Stronger Than a Tsunami
Presented at the Hakalau Jodo Mission by Heather Fryer, Ph.D. on March 15, 2020
Every day in Hilo, Hawaii tourists and local people stop at the King Kamehameha statue, picnic in Wailoa State Park, and play soccer on the grass below the County office building. Only a few may know that between 1913 and 1946, this green space between Hilo Iron Works and Bishop Street was Shinmachi, a thriving neighborhood of pioneering small business owners who left plantation labor behind and, against all odds, started such Big Island mainstays as Hawaii Planing Mill, Atebara Potato Chips, S. Tokunaga Sports, I. Kitagawa Motors, Hilo Transportation, and Hilo Macaroni Factory—makers of the original Saloon Pilot cracker.
The tsunami of April 1, 1946, swept Shinmachi off the map, but not from the memories of Hilo residents who grew up there. Through their stories, Stronger Than a Tsunami brings Shinmachi to life as a community working together to make economic self-sufficiency a reality for themselves and their children. Even in the face of racial discrimination, economic hardship, and the traumas of war and disaster, Shinmachi families’ commitment to stand strong and move forward together never faded. Stronger Than a Tsunami celebrates Shinmachi’s rich history of tradition, invention, struggle, play, worship, humor, and abundant wisdom for the present day.
Every day in Hilo, Hawaii tourists and local people stop at the King Kamehameha statue, picnic in Wailoa State Park, and play soccer on the grass below the County office building. Only a few may know that between 1913 and 1946, this green space between Hilo Iron Works and Bishop Street was Shinmachi, a thriving neighborhood of pioneering small business owners who left plantation labor behind and, against all odds, started such Big Island mainstays as Hawaii Planing Mill, Atebara Potato Chips, S. Tokunaga Sports, I. Kitagawa Motors, Hilo Transportation, and Hilo Macaroni Factory—makers of the original Saloon Pilot cracker.
The tsunami of April 1, 1946, swept Shinmachi off the map, but not from the memories of Hilo residents who grew up there. Through their stories, Stronger Than a Tsunami brings Shinmachi to life as a community working together to make economic self-sufficiency a reality for themselves and their children. Even in the face of racial discrimination, economic hardship, and the traumas of war and disaster, Shinmachi families’ commitment to stand strong and move forward together never faded. Stronger Than a Tsunami celebrates Shinmachi’s rich history of tradition, invention, struggle, play, worship, humor, and abundant wisdom for the present day.