Prominent People | Page 11 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

May 26, 2025 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Decoration Day

“Custom, which is stronger than law, has made May 30th a national holiday. We trust it will ere long be made a legal day of rest. Since the close of the late civil war it has been held sacred to the memory of the sailors and soldiers who lost their lives in defense of the Union.”

“Business is almost entirely suspended and flags float from public and private buildings, while the boom of cannon at sunrise awaken the people of each city. Especially is the day observed in those towns and cities near which National Cemeteries are located.”

“At first, the day was one divided between sorrow and bitterness, and often the orators took advantage of the still bleeding wounds of those who lost friends to enforce sectional strife and advance their own interest …”

“… but the mellowing effect of time has robbed the observance of bitterness, so that now the same hand will lay flowers on the grave of friend and foe, recognizing them in death the brothers they were save for hot passion which marked the family quarrel, and we rejoice to realize as years pass on this custom is becoming a flower-wreathe d bond between the North and the South.”

The largest National Cemetery is at Arlington, about four miles from the Capital, on the Virginia side of the Potomac. The mansion house of this large estate was the home of George WP Custis, the adopted son of General Washington.”

“Mr. Custis lived on this princely domain until old age; and for a generation it was one of the most elegant and hospitable homes in the country. He bequeathed it to his only daughter, the wife of General Robert K Lee, Colonel in the U. S. Army.”

“At the breaking out of the late war, Colonel Lee went with the South, and if he had owned the estate it would have been confiscated; as it was the property of Mrs. Lee, reverting to her eldest son, it was sold for taxes …”

“(T)wo hundred acres immediately around the residence has been made a cemetery and here rest the bodies of sixteen’ thousand soldiers, gathered from the different Virginia battlefields and from the hospitals in and near Washington.”

“The graves are marked as far as is known with the name, State, company, etc. The West Cemetery is devoted to the white, the North to the colored troops. A large square granite monument is placed above the spot where lie over two thousand bodies. The single word ‘Unknown’ tells eloquently one of the saddest tales of war.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 20, 1878)

Decoration Day began on May 5, 1866, the village of Waterloo, New York was decorated with flags at half mast, draped with evergreens and mourning black, and flowers were placed on the graves of those killed in the Civil War. In the following years, the ceremonies were repeated.

Later, Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, declared that “Decoration Day” should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.

“The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land.” (General Order 11)

The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, DC.

By the end of the 19th century, Decoration Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout the nation. State legislatures passed proclamations designating the day, and the Army and Navy adopted regulations for proper observance at their facilities.

In Hawai‘i, Decoration Day was held for the first time in 1880. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June 5, 1880) In 1881, “We noticed that Consul McKinley very appropriately kept his flag at half-mast on Monday last, in recognition of the day in Honolulu.”

“As it is stated on official authority that 200 native Hawaiians took part in the great war which is about a large a proportion of men to the population of the country, as many loyal States furnished for the prosecution of the war it is perfectly appropriate and consistent that Hawaiians should be pleased with the recognition of the American Decoration Day in this island Kingdom.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June 4, 1881)

A recent (May 17, 2017) commemoration program through the Royal Order of Kamehameha I was held at O‘ahu Cemetery. In part, it recognized Nathaniel Emerson and JR Kealoha; each fought in the Civil War. A later ceremony was held at the Kealoha gravesite, the only known in Hawai‘i of a native Hawaiian veteran of the American Civil War.

In May 1966, Congress unanimously passed a resolution and President Lyndon B Johnson signed a Presidential Proclamation recognizing Waterloo as the Birthplace of Decoration Day / Memorial Day.

It was not until after World War I, however, that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars.

In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, though it is still often called Decoration Day. It was then also placed on the last Monday in May.

Memorial Day

Grand Army of the Republic Section of Oahu Cemetery

Nathaniel Emerson Gravesite – Oahu Cemetery

May 23, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Peter Cushman Jones

Peter Cushman Jones was born in Boston on December 10, 1837; his father was Peter Cushman Jones, a Boston merchant, and his mother, Jane (Baldwin) Jones.

