How this website grows:

This website grows as we learn more about the Hakalau Kuleana*. The timeline, in particular, grows as we scour old English and Japanese language newspapers.  Visits to the UH Manoa Hamilton Library produced a treasure trove of photos of buildings owned by the Hakalau Plantation, including the camp houses. Other organized sources include the Lyman Museum, the Hawaii Plantation Museum and the Edmund Olson Trust Archive. 

The most heartwarming sources are people. Sometimes, individuals contact us through the website, sometimes they meet us and give us pictures or tell us stories, staff at museums and libraries assist us. We now have several "email pals" who regularly answer questions. Our gratitude extends to all of them, at this time including:
  • People who grew up in Hakalau
    • Clyde Chinen--Chin Chuck
    • Bobby Fujimori--Chin Chuck
    • Jay and Maureen Ishimoto--Maureen grew up in Hakalau Upper Camp
    • Kay and Antoku Kobashigawa--Wailea. Antoku, son of Toku Kobashigawa 
    • Lloyd Matsunami--Hakalau Upper Camp. Grandson of Masujiro Matsunami and son of Yasuo Matsunami, community leader who worked for the Hakalau Store and later purchased it from the Plantation
    • Calvin Motoda--Hakalau Lower Camp
    • Robert Nishimoto--Ninole resident. Son of Sakae and Yukio Nishimoto, proprietors of the Nishimoto Store
    • The family of Waichi Ouye--Hakalau Upper Camp, community leader, avid chronicler 
    • Ken Shimabukuro--Hakalau Upper Camp
    • Emi Uemura--Hakalau Upper Camp, source of many, many memories and photos
    • Harold Uyeno--Honohina 
    • Robert and Norma Yara--Chin Chuck
    • Arlene Yonemine--Chin Chuck
  • Descendants of those who grew up in Hakalau
    • Darrelyn Bates, granddaughter of Ralph Murray, bookkeeper at the Hakalau Plantation
    • Gordon Ferguson, grand nephew of Georgiana Ross, wife of Plantation Manager John M. Ross
    • Susan Fuller, great granddaughter of Mrs. Benjamin P. Macy, the last teacher at Hakalau School when it was located in Hakalau gulch
    • Kim Kohl, granddaughter of William Ross, clerk then manager of the Hakalau Store from 1902-1937
    • Rob Morita, whose father, Shigeyoshi Morita, grew up in Wailea Spanish Camp
    • Corrine Yabuta, descendant of the Nishiyama family of Wailea
    • Jaime Yugawa, great grandson of Tetsuo and Yae Yugawa, grandson of Takeshi and Hanako Yugawa, Hakalau Lower and Upper Camps
    • Kathy Zoellner, granddaughter of Willis C. Jennings, Hakalau Plantation Manager (1942-1948)
  • Ministers or descendants of ministers of the Hakalau Jodo Mission
  • Experts at Museums, Archives and Libraries
  • Current Residents
    • Yumiko Bamba translates Japanese language publications
    • Heather Fryer, Ph.D., periodic Wailea resident and professor of history at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Heather regularly supplies historical information about the Hakalau Kuleana. She is known by many for her extensive research on Shinmachi. 
    • Akiko Masuda shares many, many "tidbits" and pictures from the past that she finds in her files 
    • Billy Spiedel shares pictures, primarily related to George Ross and his brother, John M. Ross
  • Peace Corps Volunteers to Wailea-Hakalau 1966-67 provided pictures and stories.
    • Howard Koons
    • Paul VanDerWerf
  • Photographers, professional and casual, share their photos of current activities:
    • Barb Alford
    • Yumiko Bamba
    • Drean Barley
    • Kerry Browning
    • Tom Burton
    • Ray Farmer
    • Dave Gallagher
    • Michele Gamble
    • Julie Goettsch
    • Elizabeth Hansen
    • Ron Hubbard
    • Valerie Yong Ock Kim
    • Brad Kurokawa
    • Jan Nakamura
    • ​Valerie Poindexter
    • Deb Scrivens
    • Hansen Tsang
    • Garry Wykoff
​
​Your contributions of pictures and information are appreciated. Thank you!

​10/1/19
For the Hakalau Kuleana, our responsibility is to care for the land, the people, and the culture. We are guided by cultural values of YESTERDAY: Engage in collective effort. Look out for each other. Honor hard work. Show respect for those who came before us. Aloha and Mālama `Aina. In 2021, Akiko Masuda added two more values to the list: Consistently show up. Whatever has to be done, jump in and do it!