests and other community interests.

2) THE COUNCIL ON REVENUES RECENTLY DOWNGRADED HAWAI‘I’S REVENUE PROJECTION BY $100 MILLION. AS GOVERNOR, WHAT WILL YOU DO TO DEAL WITH THAT PROJECTED LOSS OF REVENUE?

JAMES “DUKE” AIONA (Republican)
The first step is to get control of spending. Moving forward, we need to find ways to increase government accessibility in a streamlined manner. Technology can help. We can work smarter, not harder.
Second, we need to expand our economy so we can bring in more revenue through our economy, as opposed to taxes and fee increases.
I will actively look for opportunities to increase economic development in our state, particularly in naturally competitive industries like astronomy, marine and ocean sciences, and creative industries like digital and film production.
A healthy, thriving business environment will spur increased tax collections. It’s about solving the problem at its core, not simply bandaging the symptoms. We can also ensure that everyone is paying his or her fair share of taxes.

MUFI HANNEMANN (Independent)
Through the audit and review process, I would begin to eliminate wasteful spending; identify inefficiencies, especially as it relates to collecting taxes that are lawfully due; and begin the process of streamlining government. By doing so, we could realize savings as well as collect more revenues.
I would also revisit the budget and determine whether all of the existing priorities should continue. The practice has been that priorities are set, but are woefully underfunded. The net result is little to no progress is ever made on a number of fronts. We would narrow our focus, working on the solutions that offer us our best opportunities to resolve our most pressing challenges.
Most importantly, we would work to grow the economy in ways that generate more revenues. Particular attention will be given to tourism, where I will be able to bring my experience and ideas to the table as a state director of DBEDT, president and CEO of Hawai‘i Lodging and Tourism Association, executive with C. Brewer and Co. and tourism chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

DAVID IGE (Democrat)
As Senate Ways and Means chair for the past four years, I have successfully balanced the state budget during periods when the Council on Revenues projected revenue downgrades. During this period, along with my House colleague, Finance chair Sylvia Luke, we cut more than $1 billion in proposed state spending. This required very difficult decisions, including reducing funding for nonessential state programs and appropriating less funds than requested by many agencies.
As governor, my approach to supporting a balanced state budget will continue to be cautious and fiscally responsible. I understand what it’s like as a legislator to receive new program and increased appropriation requests during periods when state revenues are declining. As governor, I will work with my department heads to ensure budget requests are realistic during times of lower revenue projections.
As governor, I will work with our state Tax Department to ensure all current taxes due are collected before raising taxes. There are estimates between $300 million to $500 million in outstanding taxes currently owed to the state.
3) SHOULD THE STATE ENTER INTO PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS — AND IF SO, WHAT KINDS OF PARTNERSHIPS? IF NOT, WHY NOT?

JAMES “DUKE” AIONA (Republican)
Public-private partnerships may hold some promise for Hawai‘i, but not all public-private partnerships are the same; they really need to be considered on a case-by-case basis to ensure they benefit the people of Hawai‘i without huge job losses or reductions in services.

MUFI HANNEMANN (Independent)
Yes. Public-private partnerships make sense when the private/nonprofit sectors are better able to adequately fund and provide quality products and services than the government. Case in point is patient-centered health care. I was the first of the gubernatorial candidates to state that the time is right to support the idea of the Hawaii Health Systems [Corporation] entering into public/private partnerships that will lead to greater operating efficiencies and financial stability, as well as ensuring a more stable and quality work environment for the medical staff, who shoulder the responsibility of providing health care services to the patients.
For those who question whether this is possible, we can look to the public/partnerships that the Hawai‘i Pacific Health established with Wilcox Memorial Hospital. We can also look at what The Queen’s Health Systems has done with regards to the former St. Francis Hospital in ‘Ewa, O‘ahu, as well as how it is moving forward with North Hawai‘i Community Hospital. In addition, Kaiser Permanente Hawaii has also expanded its services in the neighbor islands. These efforts provide models for further partnerships that raise the quality of patient care while putting local facilities on a sound economic footing and creating high-quality employment opportunities for a wide range of the medical staff.
Another example is the idea of restoring an interisland ferry system, which I have pledged to do beginning with a collaborative community-based approach and eventually conducting an EIS, something that the previous state administration failed to do. For small businesses, it will dramatically reduce their cost of doing business and lead to an increase in commerce and jobs throughout the state. Big Island farmers will have a much more affordable option for getting their products to the larger O‘ahu market. The bottom line is that a ferry system will help bolster our economy.

