Hawai‘i has long been a crossroads of the Pacific— somewhere with a deeply rooted sense of place yet ever connected to the wider world. In the pages ahead, you’ll find stories anchored in an understanding that what we think, dream, and create is informed by the context in which we live.
We begin by recounting the journey of artist Tadashi Sato, whose luminous abstractions speak the language of modernism, interpreted through the soft hues and natural beauty of his island home. It was recently discovered that he was employed at Halekulani in the late 1940s, a connection that endures today in his many commissions throughout our hotel.
In honor of our ongoing partnership with the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra, we bring you a profile on maestro Dane Lam, whose global sensibility is shaping the orchestra’s latest chapter as it heads into the Halekulani Masterworks 2025–2026 season.
We glimpse elements of South Asian and Islamic art and architecture in the designs of jeweler Jason Dow, then we step inside artist Taiji Terasaki’s studio as he merges technology, ecology, and Zen philosophy for an installation in Kyoto.
We gaze upward at skyscapes that early Hawaiians filled with myth and meaning, and we celebrate the longstanding connection between Hawai‘i and Okinawa in a photo essay that reminds us traditions can adapt and flourish in new soil.
Those of our guests who return each year for the Honolulu Marathon may take interest in our feature on O‘ahu’s largest running club, a community united by their connection to beloved running routes around the island.
Throughout this issue, we return to a central theme: that we’re always in dialogue with the world around us. We are proud to be on this shared journey with you and look forward to wherever the conversation may lead.
The historic Diamond Head Lighthouse is a beloved local landmark. 108
歴史あるダイヤモンドヘッド
灯台は、地元の人々に 愛されるランドマークだ。
ARTS 24
Quiet Depths of Abstraction
34
Meticulous Metals 44
On Crystal Wings
CULTURE 58
Signs in the Sky
74
The Maestro Behind the Music
84
Blooms from Beyond
WELLNESS 98
Reasons for Running EXPLORE 108
History Illuminated
ABOUT THE COVER:
In Hawaiian culture, the skies, stars, and clouds are a rich source of inspiration and insight.
ハワイ文化では、空や星、雲は豊かな インスピレーションと深い気付きをも たらす存在だ。
This ethereal capture of a surfer under a sky full of clouds was composed by photographer John Hook. In the editorial on page 58, learn some of the Hawaiian mo‘olelo (legends) woven into the clouds and constellations in the skies above.
Okinawan cherry blossoms have bloomed in central O‘ahu since the 1950s.
沖縄の桜は1950年代から オアフ島中部に根付き、 毎年花を咲かせている。
TABLE OF CONTENTS
目次
ARTS 24
抽象表現の静謐な深淵 34
精緻な金属 44 クリスタルの翼に乗って CULTURE
58
空が示すもの 74
音楽を紡ぐ名匠 84
遠い地からの花
Taiji Terasaki brings his experimental artwork to a Zen temple in Kyoto.
Subtitles command the respect of the audience it’s reaching out to.
Some photo captions or any other impertent text important to this specific story and some more additional tag lines if necessary for the writer and editor.
Waikīkī Mānoa At dolorem re atias expelia exceste mpossit quia natusaescia sequibus ab id quiam ipsam, qui omniae magnature et que cus veruptiorit et ex ex eiciis voluptatet, sitia dus parchit, il minum, accatem as int. Bor am est que repudae. Et quatumqui vella sed ut eumque non consenimpor aut volupta qui omnistr umquam, nate que vero
Living TV is designed to complement the understated elegance enjoyed by Halekulani guests, with programming focused on the art of living well. Featuring cinematic imagery and a luxurious look and feel, Living TV connects guests with the arts, style, and people of Hawai‘i. To watch all programs, tune into channel 2 or online at living.halekulani.com.
A recent exhibition at Halekulani examined the creative evolution of Tadashi Sato, whose abstract paintings are a cornerstone of the hotel’s fine art collection.
A new dawn of live entertainment rises in Cirque du Soleil ‘Auana— a Hawai‘i-inspired production featuring a cast of powerful acrobats, talented musicians and singers, and profound hula dancers. is unparalleled ensemble brings together international and local talents to shine a fresh light on the spirit of Hawai‘i. Only at the OUTRIGGER Waikīkī Beachcomber Hotel. A NEW SUN RISES IN HAWAI’I
CHRIS ROHRER
TEXT BY LINDSEY VANDAL
IMAGES BY CHRIS ROHRER
QUIET DEPTHS OF ABSTRACTION
抽象表現の静謐な深淵
文＝リンゼイ·ヴァンダル
写真＝クリス·ローラー
A detail of Lava Field (1987), from the Halekulani Fine Art Collection.
『ラバ フィールド（1987年）』
の細部。ハレクラニファイン アートコレクション蔵
TRANSLATION BY MUTSUMI MATSUNOBU
訳＝松延むつみ
Modernist master Tadashi Sato’s
oeuvre is a sublime tribute to the natural world and his island home.
