A Life in Full Color: Ann Asakura’s Passion for Tradition and Innovation

Ann Asakura arrives like a fresh wind filling every corner of the room with her warm laughter, endless energy, and kind spirit. Although she is celebrating her eighth decade on the planet, Asakura has no plans to slow down and she is filled with original ideas, brash opinions, and ambitious plans that could fill several […]

Charley’s Taxi: A History of a Longtime Hawai‘i Institution

During school breaks in the ‘80s and ‘90s, my grandparents would walk me and my sister to the shopping plaza near their house to pick up groceries for the week. On the way back, weighed down with bags (and likely exhaustion), my grandfather would slide a quarter in a pay phone to call Charley’s Taxi […]

Who We Are

After The Hawai‘i Herald closed in December 2023 after 43 years of sharing Japanese American stories in Hawaii, former editors Jodie Chiemi Ching and Kristen Nemoto Jay and former staff writer Summer Nakaishi felt there were still more stories to be told. Through a friend, Ching was able with Zentoku Foundation president Mark Nakakihara to […]