DAVID IGE (Democrat)
Yes, I support public-private partnerships as a means to both manage and provide needed funding to some of our essential state-provided services. The shape of any public-private partnership requires the participation of all stakeholders to create more sustainable business models, resulting in a more efficient system and operational framework to continue providing high-quality, economically feasible services.
As governor, I will immediately support the exploration of public-private partnerships to address, for example, the Hawaii Health Systems Corp. efficiency issues, build more affordable rental housing, manage our public housing and address the statewide homeless issues.

4) AS GOVERNOR, WHAT KINDS OF PEOPLE WILL YOU APPOINT TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION?

JAMES “DUKE” AIONA (Republican)
I’m looking for people who are ready to lead in an innovative way. A healthy, thriving public school system is one of the best investments the state can make and I’m committed to improving our education system.
My Board of Education will include innovative, creative thinkers.
Yes, we need business people on the Board of Education, but I think teachers and administrators need fair representation on the Board of Education, as well. We need a Board of Education that is balanced and reflective of education. I think the community and parents need fair representation on the Board of Education. I think we need to make sure that the neighbor islands are fairly represented in the Board of Education. Students also need representation on the Board of Education.

MUFI HANNEMANN (Independent)
I would seek to appoint individuals who, first and foremost, are committed to ensuring that our public schools become one of the nation’s best places to learn. They must also subscribe to the practice of empowering principals and teachers so their schools meet the needs of their students and communities while ensuring all students graduate college-ready, employment-ready and citizenship-ready.
I would build a diverse team whose professional and personal experiences prepares them well to collaborate with Department of Education administrators and educators and other educational stakeholders to identify ways in which our children grow up to be lifelong learners. The Board must also fairly represent all the islands.
Each member must be able to actively engage in board and committee meetings, producing a body of work that leads to the achievement of stated student outcomes. They must regularly visit schools so they can interact with students, teachers, principals and parents.

DAVID IGE (Democrat)
As governor, I will appoint individuals to the Board of Education who have a direct stake in the system’s success, including those with children in public schools

5) ONE OF THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS FACING THE HOMELESS AND THOSE JUST A PAYCHECK OR TWO FROM BECOMING HOMELESS IS THE LACK OF AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING. DO YOU HAVE A PLAN FOR CREATING MORE AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING? IF SO, WHAT IS IT?

JAMES “DUKE” AIONA (Republican)
My first affordable housing initiative increases funds to the Rental Housing Trust Fund without raising taxes, ensuring that an estimated 19,000 people have affordable housing within the next seven years.
Additionally, I have a plan that will, over time, decrease the need for state-funded affordable housing. This plan, a home ownership incubator, enables participants to automatically save for a down payment on a home while providing them with housing stability, affordability and training on home ownership responsibilities. I estimate approximately 5,200 people on all islands will be able to participate in this program which is ready to go the day I’m elected governor.
Home ownership is important to anyone who wants to stay in Hawai‘i, because it enables families to plan their finances without being subjected to the rising rents; it also provides generational equity and financial security. This program will enable returning kama‘äina to stay in Hawai‘i; it will enable aging citizens to plan for housing that remains in their control.

MUFI HANNEMANN (Independent)
Yes. I believe the state government can and should facilitate the development of affordable rentals, as well as housing at all price points. That being said, the government should not be in the business of being the developer.
We envision the government making available state lands where housing can be developed by private-public partnerships. This option includes commercial and residential mix housing. Also, the state can better organize, coordinate and offer wrap-around services that enable homeless individuals to become desirable long-term tenants.
This will also be one of the highest priorities of the Hawai‘i Council of Leaders. This would ensure that the state and all the counties will be focused on resolving this issue together.

DAVID IGE (Democrat)
We have a homeless issue statewide, as well as a need for more affordable housing.
To aid working individuals and families who cannot afford to own a home and struggle to pay rent, a significant expansion of affordable rental housing is needed in both urban and rural areas across the state. In this 2014 session, I helped to dramatically increase funding — from $17 million to $33 million — for the Rental Housing Trust Fund, which partners with private builders to build subsidized housing.
As governor, I will:
• Leverage additional state funding to attract more private investment to construct more affordable housing.
• Upgrade and increase public housing. Our state public housing needs to be managed and operated by qualified nonprofit and private companies so tenant issues are immediately addressed and facilities are properly maintained.
• Work with the counties to expedite planning and construction approvals so that affordable rental housing can be built in a shorter time and at lower cost.
• Identify and develop vacant and underutilized state lands for affordable housing near O‘ahu rail stations, public transportation and employment centers, and, whenever possible, include daycare, senior centers and community facilities as part of new affordable housing site units added that are targeted for low-income seniors and those with special needs.
• Build more affordable housing units in Kaka‘ako, which is fully under state control. It provides a unique opportunity to generate new affordable housing. More than 5,000 housing units have been approved in Kaka‘ako recently, but less than 7 percent are affordable to the lower half of our population. I will reverse this trend and generate housing in Kaka‘ako affordable to families earning below the median wage.
As governor, to specifically address the homeless, I will:
• Collaborate with and support the counties’ efforts to address homelessness. Further support the Housing First initiative, which provides transitional and permanent supportive emergency housing. It also offers referral services for mental illness, addiction, job training and other social services.
• Continue to support homeless shelters that provide immediate physical and mental health relief for homeless individuals and families. Shelters provide the first step toward permanent rental housing and job market re-entry.
• Help our homeless military veteran population with affordable housing and support services and improve coordination with the Veterans Administration. Support the Judiciary’s Hawai‘i Veterans Treatment Court, which began last year, to help veterans arrested for nonviolent crimes and who may be suffering from PTSD, mental health problems or substance abuse with resources and treatment needed to get healthy, employed and acclimated back into society.
• Support paying return travel costs for persons who moved here from the Mainland under the mistaken belief that they could afford to live here, then exhausted their resources and now wish to return home.