Young Jones was sent to the Boston Latin School and to “Bakers” School, in preparation for Harvard, but the lure of business was too strong, and as a young man he went to work as an office boy (at a salary of $50 a year.)

Led by an adventurous instinct, he set sail for Hawaiʻi, landing in the Islands on October 2, 1857 on the ship ‘John Gilpin.’

On the day of his arrival, as he passed up Fort Street jingling his 16-cents in his pocket, Henry P Carter, a clerk in C Brewer & Co, remarked, “Another Boston young man come to town to seek his fortune. We had better give him $10,000 and send him home again.” (Story of Hawaiʻi)

Jones and Carter later became fast friends and close business associates for 20 years at Brewer. Interestingly, Jones worked his way to the presidency of C Brewer & Co.

In 1892, with his son, Edwin A Jones, he formed a partnership under the name of The Hawaiian Safe Deposit and Investment Co., which has since become the Hawaiian Trust Co.

It was in 1893 that Jones, a 60-year-old businessman, persuaded close friends Joseph Ballard Atherton and Charles Montague Cooke to join him in organizing a new bank in the Islands. Four years later on December 27, 1897, Bank of Hawaiʻi became the first chartered and incorporated bank to do business in the Republic of Hawaiʻi.

The charter was issued by James A King, Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Hawaiʻi, and signed by Sanford Ballard Dole, president of the Republic. Bank of Hawaiʻi operated its first office from a two-story wooden building in downtown Honolulu. (BOH)

But all was not business for Jones; strongly religious, he served for years as a member of various church boards, a deacon of Central Union Church, president of the Board of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association and director of the YMCA.

Jones gave money for the establishment of the Portuguese Mission, and built the Pālama Chapel, which later grew to become Pālama Settlement, where social welfare work of every nature is still carried on.

A call into political activities came early in his career.

“I never cared for politics although I have always felt it my duty since I became a voter, to cast my vote for those I believed to be the best men, and at all times during the reign of Kalākaua, I felt that it was safe to vote against his followers.” (Jones, LDS-org)

He was sent to Washington, DC, as the bearer of dispatches from the kingdom having to do with the final signing of the Reciprocity Treaty, which gave Hawaiʻi free trade with the United States.

On November 8, 1892, Queen Liliʻuokalani appointed him Minister of Finance. He was a member of the Wilcox-Jones cabinet until January 12, 1893.

(That cabinet resisted the distillery, lottery, and opium bills, and was dismissed on January 12, 1893 when a Noble of the Reform Party switched allegiance, allowing the Queen to dismiss the cabinet that was preventing her from passing those bills.)

Mr. Jones was an influential figure in the revolution and served on the executive and advisory council of the provisional government.

He helped take over the government building including the treasury and financial records. All four of the Queen’s cabinet ministers came to the government building and agreed to turn over the station house and barracks to the Provisional Government. (Morgan Report)

In testimony in the Morgan Report, Jones stated, “It took about ten minutes to read the proclamation of the Provisional Government, which was read from the steps of the government building facing the Palace. During that 10 minutes about 50-60 armed men supporting the revolution arrived. Within 30 minutes there were 150-200 armed men. The reading of the proclamation finished at 2:45 on January 17.”

When later questioned about these events, “Senator Frye asked. ‘You were at the Government building frequently. Did you ever see, during this revolution, any of the American soldiers marching on the streets?’ Mr. Jones. ‘No.’”

“The Chairman. ‘Did you, as a member of the new Government, expect to receive any assistance from them?’ Mr. Jones. ‘No.’ The Chairman. ‘Do you know whether or not your fellows were looking for any help?’ Mr. Jones. ‘I never knew that they were.’ Senator Frye. ‘As a matter of fact, did they give any assistance to the revolution at all?’ Mr. Jones. ‘No’.”