自然界と故郷の島への崇高な賛辞を作品に昇華したモダニズムの巨匠、タダシ·サトウ。
Long before his art would adorn the walls of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Maui-born Tadashi Sato was one of a growing number of nisei, or second-generation Japanese Americans, coming of age in Hawai‘i in the 1930s. The cultural traditions upheld by Sato’s family, along with his daily routine of diving and fishing, and his fascination with the rural landscape of his home in Kaupakalua, East Maui, laid the groundwork for a lifelong pursuit of creative expression through pen and ink, oil, and mosaic. His father was a calligrapher; his grandfather
Nakalele (1996), from the Collection of Fred Y. Tanaka.
『ナカレレ（1996年）』
フレッド·Y·タナカ蔵
Opposite page, a detail of Stone Coral (1967), from the Roy and Denise Yamaguchi Collection.
Aquarius (1969), located at the Hawai‘i State Capitol.
ハワイ州議会議事堂の
practiced sumi-e, a monochromatic ink painting style rooted in Zen Buddhist themes of nature and intuition. Throughout Sato’s foray into Abstract Expressionism, such cultural undercurrents of minimalism and discipline would guide him in evoking the inner essence of his subjects.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II, Sato, then in his early 20s, served in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, an Army unit comprised of nisei volunteers. His knowledge of Japanese language and calligraphy enabled him to translate and duplicate Japanese maps. After the war, Sato turned to art, beginning formal studies at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, where he was mentored by Ralston Crawford, an influential visiting faculty member known for his work as a Precisionist abstract painter and lithographer. In 1948, he followed Crawford to the Brooklyn Museum Art School in New York City, landing squarely in the epicenter of the global art world’s burgeoning modernist movement. At The New School for Social Research in Greenwich Village, Sato found another vital creative mentor in Stuart Davis, a pioneering painter who bridged modernism and pop art.
Fascinated by the city’s urban backdrop, Sato began translating its streetscapes into abstract compositions such as his energetic Subway Series , which plays with dynamic shades of black, gray, and white. Making regular visits back to Maui, Sato frequently returned to organic themes that reflected his island upbringing. While many of his contemporaries favored aggressive brushstrokes and bold, high-contrast palettes, Sato’s gentle renderings of lava flows, tide pools, rocks, and seascapes in cool blue-greens and muted earth tones conveyed a sense of serenity. By 1958, Sato had secured his first solo show at the Willard Gallery in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
“There were many Western-style painters who were painting Hawai‘i themes, like volcanoes and bays, but Sato was doing it in a modern style,” says Maika Pollack, who curated the Tadashi Sato exhibition Atomic Abstraction in the 50th State , 1954–1963 , held at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in 2022. “Sato was seen by critics of the
This page, Untitled (1957), from the Janice and Mark Shimamura Collection.
Opposite page, Sea Anemone (1984), from the Halekulani Fine Art Collection.
この頁：『無題（1957年）』
ジャニス＆マーク·シマムラ
蔵。対抗頁：『シー アネモネ （1984年）』。ハレクラニ ファイン
1950s as being part of the conversation around avant-garde painting in New York, and he brought that level of dialogue and sophistication to Hawai‘i when he returned.”
In 1960, Sato left New York City’s mercurial art scene for a permanent residence in Maui, where he continued to refine his craft under the guidance of acclaimed artist and printmaker Isami Doi. As his East-meets-West style of abstraction grew more esoteric, Sato’s color palette became increasingly vibrant, incorporating vivid hues of blue, green, rose, and orange. He exhibited artwork alongside fellow Hawai‘i-born nisei abstractionists—Satoru Abe, Bumpei Akaji, Edmund Chung, Tetsuo Ochikubo, Jerry T. Okimoto, and James Park—who formed a collective known as the Metcalf Chateau. This cohort of postwar creatives was instrumental in advancing modernist art in the islands.
Untitled (1971), from the Collection of Ken and Robin Hiraki.
In his later years, Sato embraced public installations, making visual art more accessible to kama‘āina, or island residents. One of his most iconic works, Aquarius (1969), graces the floor of the Hawai‘i State Capitol’s open-air rotunda. For the piece, Sato arranged six million Italian glass tiles into a circular mosaic 36 feet in diameter, evoking sea rocks beneath a calm ocean. In 1991, he created another ceramic mosaic, Submerged Rocks and Water Reflections, for the Shinmachi Tsunami Memorial in Hilo, a mural that showcases an interplay of light, shadow, and sea in his signature soft-focus style.
Today, several Tadashi Sato originals are permanently housed at Halekulani, where he once worked part-time before enlisting in the Army. As a successful artist, he later contributed several commissioned pieces. “Tadashi Sato captures the islands’ natural beauty in magnificent abstracted forms, leaving much open to interpretation but clearly showing his love of Hawai‘i,” says Joyce Okano, curator for the Halekulani Gallery exhibit Reflections, which ran from January through June of 2025.
The retrospective showcased five decades of Sato’s artwork, on loan from private collectors in Honolulu, spanning Subway Station #4 (1954) to Spirit of Death Watching (2004). Okano deliberately positioned Spirit of Death Watching as the first piece viewers encountered, noting, “This work deeply exemplifies Sato’s gifts as an artist. Everyone who knew him speaks of his kindness, humility, and deeply positive outlook.”