6) WHAT QUALITIES AND EXPERIENCES DO YOUR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR RUNNING MATE POSSESS THAT MAKE HIM/HER QUALIFIED TO IMMEDIATELY STEP UP AND CARRY ON THE BUSINESS OF THE STATE SHOULD ANYTHING HAPPEN TO YOU?

JAMES “DUKE” AIONA (Republican)
Elwin Ahu and I share many of the same experiences and principles. Like me, Elwin was raised in Pearl City and has also served as a judge.
Elwin is truly a man of service; he wants a Hawai‘i for the people of Hawai‘i as much as I do. He knows the way to a better government is through trust, respect and balance, and Elwin is as committed to those principles as I am. Elwin has served in leadership capacities all his adult life, always with humility and kindness.
Having been a lieutenant governor, I know what is required of the job and I am proud to have Elwin as my running mate; I am confident that should the need arise, he would make a terrific governor for the people of Hawai‘i.

MUFI HANNEMANN (Independent)
Les Chang’s 30-year career in the U.S. Air Force has well prepared him to be an outstanding lieutenant governor and, if necessary, would be able to assume the responsibilities of the governorship. He possesses both executive leadership and management skills, having overseen a $1.1 billion budget with over 8,000 employees as Pacific Region commander for the Army and Air Force Exchange Services.
After retiring as a full colonel, he and I worked closely together for six years at Honolulu City Hall, with Les serving as the director of the Department of Parks and Recreation. Our time together cemented both a professional and friendship relationship that will serve us well as governor and lieutenant governor. Since we share the same vision for the state and have collaborated from day one to develop our candidate platform, “Common Ground for the Common Good,” if need be, he could step forward to continue the work we started together.
He is a man of impeccable integrity with a compassionate heart. Bar none, there is no other lieutenant governor candidate that is more qualified and experienced than Les Chang.

DAVID IGE (Democrat)
The lieutenant governor plays a valuable role in the administration of the state, including the most important duty of serving in place of the governor in his/her absence. Having served as the lieutenant governor for the last two years, Shan Tsutsui is highly qualified to serve as not only lieutenant governor, but also acting governor in my absence. During his time in office, Shan has demonstrated the ability to work closely with the administration and to complement the administration’s work through special programs and initiatives.
As lieutenant governor, Shan has demonstrated his understanding of the responsibility of being well-informed of operations and issues of the executive departments to ensure the ability to fulfill the governor’s duties, such as last year when he served as acting governor during the federal government shutdown. Shan worked with the cabinet to ensure federally funded state services/programs were uninterrupted.
Additionally, Shan is a strong leader, having served as Senate president, majority caucus leader, and vice chair of the Ways and Means Committee. His knowledge of the state budget and the economy, coupled with his broad experience with education and social issues in the Legislature and as lieutenant governor, give him a unique perspective and expertise to not only aid in administration operations, but also to successfully lead the administration, if and when necessary.

7) FOUR OF YOU ARE RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR. IF YOU HAD TO VOTE FOR ONE OF YOU — EXCLUDING YOURSELF — WHO WOULD GET YOUR VOTE AND WHY?

JAMES “DUKE” AIONA (Republican)
I respect and admire the courage of all of my opponents for running for office; however, with my background as an attorney and judge, I think it’s the best to plead the fifth on this.

MUFI HANNEMANN (Independent)
Les Chang and I are running because we believe we are the right leaders at the right time to move Hawai‘i to a better future.