“The Chairman. ‘Let me ask you right there, is it your belief that that revolution would have occurred if the Boston had not arrived in the harbor?’ Mr. Jones. ‘I believe it would have gone on just the same if she had been away from the islands altogether.’” (Morgan Report)

Jones served briefly as Minister of Finance in the Provisional government. However, “The strain of office and my utter unfitness for the high position caused me to entirely break down, and that with the sudden death of my only son Edwin on July 10, 1898, made me unfit for business for several years, culminating in a severe sickness in November 1902, and it was not until 1906 that I felt like assuming any responsibility.” (Jones; LDS)

On February 26, 1902 Peter Cushman Jones, Ltd leased the vacant lot it owned at Merchant and Alakea Streets to Joseph William Podmore (a former English sailor who opened his own firm for insurance, shipping, commission and as agent for others, and, a real estate investor.) He built the Podmore Building.

Jones later acquired the building and donated it to the Hawaiian Board of Missions for use as a permanent home. It was later used by the Advertiser Publishing Co. Ltd who published the Honolulu Advertiser there until 1928.

Jones Street, near University and Oʻahu was named for Peter Cushman Jones. The name was changed when a prospective renter of a fine house on this street said: “I’ll not live in Honolulu on Jones Street!” The landlady got busy with a petition and had the name changed to Alaula Way (Way of the Dawn.) (Clark)

Peter Cushman Jones died in Honolulu on April 23, 1922 at the age of 84.

May 18, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

John Howard Midkiff Sr

John Howard Midkiff, son of James Jesse and Bertha (Wilson) Midkiff, was born January 16, 1893, in Stonington, Christian County, Illinois. His mother died when he was only 3-½ years old. His father was a Baptist preacher, who never made more than $62 a month and raised the 5 boys and 2 girls himself and sent every one through college.

In the summers between 7^th grade and high school, John worked on a farm in the corn belt on the mainland. They got up at 3:30 am to milk cows, feed pigs and harness horses; then worked in the fields from daylight to sunset; came back and fed the livestock again. (UH Ethnic Studies Oral History Project)

“I came out here [to Hawai‘i] during the Food Administration. I was at the First Officer’s Training School in the first World War. And I was taken out of there and sent over here. They had the Food Administration, really, it’s mostly food production. In case we should be shut off from the Mainland. On the island of Hawaii [in West Hawaii].” (Midkiff, UH Ethnic Studies Oral History Project)

Then, “John H Midkiff, former county food agent in West Hawaii, is now assistant professor of agriculture at the College of Hawaii [forerunner to University of Hawai‘i], devoting part of his time to instruction and lectures and hog raising, at a part of his time, also, to experimental and investigation work.” (HTH, May 21, 1919)

After that, “John H Midkiff now with Koloa Plantation, Kauai, was selected late yesterday afternoon by the trustees of Kamehameha Schools as principal of the Kamehameha School for Boys.”

“Midkiff is well known in the islands and his combination of thorough vocational training with experience in Hawaiian industries was a strong factor … in his selection for Kamehameha.” (SB, Aug 7, 1923)

John’s brother, Frank Elbert Midkiff, was president of Kamehameha Schools [1923 – 1934] and a trustee of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate [1939-1983]. (KSBE) “I was principal of the (Kamehameha) school [1923-1924] and I decided the school life simply wasn’t for me.”

“I just naturally preferred the agricultural work. Before that time, I had taught botany, genetics, agriculture at the University and I had been principal of the Kamehameha Boys’ School for one year. But my heart was always on the plantations.” (Midkiff, UH Ethnic Studies Oral History Project)

“And then, Mr. Frank Atherton who was a head of Castle and Cook at that time knew that I had been offered a job as Division Supervisor at Pioneer on Maui.”

“And he said, ‘Well, why don’t you go out and try our plantations on this island?’ I went to Ewa first and told them very frankly that I was shooting for the assistant manager’s job. If there was a chance to work up to that, fine. Otherwise I didn’t want to go there. And he simply laughed at me. He said, ‘You better go someplace else.’”