Painted a year before Sato’s death at age 82, the image depicts the crown of a pink sun resting on the horizon, its yellow reflection floating beneath. Sato signed his name on both the top and bottom of the canvas, leaving the viewer to decide which way is up. “I found myself flipping the painting around, trying to imagine Sato’s perspective,” Okano reflects. “Does the sun set at death—or does death bring the rise of a new life?”
Exquisite pieces like this large deluxe mandala ring combine Eastern motifs and modern design.
この豪華なマンダラリングの ような精巧な作品は、東洋の モチーフと現代的なデザイン
を融合させている。
Tucked on the second floor of a building on Wai‘alae Avenue is a jewelry studio that feels equal parts fabrication workshop and science lab. The cozy, sunlit space is filled with machinery and tools, including nearly 20 pairs of pliers, a hand-built computer, a microscope, and a three-dimensional printer. For nearly 25 years, this is where jeweler Jason Dow has been crafting wearable art with a sensibility and precision rooted in his lifelong fascination with math and science.
Dow’s passion for making things began from an early age. Growing up in Denver, he would often lose track of time building toy models in the basement—a pastime that eventually led to his introduction to jewelry making through a metalworking class in high school.
Dow loved art and sculpture, but he was also intrigued by science and mathematics. Curious to explore both disciplines, he studied biology and studio art as an undergraduate at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He had been considering a career in dentistry when, right before graduation, he took a leap of faith and dropped out to pursue jewelry design. After gemology school in California, he moved back to Hawai‘i to join Maui Divers Jewelry for a few years, then branched out to create his own brand.
His style is influenced by the complex geometric motifs found in nature and throughout South Asian and Islamic art and architecture. Some of Dow’s earliest inspiration came from the hypnotizing tile mosaics, inlays, and light fixtures at the Shangri La
Jason Dow utilizes chemistry, physics, metallurgy, engineering, and mathematics in his fine jewelry collections.
ジェイソン・ダウ氏は、
自身の高級ジュエリーコレ クションにおいて、化学、
物理学、冶金学、工学、
数学を駆使している。
Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design. “I had that idea of paradise in my mind,” he recalled of a visit that inspired one of his first collections.
These motifs have continued to be an ongoing presence throughout Dow’s work. In his Lotus collection, gold mandalas abound, their intricate patterns dotted with diamonds and opalescent moonstones. The exquisite pendants from his Prakāśa collection—named after the Hindi word for light—hang from their chains like miniature lanterns, light glimmering through their laser-cut patterns and bouncing off their embedded diamonds, pearls, and moonstones.
Dow’s designs begin with a basic sketch, which he perfects using a computer-aided design program and prints on a three-dimensional printer. From there, he casts the jewelry by hand, setting the stones, engraving and polishing the designs, then welding the components with a laser. He refines the most intricate details with the aid of a microscope. “[The work is] time-consuming and laborious, but then it becomes meditative,” Dow says. “Just like most artists do, right? They get lost in what they’re doing.”
“It’s the learning process that is always the most rewarding.”
—Jason Dow, jewelry designer
Select pieces of Jason Dow Jewelry can be found at Halekulani’s Hildgund Jewelry store.
ジェイソン ダウ ジュエリー
は、ハレクラニのジュエリー ショップ「ヒルガンド」で一部 取り扱われている。
Currently, his passion is fueled by fine-detail engraving—carefully carving metal with a chisel for bright, sharp edges that can only be achieved by hand. Tilting the band of a silver timepiece he’s engraved with complex English scrollwork, light illuminates the spiraling florals that took him nearly 30 hours to produce. Soon he’ll be collaborating with local jeweler and kumu hula Sonny Ching on a collection of Hawaiian heirloom jewelry.
To keep the creative spark aflame, Dow has purposefully kept his jewelry business small. “Once things start becoming routine, you realize what you need to do to change,” Dow says. “It’s learning something new, trying something hard, screwing up. It’s the learning process that is always the most rewarding.”
Exploring themes of time, Zen, and the natural world, an experimental work by artist Taiji Terasaki takes flight.
時間、禅、自然界の探求——アーティスト、タイジ・テラサキ氏による実験的な作品が披露される。
On a quiet June morning in suburban Honolulu, Taiji Terasaki was busy working with crystals. The 66-year-old artist has since completed a series of paintings—along with sculptural works, customized shoji doors, and tea ceremony bowls—for an exhibition on view at the historic temple Ryosokuin in Kyoto in the fall of 2025. A central theme of the exhibition is the seasonal migration of the
Crystals are an ongoing source of fascination for artist Taiji Terasaki.
タイジ・テラサキ氏は
クリスタルに魅了され続け ている。
Asagimadara, a native Japanese butterfly that flies from Hokkaido, in northern Japan, to Vietnam each year. Terasaki’s show, titled Wings Over Crystalline Landscapes, juxtaposes the fragility and impermanence of these creatures with the slowforming crystals hidden just beneath the soil along their migratory route.
