Young Nikkei Cartoonists from Hawai'i Publish Collection

Two of Hawai'i's best-known cartoonists earlier this month released a new book featuring a collection of their comic strips. Keith has been a fan of their work since he was a student at UH-Manoa.

Deb Aoki's "Slice O' Life" and Jon J. Murakami's "University of Diverse City: The UH Years 1987-1993" is a 164-page double-sided collection that includes Jon's "Magic Beer Can" saga and "Dole Street Fighter," plus Deb's "You'll Mosh to Anything" and "Mainland Weather Martyrs" comic strips, and their version of the UH campus map, circa 1989.

Before Deb started drawing her weekly Honolulu Advertiser comic strip, Bento Box and before Jon drew Calabash for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Generation Gap for the Hawaii Herald, they both were cartoonists for Ka Leo O Hawai'i, the University of Hawai'i student newspaper.

Both cartoonists cite their days as Ka Leo cartoonists as being major influences in their professional cartooning careers. After years of having their old fans ask them whatever happened to "Slice O' Life" and "University of Diverse City," the pair joined forces (and cleaned out their filing cabinets) to create this blast from UH's past circa late '80s - early 90s.

Deb will be at the San Diego Comic Con International from July 25 - 29, 2007 at the San Diego Convention Center, at booth H11. She'll be promoting "Bento Box" and the "Slice O' Life / University of Diverse City" books, plus previewing a new "Bento Box" collection that will be available in local and mainland bookstores in October 2007.

Deb will also be promoting "Bento Box" at the the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies annual conference in Portland, Oregon, from June 14 - 16, 2007.

Deb Aoki's Bento Box is available at select bookstores, including Borders and Barnes & Noble in Honolulu and Nikkei Traditions in San Jose. It is also available online at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, ABEbooks.com, Heritage Source, and Lulu.com. An online preview of the book can be viewed at Lulu.com.

A third-generation Japanese-Okinawan-American gal, Deb was born, raised, educated in and eventually escaped from Hawai'i. Now based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Deb continues to draw her weekly comic strip, "Bento Box" for both Hawai'i and mainland audiences.

"Bento Box" has been a popular weekly feature in the Honolulu Advertiser since 1996, and shares the lighter side of living in the Islands and the ups and downs of being an Asian American single gal looking for love, good food and a not-so-brain-numbing office job on "the mainland." See the latest comic strips on the Advertiser website or visit www.debaoki.com.

Hawai'i-based cartoonist Jon J. Murakami captures "local-kine" humor with his fun, manga-influenced comics and illustrations. Jon's comic strips are featured in The Hawaii Herald, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and online at Time Warner Cable's Hawai'i homepage, Around Hawaii.

Jon illustrates the "Local Kine" greeting cards produced by Maile Way, a company started by Paul and Gayle (Machida) Isono. Paul was UH-Manoa student body president the year after Keith.

Jon's illustration work can be found in several best-selling children's books, including "Going to the Zoo in Hawai'i," which was recently nominated by the Hawaii Book Publishers Association for a Ka Palapala Po'okela Award.

Tech Magazine Q&A on Kama'aina Guy Kawasaki

My friend Herbert Sample interviewed Guy Kawasaki for the upcoming issue of Red Herring, a technology magazine. The Q&A reveals some things about Guy that I never knew; I've only met him a few times, but he's well-known in the tech community since his days as the chief evangelist for Apple.

Guy's father was Duke Kawasaki, a former state Senator, and McKinley High grad. Guy went to Iolani, and then to Stanford. He's now the CEO of Garage.com, a venture capital firm.

Read the article here.

Sake San Jose Benefits Yu-Ai Kai

Sake San Jose combines tasting with a walk through Historic Japantown San Jose on May 24 from 5:30 to 8:30 pm. Yu-Ai Kai Senior Community Center will host this benefit sake tasting walk through Japantown's various businesses and restaurants, each having different types of sake at special tables.

Sakes made in Japan and the US, such as daiginjo, ginjo and junmai grades of premium sake will be available for tasting, providing a great opportunity for connoisseurs and novices to sample and learn about the variety of sakes.

Tickets are $35 and may be purchased at Yu-Ai Kai (588 N. Fourth Street, San Jose), participating merchants in Japantown or online at sakesanjose.com. All proceeds will benefit Yu-Ai Kai's programs.