“So, then, I went over to Waialua. Buck Thompson was the manager. I frankly told him the same thing. He said well, if I proved that I could handle it, someday I might get it. It took me eight years to get it”. (Midkiff, UH Ethnic Studies Oral History Project)

“[A]ny plantation work I’ve ever seen in Hawaii is a picnic and always was, compared to the farm days back in Illinois. We had short seasons and we had to work every daylight hour.”

“We got up long before daylight, did all our chores around the farm, had breakfast, and then went to the fields. Took our lunch with us and stayed there till dark”. (Midkiff, UH Ethnic Studies Oral History Project)

“[I]n the plantations of course, we had a number of different communities. They pretty well segregated according to their racial background. Japanese lived in certain village, Chinese in others, and the Portuguese’d live mostly in one place although they were scattered all over, too.”

“We had what was known as the haole camp. That was the supervisors mostly, too. They were a little better class of houses. Well, considerably better class of houses than the ordinary workmen had.”

“At the time I first went to Waialua, very few of the workers’ houses had any running water or toilets in them. … before I left, I saw that every one of them did have.” (Midkiff, UH Ethnic Studies Oral History Project)

“One of the first regulations I sent out to the supervisors when I was appointed manager was that there was to be absolutely no abuse of any kind of any laborer. No verbal or other abuse. They certainly should never touch em.”

“And first, a good many of them’d said, ‘Well, how are you gonna run a gang, if you can’t cuss em out?’ I said, ‘Well, lead them.’ We had really good labor relations. We paid 10 cents an hour more than any plantation in Hawaii. And had the lowest labor cost in Hawaii. Cause we could get good men who were willing to work.”

“During the War, to encourage turnout, because the government wanted all the sugar it could get and we lost many of our men to the services, I gave a $25 bond every month to a person who had a perfect turnout or within one day of it. Well, no other plantation did that.”

“But then when they finally got union contract, that was frozen into my contract. Not the bond, but the 10 cents an hour extra. Which suited me fine because I could always get almost anybody I wanted.”

“We were not unionized until after every other plantation had been. Maybe I was wrong, but I thought I could have kept them out as long as I was manager if I wanted to.”

“But then I knew everybody’d be concentrating on us all the time, the whole ILWU would be. So finally I decided, oh heck, better let them get in so I can see what they’re doing and work things out.” (Midkiff, UH Ethnic Studies Oral History Project)

“Under his management, Waialua was among the first plantations to introduce training programs, improved community facilities and a funded pension plan. He emphasized the importance of the work done by his employees and the contributions they made to the company’s success.”

“His work in the fields brought him close to the men in the sugar industry and helped him understand their problems. When the opportunity came, he used his position to help to make life better for his employees.”

“Few men hold as distinguished a place in Hawaii’s industrial and community life because few men possess John Midkiff’s understanding that good human relations are essential to any success.” (SB, Jan 5, 1951)

“My brother Frank and I started the Waialua Community Association. It was his idea. I got the plantation to donate land, the building and that was the start of that movement all over Hawaii. There are many of them now where you could get together. Everyone in the whole community, plantation or non-plantation, was invited and included in.”

“In fact, I always refused to take any office in it, or to be on any board of directors in it because I thought it or to be too overpowering for the plantation manager. If he said something when you’re furnishing the payroll for a big part of the community, people might be inclined to give it too much weight. So I never was.” (Midkiff, UH Ethnic Studies Oral History Project)

“The broad aim of this Waialua association is the desire to improve the social and economic life of the people of Waialua and the feeling that with cooperative effort … rural life can be made as attractive as urban life. … The district is agricultural, characteristic of the territory at large; it has adequate soils and water; and it has an industrious and ambitious population.”