In Japan, the Asagimadara—also known as the chestnut tiger butterfly for its distinctive brown, black, and white markings—has relied on the nectar-rich blossoms of the Fujibakama, a critically endangered plant, for centuries. But as urbanization and climate change alter the butterfly’s migratory corridors, the Asagimadara in turn alters its course to follow the blooms of various milkweed plants and thistles that grow from Hokkaido to Vietnam.
Butterflies emerged as a theme in Terasaki’s work in 2023, after Toryo Ito, the vice abbot of Ryosoku-in, stayed with him in Honolulu. The two first met at an exhibition in Kyoto, where Terasaki and his wife, Naoko, own a home. The couple were frequent visitors to Ryosoku-in, and Ito soon invited Terasaki to exhibit there through the temple’s contemporary art program. A subtemple of Kenninji, Ryosoku-in is one of the oldest Zen temple complexes in the country’s former imperial capital. “There are all these different aspects of the temple and grounds that are very beautiful in a traditional way, and yet I will be able to do contemporary installations in the space,” he says.
On his 10-day visit, Ito and Terasaki walked in the forest in Maui’s lush ‘Īao Valley and sat in the river, discussing art and Zen. Ito explained that Japanese art, especially the work shown at Ryosokuin, must be tied to the seasons. He spoke of the kaleidoscope of Asagimadara butterflies that used to come through Kyoto. Later, as Terasaki began developing a fascination with crystals, the image of the butterfly’s migration presented a striking contrast. “Crystals take deep time—eons—to
develop,” Terasaki says. “The butterfly goes from one territory to the next throughout its short life, and then their offspring fly to the next point.”
Science loomed large in Terasaki’s family. His three siblings all went into medical science, following in the footsteps of their father, an immunology researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles. Terasaki, however, took after his artist mother and dove into art as a teen.
As a college student, he joined the progressive art program at UC Irvine, known for breeding experimental artists such as Chris Burden. (Burden’s
many subversive acts included locking himself in a locker for five days and having a friend shoot him in the arm as part of a performance piece.)
Teachers emphasized vision over technique and encouraged students to take risks. With limited technical knowledge, Terasaki learned to find inventive ways to realize his conceptual ideas and was introduced to a range of performance and installation art. Today he has a seven-person studio team, mostly University of Hawai‘i graduates, who help actualize his creative inclinations, from growing crystals to developing virtual butterflies for the Ryosoku-in show.
The curious fusion of analog and digital media that Terasaki employs in Wings Over Crystalline Landscapes began, in many ways, with his introduction to azurite. Terasaki was showing in Paris in 2025 when he first encountered the deepblue mineral. Used in nihonga—a 19th-century style of Japanese painting in which mineral pigments produce a wide range of richly layered colors— azurite shimmers with varying intensity depending on the size of its particles. Terasaki wondered how the material might behave in a more contemporary context.
In the exhibition at Ryosoku-in, this azurite color field forms the backdrop for an augmented reality (AR) experience. To the right of the piece, viewers scan a QR code to watch blue butterflies flit across their smart phone screens, overlaying their in-phone view of the painting. Terasaki often uses AR to add dynamism to more minimalist or abstract pieces. Here, the azurite color field is layered with animated Asagimadara flying toward the viewer. “Hardly anyone had ever done a color field with this material, so I was very excited about it,” Terasaki says, pointing to a rectangular blue canvas hanging on his studio wall. “If you look closely, you’ll see that it sparkles.”
This same affinity for azurite’s materiality extends to Terasaki’s ongoing attraction to crystals as a whole. While he’s wary of the New Age adoption of crystals as aura-enhancing tools, he’s captivated by their natural formations and anticipates creating a new body of work inspired by them. “They have a pattern they have to follow,” he says, alluding to their symbolic parallels to Zen philosophy. “That pattern requires stillness and deep time.”
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The Launiu Ward Village は、芸術性あふれるタイムレスな洗練をまとったレジデンス。 広がる眺望は室内に広がりをもたらし、素晴らしいアメニティの数々では家族や友人たちとの かけがえのない時間を紡ぐ。
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WARNING: THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF REAL ESTATE HAS NOT INSPECTED, EXAMINED OR QUALIFIED
THE LAUNIU WARD VILLAGE AMENITY LOBBY
CULTURE
TEXT BY SERENE GUNNISON
IMAGES BY DAVIN CARVALHO, JOHN HOOK, AND JOSIAH PATTERSON
文＝セレーン·ガニソン
写真＝ダヴィン・カーヴァーロ、 ジョン·フック、ジョサイア・ パターソン
SIGNS IN THE SKY
TRANSLATION BY AKIKO MORI CHING
訳＝チング毛利明子 空が示すもの
In traditional Hawaiian culture, meaning, stories, and wisdom lie in the skies above.
ハワイの伝統文化では、空の彼方に意義と物語そして叡智が宿る。
Kūkulu ka ‘ike i ka ‘ōpua. Knowledge is set up in the clouds.
For visitors and kama‘āina alike, Hawai‘i’s skies are an endless source of beauty and wonder. We snap photos of dramatic sunsets and marvel at constellations shining overhead. Consider the name Halekulani, meaning “House Befitting Heaven”— the sky is an ever-changing canvas for the human imagination, inviting reflection, awe, and the sense that something greater lies in the view above.
