Overview

Author talk and book signing for Two Nails, One Love. Debuting as a play at Kumu Kahua Theatre, from January 22 to February 22, 2026!

Come join us in person for an exciting da Shop talk with author Alden Hayashi, who’s sitting down with Lee Tonouchi to dive into Two Nails, One Love. It’s an amazing chance to hear directly from the author and talk story. As well as Q&A and book signing to follow. Don’t miss out on this awesome conversation! Follow up the excitement and go see Two Nails, One Love, live, debuting as a play written by Lee Tonouchi! At Kumu Kahua Theatre! Play production will run from January 22 to February 22, 2026.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Two Nails, One Love opens in New York City with the narrator—Ethan Taniguchi, a Japanese-American gay man in his early forties—awaiting the arrival of his mother from Hawaii. The two have been estranged for more than a decade, and the reunion is fraught with past grievances bubbling to the surface. After a fateful ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty, Ethan’s mother reluctantly reveals details of her shattered childhood— her family’s imprisonment in a concentration camp in Arkansas in World War II, followed by a deportation to Japan, where she witnesses the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Ethan’s past is also revealed—painful memories of a forsaken career in music and a delayed coming out at the height of the AIDS epidemic. Eventually, both mother and son come to understand the complex and subtle ways that their lives are intertwined, with the past reverberating powerfully through the present.

The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper, will sponsor Game 1 of the 50th Kisei Finals between reigning titleholder Ichiriki Ryo and challenger Shibano Toramaru in Honolulu on January 22–23, 2026, at the invitation of the State of Hawaiʻi. The Kisei Title is considered Japan’s most prestigious honor in professional Go.

For decades, Game 1 of the Kisei Finals has occasionally been held overseas to broaden global interest in the ancient strategy game. Hawaiʻi last hosted the opening match in 1997, and its return marks the first overseas Kisei game in 12 years, following the 2014 match in Spain. This year’s event will be the third time Hawaiʻi has been selected—more than any other location outside Japan.

A delegation of 13 professional Go players will travel to Honolulu to support the championship with public activities, teaching programs, and commentary. Among the featured guests are:

• Michael Redmond, the only American-born 9-dan professional
• Saeka Iwata, providing live match commentary
• Han-Chieh Lin, hosting live YouTube analysis
• Yimin Hsieh, holder of 27 women’s Go titles, playing teaching games with the community

Yomiuri Travel will also bring a group of amateur Go enthusiasts from Japan, who will challenge local players in U.S.–Japan friendship matches throughout the event.

While the official title match will be held at the Prince Waikiki, all community activities—including classes, teaching games, and live commentary—will take place at the Sheraton Waikiki and are free to the public. Programming includes sessions designed especially for beginners and children.

Contact Honolulu Go Club at honolulugoclub@gmail.com for more information and to sign up for the events at the Sheraton.

Schedule of Public Events

Thursday, January 22, 2026 – Sheraton Waikiki
Go Classes (beginners and children included)
• 1:00–2:30 PM
• 3:00–5:00 PM
• 5:30–8:30 PM
Teaching Games
• 10:00 AM–12:00 PM
• 5:30–7:30 PM
Kisei Game Live Commentary
• 3:00–5:00 PM

Friday, January 23, 2026 – Sheraton Waikiki
Simultaneous Games vs. Professionals
• 10:00 AM–12:00 PM
Japan–U.S. Friendship Games
• 1:00–2:30 PM
Kisei Game Live Commentary
• 1:00–2:30 PM
• 3:00–6:00 PM
• 6:00–8:00 PM

The Hawaiʻi event is presented locally by JAL and Suntory. Community partners include the Japan-America Society of Hawaiʻi, Hawaiʻi Tourism Japan, iQ360, JERA Americas, Center for Japanese Studies, Honolulu Go Club, Punahou Go Club, Pacific Buddhist Academy Go Club, University of Hawaiʻi Go Club, and the East-West Center Go Club.

Against a backdrop of economic hardship, housing instability, cultural transition, and environmental loss, Carreira Ching’s new collection, Blood Work and Other Stories, focuses on the complexities of identity, family, and belonging. His characters live in a Hawai’i far removed from tourist postcards, navigating grief, displacement, and intergenerational trauma. Still, in the overlooked corners of the islands, they hold tight to the connections that root them in community.

Donald Carreira Ching was born and raised in Kahaluʻu on the island of Oʻahu. His debut novel, Between Sky and Sea: A Family’s Struggle, was published by Bamboo Ridge Press in 2015 and was awarded the Ka Palapala Poʻokela award for excellence in literature, honorable mention, and is listed by Honolulu Magazine as one of Hawaiʻi’s “essential books.” His collection, Blood Work and Other Stories, was released this year. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Writing at Leeward Community College.

Anyone who requires an auxiliary aid or service for effective communication, or a modification of policies or procedures to participate in a program, service, or activity should contact library staff as soon as possible. Advance requests 48 hours or more before the event are encouraged, but not required. All programs are subject to change. 

The 33rd Waimea Cherry Blossom Heritage Festival is a free event on Saturday, February 7, featuring a full lineup of hands-on Japanese and multicultural activities and performances. Headquartered at Church Row Park, the multi-venue festival runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and celebrates the annual blooming of the park’s historic cherry trees.

Over the past two decades, Jake has proved that there isn’t a style of music that he can’t play. While versatility for any musician is impressive, what’s remarkable about Jake’s transcendent skills is how he explores his seemingly limitless vocabulary – whether it’s jazz, rock, blues, bluegrass, folk or even classical – on perhaps the unlikeliest of instruments: the ‘ukulele. Responding to the urgent calls of his fervent imagination, Jake has taken the ‘ukulele to points previously thought impossible, and in the process he’s reinvented the applications for this tiny, heretofore underappreciated four – string instrument, causing many to call him “the Jimi Hendrix of the ‘ukulele.”

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CLUB POLICIES

Seating is First Come, First Served
$20 Food or Beverage Minimum Per Person
Full Bar & Full Dinner Menu Available
No refunds or exchange. Please make sure you purchase tickets for the correct date and time. Mahalo!