“Through the cooperation of all Waialua people, the Waialua district may become a model for Hawaii and an example for other sections of the United States as well – in showing what a rural community can do in the way of social and economic betterment when it sets about to do it.” (SB, Feb 15, 1935)

“John was very concerned to keep competent employees on the plantation. So [he and his brother] organized the first rural community association in Hawai’i at Waialua and then the second one along the Windward O‘ahu Coast, (Ko‘olau Poko, Ko‘olau Loa).” (Robert Midkiff Oral History)

John H Midkiff Sr began working for the Waialua Agricultural Co. in 1924 as a supervisor. He was manager from 1932 to 1951 and retired because of bad health. He died on May 28, 1984 (at the age of 91).

May 16, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawaii and Arkansas

“While we dearly love this country, we realize that it does have many faults; that there are many existing conditions that must be improved; one of these deplorable conditions being racial prejudice.”

“One of the chief advantages of a true democratic state is that each one of us as its citizens can play a part in bringing about changes for the better.” (Betty Kagawa, Valedictory Address, Denson High School; UH Center for Oral History)

Most Japanese immigration occurred between 1885 and 1924. Relocation centers for Japanese Americans known as Issei (first-generation Japanese in America), Nisei (second generation Japanese in America) and Sansei (third-generation Japanese in America) were the result of a culmination of panic in the aftermath of the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor. (Arkansas Heritage)

In March 1942, Executive Order 9102 called for the establishment of the War Relocation Authority (WRA). Supervision of the camps and direction of construction and maintenance and provision of security by the Military Police guard would be under the jurisdiction of the WRA. (Arkansas Heritage)

“We were all concentrated, densely concentrated, solely based on race,” George Takei, a former resident of the Rohwer Japanese American Relocation Center said. “We happened to look like the people that bombed Pearl Harbor, and put in prison camps simply because of our race.” (Rohwer Japanese American Relocation Center)

“I was born sixteen years ago in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. I am the eldest of a family of five children. This is the first time in my life that I have been away from the islands. . . . Before I came here I was attending Roosevelt High School.”

“I had a pet dog whose name was Duke. . . . Before we came here I had to give him up because we weren’t allowed to bring any pets here. Due to the war, we were evacuated here and I hope that we will be able to return to the islands when war is over.” (Betty Kagawa; UH Center for Oral History)

Though they were officially known as relocation centers, these areas were more commonly referred to as concentration, internment, or incarceration camps. With watch towers, barbed wire, and armed guards, it isn’t difficult to see why these unofficial titles seem more fitting than “relocation center.” (Rohwer Japanese American Relocation Center)

Arkansas was chosen by the War Relocation Authority as one of the states that would be home to these internees. Arkansas was chosen because of its position deep in the interior far from the West Coast.

There were also nine abandoned Civilian Conservation Corps camps in the state that could potentially be utilized. Two camps were established in 1942; Rohwer in Desha County and Jerome in Chicot and Drew counties. (Arkansas Heritage)

Construction of the relocation center at Jerome began in late July 1942, and the first group of evacuees arrived October 6, 1942. The camp was also known as Denson as that was the name of the post office. (Arkansas Heritage)

Jerome was the last of the centers to be completed so by the time internees began arriving from assembly centers in Stockton, Fresno and Santa Anita, California, they had already been in custody for at least four months. It took four days to reach Arkansas from those assembly centers, traveling on trains with blackened or shaded windows and armed guards. (Arkansas Heritage)

Located in southeastern Arkansas, Jerome had the distinction of receiving over eight hundred inmates directly from Hawai‘i, the largest contingent sent to any WRA camp. (Densho)

School personnel were among the first to arrive at Jerome, first setting up shop in an office in Little Rock on August 18, 1942. The education program at Jerome was similar to other WRA camps with regard to scope, offering K–12, preschool, and adult/night school programs. But due to the camp’s late start and early closing, there were only two school years.

As at other WRA camps, the teachers at Jerome were typically white teachers hired from the outside. About three-quarters of the white teachers were from Arkansas, as were both school principals.