For early Polynesians, the sky was more than a backdrop. It was a source of meaning and knowledge. Kilo, or skilled observers, studied it with intention, reading the clouds and tracing the movements of the stars for insight and survival.
Polynesians used the sky and other signals from the natural world to navigate thousands of miles of open ocean. They followed specific stars’ rising and setting points and observed the behavior of birds and clouds near land. This deep connection to the natural world allowed wayfinders to travel vast distances without modern instruments.
Much of this ancestral knowledge was lost in the wake of colonization and the suppression of Native Hawaiian culture that followed. However, the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970s helped revive traditional navigation techniques and other cultural practices that had nearly disappeared after Western contact. Today, modern wayfinders and kilo continue to recover and share this ‘ike (knowledge).
What follows are a few of the many constellations, clouds, and stars that Hawaiians look to for guidance. Each is a window into the way their kūpuna (ancestors) viewed and understood the world around them. The next time you pause to look up, let it be more than scenery—instead, see it as something speaking from beyond. Every star or passing cloud is part of a larger conversation between land, sea, sky, and spirit.
In mid-autumn, a cluster of seven stars hangs low over the eastern horizon after dusk. Makali‘i, known to the Western world as Pleiades, symbolized a change in season and social activities in early Hawai‘i. Its rising announces the Hawaiian new year and the beginning of Makahiki season, a time of peace, harvest, and spiritual renewal dedicated to the god Lono. This seasonal transition is one of the most important in the Hawaiian calendar. According to mo‘olelo (legend), Makali‘i was named for a selfish chief who collected food as tax in times of scarcity. Instead of helping his people through famine, he hung a net of food in the sky, where they could not reach it. A mouse named ‘Iole climbed into the heavens and gnawed through the net until the food tumbled back to Earth, saving the people from starvation. Today, Makali‘i remains a harbinger of ho‘oilo (the wet season), signaling that cooler temperatures and winter rains are near.
He hō‘ailona ke ao i ‘ike ‘ia. Clouds are recognized signs.
Ao ‘īlio, or “dog clouds,” roll in packs across the sky. Often appearing dark, long, or patchy, these stratocumulus clouds were thought by early Hawaiians to embody the aggressive spirit of Kū, the god of war. Ao ‘īlio signal a change in weather, often bringing rain or wind within hours. Kilo believed these clouds carried omens and used them to predict future events.
In summer and fall, the hooked curve of Manaiakalani dominates the southern sky. In mo‘olelo, Manaiakalani is the demigod Māui’s sacred fishhook, which he used to pull the islands of Hawai‘i up from the ocean floor. Closely related to Scorpius, this familiar constellation is part of Nā ‘Ohana Hōkū ‘Ehā, or the Four Star Families. Developed by contemporary Hawaiian wayfinders, this system groups the night sky into four seasonal star families, organized by season and direction. Navigators use Nā ‘Ohana Hōkū ‘Ehā to memorize where important stars rise and set on the horizon. Manaiakalani is a celestial compass point, helping voyagers stay on course across long ocean distances.
Known as Arcturus in Western astronomy, Hōkūle‘a is a zenith star in Hawai‘i, passing directly over the islands. Like Manaiakalani, Hōkūle‘a is part of Nā ‘Ohana Hōkū ‘Ehā and plays a central role in the star compass, helping navigators find both direction and latitude. For Hawaiian wayfinders, seeing Hōkūle‘a overhead tells them, “You’re home.”
In 1975, the Polynesian Voyaging Society named its double-hulled canoe Hōkūle‘a in honor of this guiding star. The canoe’s maiden voyage from Hawai‘i to Tahiti, using only traditional navigation methods, proved that early Polynesians were capable of long-distance ocean exploration, something Western scholars had long denied. Hōkūle‘a’s name, meaning “Star of Gladness,” reflects its significance in Polynesian voyaging: After a long journey, seeing it overhead indicates safety and success.
Delicate tufts known as cirrus clouds appear at high altitudes, like brushstrokes across the sky. Early Hawaiians named them ao manu, or “bird clouds.” These feather-like formations are made entirely of ice crystals. Ancient kilo predicted high winds when groups of ao manu appeared. Modern weather forecasters agree—many cirrus clouds signal an approaching front or shift in weather.
When ao hekili, or thunderclouds, darken the sky, it means Kāne-Hekili is near. Kāne-Hekili is the Hawaiian god of thunder, a sibling of Pele and a powerful force in the natural and spiritual worlds. Families who claim thunder as an ‘aumākua (family god or ancestor) worship him. During storms, Kāne-Hekili’s devotees remain silent to honor his kapu (law). It is said that when he visits his followers in dreams, he appears in human form, black on one side of his body and white on the other.
Chiefs and kahuna (priests) who claimed Kāne-Hekili as an ‘aumākua were often commanding leaders. One kahuna from East Maui was said to be possessed by the god’s spirit and could summon thunderstorms to protect himself. Maui’s last ruling chief, Kahekili, was tattooed entirely on one side to show he was kin to the thunder god. Today, ao hekili is a powerful reminder of nature’s force and might.
