This issue celebrates anyone who has ever left Hawai‘i, repatriating and welcoming them home within the pages of this magazine.
Editor’s Letter: If you’ve ever spent an extended amount of time away from Hawai‘i, you’ll understand the burden of the many who have left, who long to return home—to the stillness of our islands, the beauty of our people, the comforts of our food—but who remain abroad for the sake of opportunity, economical, professional, or otherwise.
Jay Kinimaka Muse, a Kamehameha graduate who has lived in New York for more than eighteen years, commented on a recent visit to Honolulu: “I felt like a foreigner in Hawai‘i. Although I knew I belonged and I’m from there, I was hurt at the disconnect I had with the island.” In his trip back home, however, the bakery owner was “awakened by the aloha spirit” more than he had ever been before, prompting thoughts of a return, someday, back to the islands.
From those who live elsewhere to those who have traveled around the world—whether for a two-month culinary competition in the national spotlight or a fourteen-month sojourn of self-discovery—Hawai‘i inspires everything they do, the spirit of aloha emanating whether they are conscious of it or not. No matter where one goes in the world, people everywhere are fascinated with Hawai‘i. From Minnesota to Myanmar, faces alight in smiles after hearing one is from Hawai‘i; complete strangers gush about how much they love the place we are so lucky to call home despite their never having been there (maybe they saw a postcard depicting Waikīkī Beach or remember a scene from Blue Hawaii).
It’s undeniable: Hawai‘i is a special place. We will continue to advocate for preserving the Hawai‘i the world knows and loves while seeking to create an innovative Hawai‘i for the future, a Hawai‘i to come home to.
Enjoy,
Lisa Yamada
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Featured Stories:
The Last Statues of Kū
If there existed such a thing as a Nation of Hawai‘i, the Kū ki‘i (statues) that reside abroad would be amongst its national treasures. Their return may be inevitable.
On fourteen months of stories
Tina Grandinetti reflects on how much of the world is more alike than we think.
The Sweet Life
Meet Jay Kinimaka Muse, the owner of Lulu Cake Boutique. When Muse founded Lulu Cake Boutique in 2001, instead of competing with other wedding cake companies he created his own market: unconventional, organic, farm-to-table cakes.
Two Local Boys
Lanai and Grant Tabura shown at Manele Bay on the island of Lāna‘i, where Adam saved the life of a man who would make a culinary journey around the nation possible.