By Yiming Fu, Report for America corps member
Maui held its first Okinawan festival in 5 years to great success Saturday, an event that many in Maui’s aging Okinawan community hope will get the youth interested and involved with their culture.
The festival included dynamic dragon dance, drumming and dance groups, as well as famous food like chao fun and pig’s feet soup. The Okinawan Genealogical Society of Hawaii was also there to help people trace their family roots. The event was hosted at the Maui Mall by Maui’s Okinawa Kenjin Kai or Okinawan cultural center.
There are 45,000 to 50,000 Okinawan people in Hawaii, or about 3% of the population. They came in as sugar and pineapple plantation farmers. The annual festival has been running for around 40 years. But it took a long hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic and was slow to come back since the community has a lot of elders.
Julie Higa is third-generation Okinawan. She said she volunteers for every Okinawan community event because it’s a community that is very close and always shows up for one another. She grew up on a Japanese plantation in Paia, Nashiwa Camp, and she was the only Okinawan family on her street. Her family got to know other Okinawan people from the church and the Kenjin Kai. She also has aunts and uncles in Okinawa.
Higa said Maui’s Okinawans began moving to Oahu starting in the 1950’s. She said the fourth and fifth generations are beginning to be more removed from their culture.
“Here it’s shrinking a lot,” Higa said. “I feel sad about that.”
Maui’s Okinawa Kenjin Kai hosted the first Okinawan festival in five years at the Maui Mall on Saturday. Photo by Yiming Fu 
The festival included performances, food and crafts vendors and interactive dance classes. Photo by Yiming Fu 
The annual festival is about 40 years old but went on hiatus during COVID-19 because many of the members are older. Photo by Yiming Fu 
Those interested in talking story and tracing their family histories could visit the Okinawa Genealogical Society of Hawaii’s pop-up. Photo by Yiming Fu 
The festival featured culture performances such as taiko drumming and dragon dance that rallied the crowd. Photo by Yiming Fu 
The festival also provided more information about the history of Okinawans on Maui and the pride in Okinawan identity. Photo by Yiming Fu 
As the island’s Okinawan community gets older, many hope the younger generation will be interested to continue preserving Okinawan culture on Maui. Photo by Yiming Fu 
Chinagu Eisa Hawaii, a dance and drum group from Oahu flew to Maui to be a headlining performer. Photo by Yiming Fu
Sonya Toma, the president of Maui’s Kenjin Kai said there are a couple hundred registered members, but many more people show up to the events.
“We’re like our own little club,” Toma said. “There’s people always ready to help. It’s multigenerational, from little kids, and we celebrate our elders every year. I love the sense of community.”
Jason Hondo is the festival chair. While the day started very stressful, he said it felt amazing seeing all the people show up, buy food and watch performances with a smile. Hondo said planning started about eight months prior, meeting monthly and then weekly. The Kenjin Kai had to reach back out to community partners from five years ago.
Hondo feels connected through Okinawan culture through his grandmother, and his parents were involved in the Kenjin Kai before him. Hondo thinks it’s important to know his culture and where he’s from. He also plays the sanshin, a traditional Okinawan instrument similar to a banjo with three strings. A powerful moment of cultural connection for Hondo was meeting grandmother’s family for the first time 20 years ago in Okinawa.
“They just took us in. They gave us gifts, they were so happy, lots of crying, knowing that we’re doing well. I also found out that many of my family are teachers in Okinawa.”
Hondo is a 5th grade teacher himself. And meeting his family, he felt like he understood why he is the person he is today.
Hondo hopes the festival helps creates a similar feeling to what he experienced going home.
“Any little connection, that’s what we’re hoping to create. Even if it’s just hearing a song they remember their grandma playing or their grandparents used to take them to these festivals. Or new connections, grandparents bringing their grandkids here, creating memories.”
Regardless of background, Hondo hopes the Okinawan Festival makes people curious about where they’re from and celebrate their culture more.
As Maui’s Okinawan community gets older, it’s harder to create big community events like the festival, Hondo said.
“It’s my hope that somehow we reach my generation and younger so we can keep our culture alive.”
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
We are supported through donations and such charitable organizations as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. All donations are tax deductible and can be made here.
Last day to get tickets for our fundraiser Up Close with Connie Chung, America’s first Asian American to anchor a nightly network newscast. The in-depth conversation with Connie will be held tonight, November 14 at 7:30 at Columbia University’s Milbank Chapel in the Teacher’s College. All proceeds benefit AsAmNews.