IMAGES BY CHRIS ROHRER AND COURTESY OF HAWAI‘I SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
文＝キャスリーン·ウォン
写真＝クリス·ローラ、
ハワイ交響楽団提供
THE MAESTRO BEHIND THE MUSIC
音楽を紡ぐ名匠
TRANSLATION BY AKIKO SHIMA
訳＝島有希子
Dane Lam leads the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra with passion and presence.
情熱と気迫でハワイ交響楽団を導く指揮者、デイン·ラム氏。
The opening of Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68 begins to build, the dramatic harmony of brass and string filling the brightly lit concert hall at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center with a stormy intensity. Conductor Dane Lam is standing center stage, eyes closed, cheeks slightly puffed, and brows furrowed. His hands cut through the air sharply, guiding the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra’s 84 musicians through the celebrated German composer’s maiden symphony.
Then, with one swift motion, the music comes to a sudden halt. Lam has paused the song to offer feedback shaped by his many hours of studying Brahms’ work—not just how it was written, but the composer’s personal story and philosophy, too. “Great orchestras don’t need a conductor to stay together,” Lam says. “They need a conductor to steer the ship— to give direction and inspiration.”
Lam brings more than 20 years of conducting experience to his role as the orchestra’s dynamic music and artistic director. Growing up in a musical family in Australia—his parents played piano and guitar and regularly attended the ballet—music was always a part of Lam’s life, but he didn’t consider it as a career until high school, where he had access to a variety of musical instruments.
Lam was entertaining the idea of becoming a jazz pianist when, during his senior year, a teacher asked if he wanted to try his hand at conducting the class. “It felt right,” he says. It was also an opportune time and place for an aspiring young conductor—the country’s government-backed Conductor Development program, now known as the Australian Conducting Academy, had been recently launched to foster a new generation of Australian conductors. Lam was among those talented students chosen for the selective program.
Lam’s passion and aptitude for conducting soon stood out to the accomplished conductors he was studying with, particularly the celebrated Italian conductor Gianluigi Gelmetti, then maestro of the Sydney Symphony and Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. At 18, Lam was handpicked by Gelmetti to conduct his first public symphony in Sydney. (Fortunately, Lam recalls, he was too young to be nervous.) While studying conducting at the University of Queensland, he spent three summers in Tuscany, Italy, for a rigorous mentorship under Gelmetti—an experience he describes as tough but formative.
“My whole career has been all these little flukes,” Lam says with humility. After attending The Juilliard School in New York and The Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, he went on to become the principal conductor of China’s Xi’an Symphony Orchestra, a position he still holds today.
As his career evolved, conducting the first postpandemic performances across Australia and in countries such as Scotland and Holland, Lam earned a reputation for an energetic stage presence—quick movements, eyes opening and closing expressively, his face mirroring every nuance of the music. If a maestro’s instrument is his body language, there is an art to “showing the sound you want through your hands,” as Lam puts it.
Following the pandemic, the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra was in search of a new music director to lead the 125-year-old orchestra, with an interest in mirroring what Lam was doing in Australia. Intrigued by the organization’s goal of positioning itself as a Pacific orchestra and the chance to highlight Asian American and Pacific Island talents, Lam guest conducted and got the job. “I was just beguiled by this place as well,” he says of relocating from North Queensland to Hawai‘i with his wife in 2023. “I felt at home.”
Lam’s vision for the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra is to weave classical music into the fabric of modern life in Hawai‘i through programming, partnerships, and advocacy. “We want to be a safe space for the community—somewhere people can go and experience something they wouldn’t in everyday life,” he says. Recent programming includes headlining performances by local drag queens, a Beethoven cycle featuring work from a living composer based in the Pacific, and live performances of the musical scores from beloved movies like Star Wars and Indiana Jones
Conductor Dane Lam felt immediately at home upon moving to Hawai‘i from Australia to serve as music and artistic director of the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra in 2023.
“We want to be a safe space for the community—somewhere people can go and experience something they wouldn’t in everyday life.”
A conductor shapes each performance into a unique interpretation of the music.
指揮者は、一つ一つの演奏 で音楽を独自に解釈し、表 現していく。
Lam’s days are jam-packed, often with administrative tasks or donor relations work to ensure funding keeps the organization alive for the island community. This means he must consciously carve out space for the music itself: to study, to seek inspiration by reading poetry and going out in nature. “I have to be quite fierce about fighting for that time because, in the end, it’s all about the music—that’s the heart of everything we do,” he says.
At the finale of the orchestra’s 2025 HapaSymphony series at Hawai‘i Theatre, there is a lively hum of excitement in the air as the night’s headliners, including Maui-raised Jeff Peterson and local legend Keola Beamer, take the stage. Lam tones down his usual charisma at the podium, letting the mellow twang of their slack-key guitars command the spotlight. Fingers on the strings, Peterson gently articulates the notes of “Hawaiian Skies,” a tune made famous from the 2011 film The Descendants
The Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra prides itself on showcasing talent from the Pacific.
Known for his charismatic stage presence, Lam brings more than 20 years of conducting experience to HSO.
