I remember Lily Miyasato (Horio) was the organist and would lead us in the Nembutsu when the minister was away. I enjoyed the Hanamatsuri festival at Kapiolani Park.

The new temple and social hall on School Street became the headquarters of the Hawaii United Okinawa Association (HUOA) for many years until the new kaikan was built at its present site in Waipio.

Following the end of the terrible battle of Okinawa and after a three month assignment in Korea, I came home on December 23, 1945. Soon after I got back I received several phone calls from the late Rev. Jikai Yamasato wanting to know what it was like in Okinawa during...

By the time the first Okinawan immigrants (our ancestors) came to Hawaii, there were already an estimated 60,000 immigrants from other prefectures in Japan in Hawaii.

Coming to Hawaii By 1899, Kyuzo Toyama began to see Hawaii as a better prospect for future emigration of the Okinawans than Formosa. At that time Hawaii was still hardly known to them in spite of the fact that… emigration from Japan to Hawaii from the southwestern prefectures of Japan...

Life on the Plantation for the First Arrivals They were all sent to Ewa Plantation. Soon, these men found life on the plantation extremely hard, in spite of their youthful vigor. Long, continuous hours of work – 10 hours a day-except for a 30 minute break for lunch. (Though the...

The Start of Jikoen Hongwanji In response to the aspiration of the Reverend Chiro Yosemori, missionary with the Hawaii Hongwanji Mission, the Jikoen Temple was established on Houghtailing Street in Honolulu in September 1938 with assistance from Okinawans and others of the same faith. The Hongwanji was so moved by...

Pigs from the Sea: Assisting the People of Okinawa After WWII In June 1947, the Okinawa Kyusai Koseikai (United Okinawa Assistance Association of Hawaii) was formed. They collected $47,196 with which 500 sows and 50 boars were purchased from the mainland. Seven members of the group, Yoshio Yamashiro, Gyukichi Nakama,...

Okinawan Culture Hawaiian Style Okinawan culture, a Hawaiianized version of the native original, is healthy and flourishing in Hawaii today. That is no small feat for an ethnic sub-group that constitutes perhaps 10 percent of Japanese Americans in Hawaii and is, for the most part, indistinguishable in appearance, language, culture...

Pieper Toyama led Bon dancers in a moment of silence just before the last dance of the 2018 Jikoen Bon Dance. The post contains a video and a transcript of Pieper's words.