The white teacher staff was augmented with inmate ‘assistant teachers,’ all of whom had some college training, but most of whom lacked experience. (Densho) “Later on we found out the school really was one of the very good ones. So, apparently we had good teachers.” (Edith Kashiwabara Mikami, UH Center for Oral History)

Enrollment peaked in the summer of 1943, just prior to segregation, which was also the end of the first school year. At that point, the elementary school had 936 students, the junior high school 571, the senior high school 688, the kindergarten 145, and the nursery school 249. Night school attendance peaked at 1,895 as of May 1, 1943. (Densho)

One of the most common struggles for Japanese internees was finding ways to earn money. Many internees continued to make payments on businesses and properties that had been left behind, and every family needed to buy basic necessities such as shoes and clothing.

Internees who had previously worked jobs such as electricians, teachers, mechanics, and butchers were able to continue working in these positions within the camp, though their wages were significantly reduced. Others had to pick up new trades, including laboring in the fields to grow food for the barracks’ kitchens.

The harsh communal lifestyle had a negative impact on the traditional Japanese family structure, compromising parental authority and damaging the ties between family members.

Even though many were constantly struggling to make a living in this new reality they had been forced into, the internees left a positive mark on the local community.

They showed the locals new methods of crop irrigation, impressed teachers with their hard-work in the classroom, and created distinctive art pieces that reflected their Japanese heritage. (Rohwer Japanese American Relocation Center)

While the camp’s security had initially been quite intense, it gradually began to lessen until only one officer and 13 guards remained in 1944. This trend of decreased security continued and in January of 1945 the closure of all the relocation camps was announced.

The internee evacuation began during the summer of 1945 and on November 30, the Rohwer Japanese American Relocation Center was officially closed by the War Relocation Authority. (Rohwer Japanese American Relocation Center)

A unique aspect of Jerome and Rohwer was the connection to Nisei soldiers training at Camps Robinson and Shelby. The 100th Infantry Battalion , made up of Nisei soldier from Hawai‘i, and later, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team , trained at the latter, which was about 250 miles southeast of Jerome.

In response to requests by the soldiers to visit the camp, a group of inmates, led by Mary Nakahara (later known as Yuri Kochiyama ), Mary Tsukamoto , and Amy Murayama started a USO. The USO formally opened on June 21, 1943.

From July 1943 until March 1944, busloads of soldiers would arrive every weekend for a Saturday night dance, and Sunday ochazuke (tea poured over a bowl of cooked rice) party.

In addition to the organized groups, individual soldiers dropped in from the two nearby camps as well as from eleven other army camps. By April of 1944, the peak of activity, some 400 to 600 visitors a week were coming to the USO. (Densho)

“They want to come to see Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i people, so every week until they shipped out they came,” Masamizu Kitajima recalled. “And they would always bring presents for the kids and for us kids and stuff like that.” (Densho)

“I’m proud of (the nisei soldiers’) attitude, their loyalty. Especially, their parents are behind barbed wire, but gee, they fought for their country. I can’t believe they would fight for their country (in spite of the unjust treatment by their own government).”

“The 442nd [Regimental Combat Team] and all that. I feel (strongly) that we must teach the next generation and (preserve) this important part of history. Don’t forget this is what happened.” (Shirley Ozu Iwatani, UH Center for Oral History)

May 14, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Arthur Akinaka

Arthur Akinaka was born in 1909 in Kapalama, Oahu. His mother, Haru Yokomizo, and father, Rinichi Akinaka “were next-door neighbors in a sparsely settled farming area. Before they could leave Japan to better their economic circumstances, their parents felt (it) best that they should get married.”

“My parents came here newly married in 1906 from the back farming area of Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. They boarded (the steamer,) America-Maru, from Kobe”.

“Upon arrival they were met by my (uncle’s business) partner at the wharf. They were encouraged by my uncle, who was operating a soda (water bottling) works with his partner, not to struggle at some sugar plantation, but to try to get started in Palama.”

“So, knowing only one occupation, my mother, then age sixteen, my father, age nineteen, started a small tofu factory (in the hopes of making) a living. Of course, the work was very hard.”

“My sixteen-year-old mother had to get up two o’clock in the morning. And then, after the tofu, aburage [deep fried tofu], and konnyaku [a type of jelly made from the konjac] were made, (my father) would carry (them in) cans around Palama.”