DAVID IGE (Democrat)
Hawai‘i voters are very fortunate to have four candidates interested in representing them as the next governor of our great state. It is my hope that everyone will get involved in the process and take time to learn about each of us. There are numerous public forums across the state and I encourage voters to attend or watch on television.
I leave the decision to the voters of Hawai‘i who will elect the next governor on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Regardless of their choice, I encourage everyone to take part in the democratic process and cast their vote.

8) RELAY ONE EXPERIENCE FROM YOUR CHILDHOOD THAT TURNED IN A LIFELONG LESSON THAT WILL HELP YOU AS GOVERNOR.

JAMES “DUKE” AIONA (Republican)
My mom was a teacher for 40 years; she was influential to thousands of lives, but she was humble and gracious about it. As a mother, she really balanced my childhood. She knew I was an active child and she allowed me the freedom to ride my bike in the red fields of Pearl City and play baseball and basketball with my friends, but I was only allowed to do so after I finished my homework and completed my chores. Early on, I learned if I wanted to play with friends, I needed to take care of business first.
Learning to balance play and responsibilities has been a key theme throughout my life. I’ve learned to stay focused, no matter the distractions. I’ve learned to focus on the long-term, not just immediate gratification, and I’ve learned that hard work matters.
My mom passed away in 2010, but I remain grateful for her positive influence on me.

MUFI HANNEMANN (Independent)
I lost my mom after I completed my first year in college. It was the most devastating blow in my life to say the least. My initial reaction was to return home to be with my dad, who was having great difficulty coping with the loss of his lifelong companion. I, too, felt I needed to be with my family and closest of friends to help me get through my ordeal. But upon further reflection, it was my mom who set the goal for me when I was in elementary school to graduate from Harvard University. I recalled how happy my mom and dad were when they came to visit me in Cambridge to watch me address my classmates and their parents during Freshman Class Weekend. So I decided to return to the East Coast and rise above the fray and turn this crisis into an opportunity to persevere to the end.
Given the myriad challenges facing our next governor to focus on solutions rather than being content with the problems that have been plaguing our state for decades, my attitude and approach can be summarized in one phrase: “No scared ’em — go get ’em,” and get the job done!

DAVID IGE (Democrat)
Growing up in a three-bedroom home in Pearl City with five brothers and two hardworking parents who just did what it took to get the job done is the foundation of who I am today and how I lead. My father was a member of the 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team and was awarded the Bronze Star. After the war, he became a steelworker. He never spoke about his wartime experience — he showed me that action is much more important than words. My mother worked as a dental hygienist and nurse — both grew up on plantations.
In my childhood, I learned how to respect differing views, compromise, be strong when needed and move forward, because it was in the best interest of the family. From this I learned my three basic tenets of leadership that I will bring to the Office of the Governor:
Be respectful and listen to all views.
Be open and honest in communication.
Do the right thing, the right way.
I humbly ask you to choose the Democratic Ige-Tsutsui ticket on Tuesday, November 4th, and allow me to serve as your next governor of this great state.

Frances H. Kakugawa
Hawai‘i Herald Columnist

Omoiyari . . . Think of others first and good karma will return to you. — Frances H. Kakugawa

Dear Readers,
I am in Hawai‘i on a speaking tour as you read this month’s column. Let me indulge you with an excerpt from one of my talks:
I want to share with you the story of a mother teaching her daughter how to bake fish.
“First,” the mother instructed, “always cut the tail off before you put it in the pan.”
“Why?” her daughter asked.
“Because this is how I learned it from my mother.”
When the young daughter asked her grandmother, she got the same answer: “Because this is how I learned it from my mother.”
So in that family, the fish tail was always cut off before it was baked.
One day, the daughter asked her great-grandmother, “Why do we cut the tail off the fish before we bake it?”
Her great-grandmother answered, “I don’t know why you do it, but I cut the tail off because my pan is too small for the whole fish. I never got myself a bigger baking pan.”
So, one simple observation became a legacy of sorts for generations in that family.
Think of what we caregivers are capable of doing in preserving human dignity and the humanities for generations to come. We are that select group of people who live the humanities day after day. In our busy lives, we may not be aware of the impact we are making on the lives of our children and their children, and others outside of our home due to the demands of caregiving. There is no medal or special ceremony, no pause button for reflections. But our acts of compassion and human kindness are being observed and learned and passed on to our children. Can you think of a more lasting and genuine legacy to contribute to our world?
Whenever my mother and I visited her physician, she (the doctor) always thanked me for the lesson she was learning from me. “I hope to be as compassionate as you when it’s time for me to care for my mother,” she said. So, as I was receiving medical help in the care of my mother, her physician was also part of this learning circle — all three of us making an impact on each other’s life. Each of us was making a difference in the world.
It’s inconceivable to even imagine what the world will be like decades from now with the advancements in the science, technology and the ever-changing environment. I would like to believe that the one constancy is what caregivers live with day after day — that human element of what we call the humanities.
So, caregivers, do not take lightly what you are doing for humanity.

