Okinawan Studies: BLOG / News

Oral History and the Hawai'i Okinawan-Owned Restaurant Project

BROWN BAG BIOGRAPHY - Thursday, October 11th, 2018

“Hawai‘i Okinawan-Owned Restaurant Project: Oral History and Community Archives.”

Gene Kaneshiro and Howard Takara, Project Leaders

This session will be held in Kuykendall 410, at UH Mānoa, from 12 pm (noon) to 1:15 pm

For more information: 956-3774, biograph@hawaii.edu, or www.facebook.com/CBRHawaii

"Aloha Grill, Columbia Inn, Kapiolani Coffee Shop, and the list goes on. The Hawai‘i Okinawan Restaurant Project has documented over 325 beloved local restaurants in Hawai‘i owned by Okinawans, with oral histories, photos, menus, and other priceless memories. In this presentation, the Project Leaders will share about their process, the traveling exhibits they have created from this tremendous work, and their visions for next steps in preserving this community history.

The photo in the flyer (attached) shows Mr. Ushi Takara and his family, the owners of American Café. American Café was the first Okinawan-owned restaurant in Hawai‘i, opened in 1923 on King Street next to the Alexander Hotel. Ushi Takara has been credited for hiring, training, and inspiring many other Okinawans (many from the same small village of Oroku) to open restaurants that have since become fixtures of local culture."

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Oral History at UHM.

For a related resource, see the oral histories compiled by the Center for Oral History in 2002–2003 on the Hawai‘i-Oroku connection, and available online at:

https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/29808/browse?type=title&submit_browse=Title

SPEAKER BIOS:

Gene Kaneshiro was the last general manager of Columbia Inn prior to its closure. He then managed the DOE school lunch program for sixteen years, and is currently retired.

Howard Takara worked at his dad’s restaurant for ten years while attending school. He graduated from UH with a degree in Civil Engineering, and retired from the City and County of Honolulu as a transportation planner and engineer.

http://blog.hawaii.edu/okinawacollection/2018/09/13/hawai%ca%bbi-okinawan-owned-restaurant-project/