“It was (only) a few months (later) that Judge (William) Rawlins, who owned that building at the intersection of Beretania and King Streets, saw my father (passing by daily) and asked (him) whether he would want to – together with my mother – move over to the premises of Mr. Harry Roberts, who was looking for a replacement (for) his (yard keeper), who was retiring to Japan.”

“And so, that’s how my parents moved (here) to (the corner of Houghtailing and School Streets,) where I was born.” (Akinaka, UH Ethnic Studies Oral History Project)

Arthur grew up on Mr. Roberts’ two-acre estate, “It was a two-acre site, (where) Mr. Roberts, (after) his retirement from the Honolulu Advertiser (as) a commercial artist due to failing eyesight, (had) very thoroughly interested himself in horticulture. My earliest recollections (are of) this two-acre site.”

“This area has always been known as the makai portion of Kapalama. Kapalama extended from the mountain to the sea. The Kamehameha Schools (are located in the mauka portion of Kapalama).” (Akinaka, UH Ethnic Studies Oral History Project)

“As I remember it, both School Street and Houghtailing Road were dirt roads. School Street extended (Ewa only) as far as Kalihi Street, and Kalihi Street went up into Kalihi Valley. In the Waikiki direction – this was before McInerny Tract was subdivided – there (were) a (few) scattered houses.”

“I’m thankful to have been born in this point in time (and not during previous times). When (I was) a youngster, my mother had to prepare food on wood stoves and (I) had to chop (kiawe) firewood (and thence there was) the gradual changeover to kerosene stove and kerosene lamps.”

“When I was born and for many years, we had no electricity, no drinking water. But with McInerny Tract (being opened up), water (mains) came in, sewers came in, electric system came in.”

“It (was) quite interesting to meet up with schoolchildren from near the school site, mostly from mauka of School (Street), as well as down on Vineyard, Kukui Street, all the way toward King Street. They were far more urbanized than I was.”

“In fact, I was looked on as more of a country boy and was finding it difficult to make too many new friends. Of course, there were always boys that are friendly to you, but by and large, I minded myself and studied, which was what my parents and also Mr. Roberts emphasized.”

“[I]n 1917, Queen Lili’uokalani passed away. Of course, that would have made me eight years old. I walked all the way to Nuuanu Street to witness the funeral procession that laid the Queen to rest up Nuuanu Mausoleum.”

Akinaka attended Japanese “language school [that] was on Nuuanu Street, halfway between School and Vineyard [Streets] on premises which now have been taken over by Foster Gardens. It was known as Japanese Central Institute and was started by those (first-generation Japanese) who were Christians.”

“However, when Palama Gakuen was built, in my sixth year of language school, I moved to that school (since it was nearer to home). From there, I continued at Hongwanji [Japanese-language (high) school] on Fort Street. So, I have had ten years of Japanese schooling to a degree where I began to (understand) Japanese culture.”

“[M]y mother had jogakko or middle school education. My father, being the only child and having to leave school after only four years of grammar school education (to tend the family farm,) felt very strongly about all his children at least getting as good education as he could afford. So, there was no question that we (should) continue (on to) college (if we could).”

“When I entered University [ of Hawai‘i], I thought I should try to take up premedicine. But I came to the (early) conclusion that our family finances would not permit (my) being financed through a Mainland medical school, (and) so I shifted to something (in) which I could graduate in (four years) and make a living.”

“So, from one year of pre-medical courses such as chemistry, zoology and botany, I shifted over to whatever engineering subjects they would allow me to take. It was a constant [effort] trying to catch up.”

“I’m very grateful with the teachers (and principals) that I had all through grammar school, high school and university, and how they helped me appreciate the value of a good education and being a good citizen.”

“I graduated in 1930 after the disastrous 1929 stock crash and work was hard to come by. I had always wanted to go into building construction because in that field there were, perhaps, better opportunities. Engineering (was) not (then) open to too many Orientals.”

