I dreamt last night that all the writers and editors at the Star-Advertiser were in meetings, sick or on vacation, and I had to write and edit the whole paper today!
I decided to create a Newspaper in a Nutshell, covering the many sections of the paper in my Rearview Mirror column — news, sports, features, religion, book reviews and even comics.
Like most of my dreams, it’s totally unrealistic. But it does tie together the following unrelated stories. I wasn’t sure what the headline of this mini-Star-Advertiser would be. Put your suggestion in the online comments, or email them to me.
International news
In my dream, I started with world news. I’m always looking for ways that islanders have made an impact beyond our shores. One that comes to mind is the local effort in 1948 to help Okinawa recover from World War II.
The main island of Okinawa is somewhat smaller than Oahu in square miles (466 vs. 597 for Oahu). It is about 1,300 miles south of Tokyo.
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The Battle of Okinawa lasted 82 days, from April 1 to June 22, 1945. Okinawa’s farms and livestock operations were decimated by the battle. The number of pigs dropped from more than 100,000 before the battle to less than 800 after.
A group of Okinawans in Hawaii raised $47,000 to purchase and ship 536 pigs to the island. They arrived on Sept. 27, 1948, after a treacherous 28-day journey.
We also sent dozens of goats and 151 tons of clothing, medicine and other relief supplies. It helped solve Okinawa’s food shortages and contributed to a post-war recovery.
A monument in Okinawa honors the “men and women of Hawaii who, with love for their ancestral homeland and courage in their hearts, undertook such a monumental task and whose efforts yielded such incredible results.
“It was constructed in the hopes that this magnificent story, which shows the bonds between the people of Okinawa and their Uchinanchu brothers and sisters in Hawaii, will continue to be passed down across generations.”
Local business
Next, let’s look at a company funded in Hanapepe, Kauai. On the side of its buses, Robert’s Hawaii has a logo of a rabbit running, wearing a lei. On the back, it’s waving. Why is it running and waving?
The story began in Tijuana, Mexico, where company president Robert Iwamoto went to a dog race. The greyhound dogs chased a mechanical rabbit and never caught it.
Iwamoto had an idea: Greyhound was his main competitor. It had a running greyhound dog logo on the side of its buses. He decided to put a rabbit on the side of his buses.
When Greyhound left Hawaii, Robert’s put a rabbit on the back of its buses, waving aloha to the greyhound dog.
Sports
Kansei Matsuzawa is setting records at the University of Hawaii. Nicknamed the “Tokyo Toe,” the self-taught kicker from Japan is helping Hawaii post a 5-2 record so far this year. He learned how to kick from watching YouTube videos, he said.
The senior has had a perfect 38 field goals and extra points combined in 38 attempts so far this year. He leads the nation in made field goals, points scored and conversions from 40-plus yards.
Hawaii has had many great kickers: Jason Elam, Reggie Ho, Roy Gerela, Peter Kim, Dick Kenney, Bill “The Knee” Pacheco, and Henry “Honolulu” Hughes — the barefoot kicker at Oregon State — to name a few.
Why is it that so many great quarterbacks and kickers are associated with Hawaii?
Religion
Only one church in the world (as far as I know) has a stained-glass window with Jesus riding a surfboard. Which church is it?
St. Andrew’s Cathedral had to replace a 50-foot-tall termite-damaged wall. They contracted John Wallis, the top stained-glass designer in the U.S. and asked him to show biblical and Hawaiian scenes.
“Is that Jesus on a surfboard?” one parishioner asked him when the wall was unveiled. Wallis only smiled.
Entertainment
The Hawaii International Film Festival began Wednesday. One film focuses on the first Asian American to be awarded a Grammy. Larry Ramos was born on Kauai. Arthur Godfrey spotted him as a 9-year-old ukulele player and put him on his New York TV show.
Former KITV newsman Rick Quan has turned his story into a documentary. Ramos was part of the New Christie Minstrels and later the Association. He sang lead on “Windy” and “Never My Love.”
“Along Comes Larry – The Larry Ramos Story” will screen at 6 p.m. Oct. 21 and 3:30 p.m. Oct. 22 at Kahala Consolidated Theater. On Kauai, it screens at 6 p.m. Nov. 2.
Visit HIFF.org for tickets and more information.
Features
Henry Kaiser painted his cars and trucks pink. Tripler Hospital is painted pink, as is the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Is pink our state color?
These three pinks are slightly different. Kaiser’s son Edgar introduced the family to what is regularly called “Kaiser pink.”
“He gave us a pink boat and we liked it so much we adopted the color,” Alyce Kaiser told the Salt Lake Tribune in 1966.
Kaiser pink was a coral-purple color. Kaiser had pink speedboats, catamarans, outrigger canoes, jeeps, bulldozers, cranes, dredges and cement trucks. He wore pink clothing. Kaiser developed Hawaii Kai and wanted to have all the mailboxes be pink. The Postal Service said no.
Hospitals are normally painted white, so why is Tripler Army Hospital pink?
The chief architect and chief engineer worried that dirt from Moanalua Ridge above the hospital would blow onto and discolor it. They chose rose-coral pink to hide Hawaii’s red dirt.
Where did the Royal Hawaiian Hotel get its pink color? Kinau Wilder said her parents, Kimo and Sarah, lived in Lisbon, Portugal, in the 1920s. When they returned to their Waikiki home (on Kalia Road, about where the Sheraton Waikiki swimming pool is today), they painted it salmon pink with blue-green shutters. They had seen and liked that color combination in Lisbon.
Billy Roth had married William Matson’s daughter, Lurline. One of his jobs was building the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Kimo and Sarah Wilder were friends of his.
He told them he liked their house colors and asked if he could paint his hotel the same way. They said yes, and the Pink Palace of the Pacific opened its doors in 1927.
Book reviews
Stephany Sofos has a second book out. “When the Sharks Come, Will You Be Ready?” The fictional work explores the special relationship between some in Hawaii whose aumakua — a guardian ancestral spirit — is a shark.
The story is about a middle-aged Hawaii woman who decides to train and enter a grueling, five-day interisland canoe paddling challenge.
As she embarks on the arduous journey, another unseen threat emerges — someone who wishes to see her fail, perhaps even perish. Focused and guided by the wisdom of her adoptive Hawaiian aunt, who teaches her the art of the spirits and resilience of faith, she moves forward.
Can she survive the physical challenges and the shadowy forces working against her? In her darkest moments, will help arrive from unexpected places, illuminating her path?
Stephany Sofos’ book is a story of transformation, of a person daring to face the odds, the ocean and the darkness following her, to emerge anew. The very enjoyable book is available on Amazon.com.
Comics
In 1959, the top comic strip in the United States was Dick Tracy. Chester Gould, the creator of the strip, came to Hawaii that year on vacation. He met with Bob Krauss and Honolulu Police Chief Dan Liu and decided to come up with a caper involving Hawaii.
The series with Hawaii began in February 1960. Dick Tracy had to catch a criminal from Hawaii. A carved wooden tiki had been found. Tracy called on Chief Dan Liu, who consulted John Papa ‘I‘i’s “Fragments of Hawaiian History” book.
That’s the Newspaper in a Nutshell. I hope you enjoyed it.
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Bob Sigall is the author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books. Contact him at Sigall@Yahoo.com or sign up for his free email newsletter at RearviewMirrorInsider.com.
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