OMOIYARI
There will be no Nobel Prize for what we do,
no trip to Sweden, no medals — gold, silver or bronze.
But here we stand — caregivers, past and present —preserving
for all generations, this lesson learned in what it means
to be human . . .
Once we abandon this heritage, all the years spent, day after day, year after year, in the shadow of the thief . . .
all would have been for naught. Bruised, frayed, tattered,
like a flag after battle, we stand
with human kindness and compassion,
a legacy for ages hence.
– ©Frances Kakugawa

Sometimes we do something extraordinary with the simplest of acts, don’t we, by simply remembering to dignify another human being, and this leaves us with the feeling that we’re pretty decent people. Caregiving is a powerful tool in sensitizing us into becoming aware of our human environment.

Here’s an observation I made at the mall.

Red, a former caregiver for his mother, and I were having lunch when he stood up and went over to speak to a woman at another table. She was an elderly woman with deep lines on her face. She was sitting with her daughter.

He told the elderly woman what a beautiful face she had and how much history it must hold. This resulted in a long conversation between Red and the woman. Her daughter sat, smiling and nodding at her mother, listening intently to her words. Having been a caregiver myself, I sensed how much she appreciated this attention being given to her mother by a complete stranger, and, perhaps, she was hearing some of her mother’s stories for the first time.

They are still there; yes, they are still there.

When I helped Red care for his mother, Isobel, I didn’t become her nurse. We became two women conspirators. This was not for her sake alone; it was fun for me, too.
I went into her room with her meals, and my conversations were often directed to her womanhood: “Hey Isobel, how about finishing your dinner so the two of us can go bar hopping? Let’s go look for some handsome men and maybe go dancing.”

She was at a babbling stage, but her eyes lit up. She moved her head back and forth to match the animated babbling that flowed from her. She laughed away and waved her hand in the air. For years, she had not said an intelligible word, but we didn’t care. We just talked and babbled.

Red would come to the door, see it was all women talk and walk away. He didn’t have a clue of what happens when you get two women together in a room. We had many such conversations, one woman to another.

Isobel never spoke a word. Each time I entered her room, I told her, “I’m Frances.” One morning, I was leaving on a trip, so I went in to say good-bye. She was silent. As I was walking through the door, I heard, clearly, my name. She had said, “Frances.” It was the first word she had spoken word in years.

I turned around and she was back into her silent world.

Being raised with superstitions, I was so sure the plane was going to crash so she was saying her good-bye to me. Needless to say, I was nervous until we landed.

So yes, they are still there, both men and women.

BABBLELESE
Babbling . . .
sounds without words
a soliloquy on stage
her eyes on fire
her head nodding with passion
periods and commas disappear in her babbling
Continuous chuckles and laughter . . .
We speak our French, Italian,
English and even Japanese,
but no one, no one
has taught us Babblelese.

ON THE LITE SIDE OF
CAREGIVING . . .

I was mother-sitting a caregiver’s mother at the mall. I had an assortment of chopped fruits in a container, which I fed her now and then as we sat at a table. She no longer spoke, so our conversation was a monologue as I told her how pretty she looked, or people-watched. She didn’t respond at all until she saw a man walking past.

She quickly looked up, her eyes lit up and she moved her head to the side in a flirtatious manner, calling out as loudly as she could, “Yoohoo! Yoohoo!” The man tuned his head, looked at us and hurried away.

She returned to her silence and my chopped fruits until another man walked by. Once again, she called out, “Yoohoo! Yoohoo!” She was very selective, calling out only to well-dressed men in suits or sports jackets. I believe well-dressed men were images from her era. Both men walked away, puzzled and confused.
How I wished one of them had stopped to tell her how lovely she looked. How I wished one had even planted a kiss on her forehead, or on the backside of her palm.
Men . . . when you hear an elderly woman calling out to you, please stop and acknowledge her as a woman in her prime. You will have made not only her day, but that of her caregiver, as well. We women will do the same for you when your times comes.

Am I picking on the men folks? Let me hear from you.

Until next month, take care . . .
Frances

Frances Kakugawa was her mother’s primary caregiver during her five-year journey with Alzheimer’s disease. A native of Kapoho on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, she now lives in Sacramento, Calif. Frances has melded her professional training as a writer and teacher and her personal experiences as her mother’s caregiver to write several books on caring for people with memory-related illnesses, including one for children. Frances is a highly sought-after speaker, both in Hawai‘i and on the Mainland, sharing strategies for caregiving, as well as coping with caregiving.