“But then, the (contracting) firm I (started with) had a very minimum salary [and] was not able to even pay that salary. So it was fortunate that I had, at the University, taken up advanced (ROTC) [Reserve Officers’ Training Corps] training (and) upon graduation had (received) a (reserve) commission in the Army.”

“The Corps of Engineers here needed (an additional) young man (for) their staff. The major in charge of the local office took a liking (to me) and hired me. So, I worked for five years (with the) Corps of Engineers on harbor work. But then, come the year ’35, (and) with increasing war consciousness, it was (thought) better that I stay back instead of being assigned to the (more sensitive) Pacific islands. (I was transferred) laterally to Hickam Field (where a military airfield was to be built).”

“But after eight years (with the) Federal civil service I shifted over (in 1938) to the first Territorial Planning Board. … There was (then) a national trend (in long-range planning) among the forty-eight states; all of them had state planning boards.”

“At that time (for the territory,) it was desirable to make an inventory of the resources – (geographic), social, economic, and industrial. So, using (Mainland state reports) as a pattern, the Territory of Hawaii made its own report. One of the important things about statewide planning is (that) unless it is implemented subsequently with (projects and funding) it (soon is) forgotten and filed away on shelves.”

“The Territorial Planning Board was a creature of the Legislature. The Legislature, realizing that war (was) imminent, decided there was not the need to put (further) human resources to further planning. So, that office was closed in June 1941.”

“And rather than try to, in a frustrating manner, make a go in the government service with a career, I was advised, being still young, to try my luck out on my own. That’s how I started out.”

“I, having a reserve commission, approaching earning a captaincy, volunteered to (join) the military right (after) the Pearl Harbor (attack). But since my father and my younger brother (were) in Japan, (I was) not (a) welcome volunteer.”

Following the attack on Pearly Harbor, “the first year, we, together with couple other construction firms, produced these sixteen-men pre-fabricated (military) housing units. (Our company) must have produced a thousand of (them), which were fabricated in that block, (then a large empty lot), just makai of Blaisdell Center.”

“Army units would come, with their trucks, and haul (them away) and assemble (them) wherever they were assigned. And then, with that first year program over, came construction of warehouses, office additions, (a) cold storage building, hospital additions, all of which kept me busy. As I take inter-island plane trips and fly over [the island], I notice next to the airport, still standing and in use, many of the warehouses that (we) had built.”

Following the wars, “I ran for the Senate [in 1948]. There were six of us, and I didn’t qualify with the first three, but I didn’t come

in last. It [the campaign] was a last-minute assignment. It was not something which I had preplanned and programmed.”

“But as a result of that, I guess I won the respect of Mayor [John H.] Wilson. He invited me to succeed a department head who had reached compulsory retirement age. [But] at that time [because the position was] only a two-year appointment, requiring me to give up my business because it was too related, I had to thank the mayor and refuse it.”

“My business was something I had built up over a period of close to ten years. But when I went to see the mayor after, he told me to think it over. He (said), ‘Arthur, you are privileged to be an American citizen, and with it, you have had the benefit of public education and protection in police, health, and so on’”

“He would think, (that) when (one were) asked – and not many people get asked – there should be but one answer. And my answer to him was, irrespective of the way I felt, ‘Yes, sir.’” (From 1951 to 1955, Akinaka served two terms as a building department head.) Following that, he remained in private practice for the rest of his career.

In his long engineering career, Arthur was recognized for not only his professional endeavors, but his contributions to the community. He dedicated his time and energy to various organizations including the UH Alumni Association, Kamehameha Lions Club, Kalihi-Palama Community Council, Kalihi YMCA, Advisory Group for the Prison Correctional Industries, and Board of Trustees for Kuakini Medical Center, to name a few. (Akinaka & Associates)

In 1966, the firm was incorporated and since 1984 led by his son, Robert Y. Akinaka. Today, the company is a locally owned firm headed by Ken C. Kawahara. (Akinaka & Associates)