カリスマ性あふれるステージ 上での存在感で知られるラム
氏は、20年以上の指揮経験を ハワイ交響楽団にもたらして いる。
CULTURE
The orchestral sounds of flutes and cellos soon join the melody, stirring the theater with a palpable energy. At this moment, it’s not about the musicians or even Lam, their intrepid leader. It’s about the powerful exchange of energy between the musicians and audience. “You can feel when the audience [is] there with you,” Lam says.
Kahala | KITH | Stüssy | Tory Burch | Yumi Kim | Rock-A-Hula | Doraku Sushi | Island Vintage Wine Bar
Noi Thai Cuisine | Restaurant Suntory | P.F. Chang’s | The Cheesecake Factory | Tim Ho Wan | TsuruTonTan Udon
Wolfgang’s Steakhouse | Partial Listing
TEXT BY LAUREN MCNALLY
IMAGES BY JOHN HOOK
文＝ローレン・マクナリー 写真＝ジョン・フック
BLOOMS FROM BEYOND
遠い地からの花
TRANSLATION BY NOEMI MINAMI
訳＝南のえみ
In Hawai‘i’s uplands, Okinawan cherry blossoms flourish as a living symbol of the connection between island communities.
ハワイの高地では、沖縄の桜が島のコミュニティをつなげる象徴として咲き誇る。
As pineapple cultivation declined in post-war Wahiawā, residents of the former “City of Pines” envisioned a new point of pride suited to the town’s mild climate and gentle rains: cherry blossoms. Many of the gossamer blooms that now herald spring across parts of Wahiawā can be traced to a single seedling brought from Okinawa in the 1950s. The seedling was a gift from Choro Nakasone to his friend, Tasuke Terao, who went on to propagate it and share its splendor throughout the Wahiawā community.
In 1985, when Junji Nishime, then governor of Okinawa, and George Ariyoshi, then governor of Hawai‘i, signed a sister-state proclamation solidifying the bond between the two island communities, it was celebrated with the planting of more Okinawan cherry trees in Wahiawā, along with plans to transform the central O‘ahu town into the “Cherry Blossom City of Hawai‘i.” Today, this symbol of the connection between Hawai‘i and Okinawa endures—both in Wahiawā and scattered throughout the archipelago— enchanting onlookers with their delicate canopies.
Every spring for the last two decades, the Wahiawā Nikkei Civic Association has hosted trolley tours of the more than 500 cherry trees that bloom throughout the neighborhood.
In March 2025, members of the Hawai‘i Sakura Foundation, the Honolulu Japanese Junior Chamber of Commerce, and Japan Airlines gathered for a cherry tree planting at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Magoon Research Facility in Mānoa Valley.
Fueled by the pandemic running boom, which saw an estimated 28 percent increase in runners, run clubs have mushroomed in recent years, popping up in countless communities across the globe. Generation Z forms the largest group of new runners, but run clubs aren’t just a new viral trend—some have been around for decades, steadily training local runners and offering community to those with a love of the sport.
Founded in 1962, the Mid-Pacific Road Runners Club (MPRRC) is Hawai‘i’s oldest running club. Every year it hosts approximately 20 races on O‘ahu, ranging from 5K fun runs to beach races to halfmarathons. Instead of hosting weekly meetups or workouts, the club focuses on a year-round schedule of high-quality running competitions. With more than 800 active members—the most of any other run club in Hawai‘i—it consists of athletes of all abilities and ages, including professional runners and hobbyists alike.
On a warm morning in July, MPRRC members chat, stretch, and mingle about like a kaleidoscope of athletic wear on the quiet streets of Lanikai. Neighbors, classmates, seasoned runners, and new converts greet each other with a jittery precompetition energy. Then, a quiet descends over the crowd as the runners take their places at the starting line. The air horn blasts. Some tap their watches, taking off at a conservative sprint; others find an easy jog. The kids among them go mad trying to take an early lead. It’s all a typical race day for MPRRC.
Jonathan Lyau is one of the club’s most storied members. Running since 1979, he has completed
More than competition, MPRRC champions health, community, and a connection to place.
MPRRCが大切にしている
のは、競技性以上に健康や コミュニティ、そして地域と のつながりだ。
almost 40 marathons in the last 40 years and was inducted into the Honolulu Marathon Hall of Fame in 2009. He first joined MPRRC in the early ’90s, and today he is among its many lifetime members. Even at the age of 61, Lyau maintains an active presence in the club and participates in a race just about every month.
The self-described retired racer exemplifies why those at MPRRC keep running the good race. “I enjoy being out there,” Lyau says. “You see people you don’t normally get to see, catch up, and talk story.” While his days of setting personal records may be behind him, Lyau explains that running with MPRRC isn’t just about competing. “When I’m out there moving, I feel good,” he says. “A lot of it is just about staying in shape and staying healthy.”
According to club president Kane Ng-Osorio, big races have big expenses, from hiring police officers and shutting down streets to buying race bibs and timing equipment. “It can cost thousands of dollars,” he says. But Ng-Osorio is quick to emphasize the
Races aren’t just for members. Club president Kane Ng-Osorio says “anyone can show up.”