Shara Yuki Enay Birbirsa
Hawai‘i Herald Columnist

Sept. 11 marked our one-year anniversary on Läna‘i. I’ll be honest: It hasn’t been a cakewalk.

My job is demanding and stressful, and the transition from city life to a rural area became progressively more challenging as Alex and I settled into our new home. I’ve learned the hard way about the politics and small-town drama of living in a community of only 3,200 people. At times, my morals and patience have been put to the test and I’ve had to get used to everyone making my business their business, whether I like it or not.

But, I’ve also experienced many firsts on Läna‘i and have met some of the most humble and decent people ever. Living here has also allowed me to explore one of my other interests — being outdoors.

When I was growing up, nothing made me happier than going the beach. I was so comfortable in the ocean that my parents often joked that I didn’t want to stop swimming until I was dark and shriveled like a raisin. My grandpa taught me how to swim at the Käne‘ohe Pool when I was in the first grade. After that, my love for the ocean kept growing. When I was in high school, I would catch the bus to Waikiki Beach with my boogie board every day after summer school and play in the sand and surf until the sun sank into the ocean.

For some reason, the ocean has always had a calming effect on me. I love putting on my headphones, laying out in the warm sun and drifting off to la-la land. Some of my best ideas pop into my head when I am near the ocean with sand between my toes.

“Even from the heart of Läna‘i City, the sunsets are glorious, oftentimes with shades of orange, pink and red that I’ve never before seen.” — Shara Enay Birbirsa

I have such fond memories of going to the beach on O‘ahu’s windward side with my family. To this day, my favorite drive is the stretch of Kamehameha Highway from Käne‘ohe to Lä‘ie, with the turquoise-blue ocean on one side of the road and the breathtaking Ko‘olau Mountains on the other. I remember spending the whole day playing in the sand, jumping off the rocks into the water, and then driving to the Kahuku Shrimp Farm to eat whole, head-on prawns. My daddy taught me how to snap off the heads and suck out the eggs and “miso” before moving on to the body. I also remember him taking me snorkeling on the North Shore and teaching me to spit into my dive mask to clean it and prevent it from fogging up underwater.

On Läna‘i, I retreat to the beach when I need to clear my mind and take stock of everything that’s going on. These days, my favorite thing to do at the beach is to watch the sun set. They are absolutely breathtaking here — some of the best I’ve ever seen. Even from the heart of Läna‘i City, the sunsets are glorious, oftentimes with shades of orange, pink and red that I’ve never before seen. Even locals stop what they are doing to take photos of the sky.

I’ve also developed a big interest in hunting, but not for the obvious reasons. As I explained to my family one day after being called “a barbarian” when I emailed them a photo of me skinning a deer, it’s not the actual killing of animals that fascinates me. Rather, I’ve gotten obsessed with being outdoors and experiencing Läna‘i’s captivating natural beauty. When the entire forest is quiet and the sun rises on the horizon with Maui’s majestic Haleakalä in the distance, all is right in the world for those few minutes. I’m not thinking about which projects are due at work, or what bills need to be paid. I am in the present, and the only thing I am focused on is trying not to blink so I won’t miss even a second of the sky changing from dark to light.

West Maui from Lanai. “On a clear day, you can see Maui, Kaho‘olawe, Moloka‘i, O‘ahu, and even Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island from different parts of Läna‘i.” — Shara Enay Birbirsa

Hunting has taken me to parts of Läna‘i that even some locals have never experienced. I’ve hiked through gulches and climbed ridges that offer some of the best views the island has to offer. I’ve seen colors of the sky and the ocean that I didn’t even think existed. This is the stuff tourists pay thousands of dollars to see and experience — and I have the good fortune of enjoying it as often as I want.

There is something about being up on Läna‘ihale, the highest point on the island, at the crack of dawn, when the only sounds within earshot are those of chirping birds, barking does and howling bucks. On a clear day, you can see Maui, Kaho‘olawe, Moloka‘i, O‘ahu, and even Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island from different parts of Läna‘i.

I’ve recently taken up another hobby — fishing. My daddy has always been a fisherman, so I grew up catching halalu and camping all over O‘ahu so he could fish for ulua. He taught me how to set up a pole and would scold me for eating the raw shrimp that we used for bait. He bought me tabis (rubber fishing shoes) and a headlamp so I would look the part. At low tide, I would walk with him off the shoreline in Aina Haina, catching small fish and picking limu (seaweed).

I remember fishing from a pile of rocks one afternoon when the water was rough. I accidentally dropped my pole in the water and within seconds, the pole was sucked underneath the rocks and gone forever. I cried and my dad tried not to look too disappointed, even though I know he probably felt sick. Within a matter of minutes, he whipped out a second pole and let me continue fishing. By the end of the day, I had lost that pole to the ocean, too — and without catching any fish.