Mixed Plate: Hukilau Goes Home, Radio Host Gets Nasty

Editor Kenji Taguma emailed us with a reader’s feedback that he or she missed our column. We apologize for our absence from these pages. Bruddah Kyle is going home in a few weeks and he’ll write the next column after that visit. Bruddah Keet pens this week’s “mixed plate” of news and opinion.

I know most readers of this column prefer the lighter material we cover – food, places of interest, local customs, pidgin – but I have to share some thoughts about a recent racist remark by a radio show host in Honolulu.

Larry Price, a former head coach of the University of Hawai‘i football team, and Michael W. Perry host the number one rated morning radio show in Hawai‘i on Clear Channel-owned KSSK. Perry and Price dominate the morning airwaves like Fox-affiliate KHON anchor Joe Moore rules the evening news.

On their May 4 show, Price debated Kauai state Sen. Gary Hooser on the accomplishments of the state legislature, which recently wrapped up its five-month long session. The interview was testy.

At one point, Price asks Hooser the color of his eyes and where he was from. Hooser said he was born in California, went to Radford (a public high school on O‘ahu), lives in Kapa‘a.

"You got blue eyes?" asked Price. Hooser said yes and laughed thinking that Price was joking. Hooser asked: “Does that matter?”

“Yes, to us it does,” responded Price. “Because when local people hear somebody from the mainland talk about how honest everything is, that means that something's wrong. You know when they say 'frankly' or 'Honestly, we did a lot of things,' you know, and stuff like that, that sounds suspicious.”

As a fourth-generation kama‘aina born and raised in Hawai‘i, I don’t know what the hell Larry Price meant by that. But it’s clear from looking at this through my racial lens that the radio host was telling the senator: “You’re haole (white) and not born here, so you have second-class opinions.”

Price’s comment was atrocious, especially since it was so thinly veiled. It exacerbated a long-running tension sometimes existing between Mainlanders and “locals” and between people of color and Caucasians. This racial dynamic is not unique to an island community, but for a state that prides itself on the “Aloha Spirit” we can do better on our airwaves.

So, the next time I’m back home, I will listen to anything else on the radio other than Perry & Price on KSSK. But I’ll definitely be visiting the new Hukilau in downtown Honolulu.

HUKILAU NUMBAH FOUR. The Hukilau is “going home” after three restaurants in the Bay Area. The new location, set to open on May 28 in the Executive Centre Hotel, will be called Hukilau Sports Bar & Grill.

One might think that it’s a little odd to open a Hukilau in Hawai‘i. What makes the Hukilau special in the Bay Area is the Hawaii oasis it creates. But the fourth incarnation will have a special focus on celebrating the accomplishments of Hawai‘i’s world-class athletes by featuring sports memorabilia and a sports theme.

The new Hukilau will also feature some impressive culinary credentials. Jason Takemura, formerly chef of Chai’s Island Bistro, will head the kitchen.

And as it does with its Bay Area venues, Hukilau’s new sports bar and grill will feature and promote live Hawaiian music with notable local entertainment performing at the new spot.

Chef Takemura was executive chef of Chai’s Island Bistro from July 2003 through the end of 2006. He was previously in the kitchens of several California restaurants, including Roy’s, San Luis Obispo’s Seven Hands on Higuera, Monterey’s Montrio Bistro and Pebble Beach’s Inn at Spanish Bay.

In its efforts to promote the aloha spirit, Hukilau has for the past five years hosted an annual poke festival and spam musubi eating contest at its San Francisco location. They will continue that tradition by sponsoring a poke contest in the Honolulu restaurant in which the winners from the Bay Area contest will challenge local contestants.

PAU HANA WITH (H)API HOUR. Bruddah Keet is throwing a (H)API Hour in support of the Chinese Progressive Association on Friday, May 18, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Hukilau on Masonic and Geary. $10 suggested donations will to support CPA’s efforts to educate and organize the low income and working class immigrant Chinese community in San Francisco to build collective power with other oppressed communities by demanding better living and working conditions and justice for all people. Visit hapihour.org for more information and to RSVP.

Keith Kamisugi and Kyle Tatsumoto are da Two Japanee Bruddahs. Read past articles on www.TwoJapaneeBruddahs.com.