My daddy has been totally enthusiastic about my outdoorswoman endeavors since I moved to Läna‘i. He’s given me a rifle and fishing poles and has outfitted me with enough gear to do some serious damage — from lead to floaters and hooks, to a hunting knife, safety vest and a rangefinder, which detects the distance between a shooter and its target. This weekend, I caught my first menpachi with the pole my daddy gave me. Guess who I called first with the news? And whenever I go hunting, I text him photos throughout the day, giving him the play-by-play action and updates such as: “Nooooo! I let ANOTHER buck get away!!!” and “Wish you could see this amazing sunrise!” He’ll text me back messages like: “No worry, main thing you had fun,” or “Just relax, still get plenty time. Next one is yours!”

My daddy always wanted a son. I think he’s glad that I’m not just a girly-girl all the time.

The outdoors on Läna‘i has definitely become my retreat. It is not uncommon for me to work 12-hour days and attend events on weekends, so I jump at every opportunity I get to retreat to the mountains or the beach. I’ve amassed an amazing collection of photos of sunrises, landscapes and sunsets, and I would love for that picture gallery to continue growing.
Before taking this job, I never had the desire to visit Läna‘i. Now I know why people love it here so much. There is something very charming about life in a small country town — everything is in close proximity, people wave as they drive pass you on the road, and I never tire of staring at the fog-enveloped mountains in the morning.

Even a year later, I still feel something magical whenever I am up at The Lodge at Koele and can smell that great big wood fireplace burning. I am not sure how long Läna‘i will be my home, but its beauty has captured my heart and will always occupy a special place in it.

Shara Enay Birbirsa resides on the island of Läna‘i, where she is Pulama Läna‘i’s liaison with the island’s community. Shara is a former writer for The Hawai‘i Herald and Hawai‘i Business magazine. She has been writing this Drama Queen Journals column since 2006.

The Buddhist Women’s Association in Hawaii recently hosted Fukumi Tajima from the Miyazaki-kyoku Miyakonojo-so Zenchoji in Miyazaki, Japan, as part of an annual exchange program conducted by the World Federation of Buddhist Women’s Association. The association alternates participant visits to Hawai‘i and Japan: One year, the Hawai‘i group hosts two women from Japan, and the next year, Japan hosts two women from Hawai‘i. Similar exchanges are held between Japan and Buddhist temples on the U.S. mainland, Canada and Brazil. The purpose of the exchange is to provide opportunities for the participants to learn about the women’s associations in each location, their mission, activities, the local culture, traditions and lifestyle.

Tajima, who is 22, works as a dispatcher for a Japanese company that provides personal errand services and assistance to people. It was her first trip outside of Japan. She said her minister encouraged her to participate in the program.

Tajima was in Hawai‘i from July 29 to Aug. 5. She visited a number of Hongwanji temples, including the Hawaii Betsuin, Moiliili, Jikoen, Kailua, Aiea, Pearl City Waipahu, Ewa, Mililani and Wahiawa temples. She also spent two days on Kaua‘i.

Tajima visited the Hawai‘i Herald/Hawaii Hochi offices, accompanied by Rev. Shindo Nishiyama of Jikoen Hongwanji Mission and his wife Suzie, who assisted with translation.
Tajima said she was more active with her temple in Japan when she was younger. Many of the temples in Japan have activities and Sunday school programs for children, but few activities for older students and adults. She found Hawai‘i to be very different, noting that the Hawai‘i BWA is an active organization with members participating in many church activities.

Tajima said she attended the Waialua Hongwanji bon dance and enjoyed herself. She was also impressed that BWA members were very active in volunteering in all aspects of the bon dance. She also got the chance to sample local foods at the bon dances. Tajima noted that temples in Japan do not hold bon dances. They are held as a town festival or a farmer’s market.

She also observed that Hawai‘i’s ministers are assigned to their temples by the bishop. She said that in Japan, temple leadership is passed on through the family bloodline.
Before leaving Japan, Tajima and other participants attended a two-day orientation session in Kyöto and a convention in Hokkaidö. She kept a daily journal while in Hawai‘i and planned to use it for her evaluation and report after returning to Japan.

Tajima said she found people in Hawai‘i to be very friendly, even to strangers, and she was moved by Hawai‘i’s aloha spirit. She said she liked that people flashed a shaka sign so readily, whereas in Japan, they would bow. She enjoyed the taste of lomi salmon and kalua pork, but she’s not sure about poi.

Tajima said if there were one thing she observed while in Hawai‘i that she would encourage her temple in Miyazaki to consider, it would be to create activities for older students and adults.

“In Japan, Sunday school is only for kids. When you graduate, you stop going to temple. Only after you get married and have kids do you go back to temple. So [adults] don’t have activities or a reason to go back to temple unless they have kids,” she said.

Rev. Nishiyama explained that temples in Japan do not hold regular Sunday services. People visit the church only on certain occasions and religious holidays, such as rededication services for spring and autumn.

Asked whether experiencing Hawai‘i’s BWA activities will encourage her to be more active in her temple, Tajima said, “I will try.”

The City of Alhambra (California), in conjunction with the Go For Broke National Education Center, is seeking seven World War II Japanese American veterans who served in the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate), 442nd Regimental Combat Team or Military Intelligence Service to ride on its 2015 Rose Parade float on New Year’s Day in response to the parade’s theme of “Inspiring Stories.”

“We couldn’t think of a more inspiring American story to tell than that of the Japanese American soldiers of World War II,” said Alhambra Mayor Gary Yamauchi, adding that the city’s leadership and float committee “are excited to bring international awareness to the legacy of these soldiers who fought with such courage, even as their country turned its back on their families and imprisoned them for the crime of being the ‘wrong’ ethnicity.”

The 41-foot float will be named “Go For Broke,” reflecting the soldiers’ willingness to give their all for their country. GFBNEC is providing historical perspective and organizing the nationwide search for the seven veterans.

The Rose Parade, a New Year’s Day tradition since 1890, is held every New Year’s Day in Pasadena, Calif. Over 700,000 people watch the parade along its 5.5-mile route, with an additional 75 million watching it on television in the U.S. and abroad.

GFBNEC is soliciting nominations for float riders among Japanese American veterans nationwide. The participating veterans must meet specific physical criteria to be eligible to ride the float, including:

• They must be totally ambulatory, not requiring a walking device or assistance with walking;
• They must be present in Pasadena for the final float judging on Dec. 31, 2014, at 2 p.m., Pacific Standard Time; and
• They must be at the Rose Parade float holding area at 5 a.m. PST on Jan. 1, 2015, and be prepared to ride on the float from 8 a.m. until approximately 10 a.m. PST.

GFBNEC is encouraging families to nominate their veteran. The veterans will be seated on the float during the Rose Parade ride.

The City of Alhambra is hoping for representation from across the country. Transportation and lodging costs are the responsibility of the rider and/or his family. The Alhambra City Rose Parade Committee will select the float riders.

For more information, or to nominate a veteran, submit a 100- to 200-word profile on the veteran by Oct. 27, to Peggy Renke at peggy@goforbroke.org, or by mail to GFBNEC, 367 Van Ness Way, Suite 611, Torrance, CA 90501.

Photo: Alhambra Rose Parade by Prayitno

Karleen C. Chinen
Commentary

The all-important general election is just 20 days away as we send this issue of the Herald to press. It is a very important election. Besides electing our state’s new governor, we will be deciding on who will represent us in the halls of Congress, both in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. There are key races for the state Legislature, county mayors, our city and county councils and for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. We will also be voting on amendments to Hawaii’s Constitution.

So,, it is vitally important that we study the issues and the candidates and their respective positions on the issues. To aid in your decision-making, the Herald compiled separate lists of questions for the candidates for governor, U.S. Senate, and U.S. Congress Districts 1 and 2. The questions were emailed to those with email addresses that we could find, and mailed by USPS to all other candidates. If their names will appear on your general election ballot, they were given the opportunity to share their views. Most of the candidates responded; some did not. Our thanks to those who did respond. By doing so, they helped to inform us of their positions on the issues and their ideas for improving life in Hawaii.

Hawaii’s low voter turnout — it was in the neighborhood of 40 percent in the August primary election, despite a number of highly important and competitive races — is worrisome and we need to find out why people feel so detached from the political process and find ways to change that. There is truth in the four words being spoken during this political season — “No Vote, No Grumble.”

This issue also features a commentary by former political reporter Tom Coffman, who has been observing and studying Hawaii’s political scene since the 1960s when he first arrived in Hawaii. Tom has also done extensive research and writing on Hawaii’s history. His work has given us a greater appreciation for Hawaii and the people — both prominent figures and everyday heroes — who helped to shape our society. Because of the depth and breadth of Tom’s knowledge, I extended an invitation to him to write about an aspect of this year’s elections that he found especially interesting. I hope that you’ll find his observations as thought-provoking as I did.

Between studying the candidates and their positions — and voting — I hope you will also make time in your schedule to take in several of the Hawaii International Film Festival offerings. Personally, I don’t have much time or desire to go and see very many of the films coming out of Hollywood. But HIFF is something I look forward to every year because there are always films whose beauty and message linger with me long after I have left the theater.

Photo: 2013 HIFF Special Events by Rae Huo