Each event typically fields about 200 racers, drawing a wide variety of local runners.
各イベントには約200人の 地元の多様なランナーが 参加する。
importance of maintaining the club’s year-round programming, not only to cultivate a sense of community but to accomplish the club’s core tenet of promoting a vigorous lifestyle. To help fund other events, MPRRC also partners with the United States Veterans Initiative and Shaka Racing, among other organizations.
MPRRC’s races are intentional in their design, offering a diverse range of running experiences on O‘ahu. Ng-Osorio likes waking up early on New Year’s Day to catch one of MPRRC’s most unique races, the Bosetti First Sunrise 10K in Kalama Valley Park. Lyau enjoys the Old Pali Road Run and the Lanikai 8K. For longtime member Jeanine Nakakura, events like the Mother’s Day 10K in Moanalua Gardens and the Santa Hat 5K at Ala Moana Beach Park keep her coming back.
Though MPRRC often attracts visitors eager for a taste of the action, the club remains “very local,”
Nakakura says, something that distinguishes it from many of the nearly 20 other running clubs on O‘ahu, each with its own culture and congregation. “My nieces go with run clubs that meet up in Waikīkī,” Nakakura says. “I’ve seen them—all these hot bodies dressed to impress.” In contrast, MPRRC isn’t about appearances, and it’s largely homegrown. Many of the runners have known each other since high school, returning year after year with their spouses and kids in tow to deepen their connection to the places where they run.
In this way, MPRRC offers a different running experience for visitors, allowing them to engage with a genuine version of O‘ahu and its people. “Visitors always love coming to these runs,” Nakakura says. “We make that connection and show them what Hawai‘i is really like.”
For many runners, the sport is a solitary one. Yet runners like Nakakura have come to understand the joys of communal runs. On one such morning trek, as she rounded the top of Diamond Head Road, a friend running with her told her to pause and take it all in. As the sun rose above and the ocean glistened below, her friend raised his hands and said, “This is why we do it.”
“You forget,” Nakakura says. “Sometimes, someone has to remind you.”
An adjoining residence serves as the home of the Coast Guard’s district commander.
隣接する家屋は、沿岸警備 隊第14管区司令官の公邸 として使用されている。
The Diamond Head Lighthouse is perched just above sea level at the foot of Lē‘ahi (Diamond Head), its crimson dome appearing like a cardinal’s zucchetto at the base of the mountain’s craggy slopes. For decades, the sun-bleached tower has greeted mariners and curious hikers alike along this stretch of O‘ahu’s southeastern coast. At night, the beacon’s LED bulb— as bright as 100,000 candles—pulses red and white beams visible from 14 nautical miles away, a steadfast messenger to all.
A familiar landmark for generations of locals, the current iteration of the lighthouse was completed in the early 20th century. Prior, a 40-foot iron structure stood sentinel at the site, alerting approaching ships to the shallow reef breaks in the warm waters offshore. Two major ship groundings, one in 1893 and another in 1897, prompted the construction of this traditional beacon in 1899.
The resulting lighthouse was successful in guiding incoming ships, but high winds and the original tower’s rigid iron framework caused
Locals congregate at Kuilei Cliffs Beach Park near the lighthouse for sunset.
灯台近くのクイレイ クリフ
ス ビーチパークには、夕陽 を楽しむ人々が集う。
concerns over the structure’s long-term integrity, leading to an extensive renovation in 1917. The lighthouse as we know it today was finished in 1918. For more than a century since, the 57-foot tower of whitewashed concrete, stucco, and steel has kept vigil over the churning waters below.
Is an old-school lighthouse still relevant in today’s age of drones, GPS, and artificial intelligence? “Absolutely,” says Michael Campise, a Boatswain’s Mate First Class in the U.S. Coast Guard’s Aids to Navigation team. “Mariners are 100 percent still using the lighthouse to navigate.” While the vast majority of mariners employ some kind of electronic navigation system, they use the lighthouse as a physical guidepost when rounding the shoal waters off Lē‘ahi. Whenever the light goes out—an infrequent but occasional occurrence—Campise’s team receives calls almost immediately from concerned boaters. “They’re pretty adamant that we get out there and get the light back on,” he says.
Since World War II, the Diamond Head Lighthouse has been the permanent home of the Coast Guard in Hawai‘i. Rear Admiral Sean Regan, commander of the Coast Guard’s District 14, lives in the adjoining residence, built in 1921 to house the original lighthouse keeper. Along with serving as the home of the Coast Guard’s district commander, the single-story house, with its resplendent green lawn and stunning ocean views, plays a dignified host for Coast Guard ceremonies, such as retirements and commemorations, dinners for visiting foreign dignitaries, and the occasional party for the staff who maintain it.
Although Diamond Head Road comes within several yards of the lighthouse property, visitors to the lighthouse must be specifically invited by the Coast Guard to enter the premises. Campise is part of the team that helps with the lighthouse’s upkeep: lens cleaning, painting, vegetation removal, and the occasional vandalism cleanup. In some ways, Campise jokes, the lighthouse is “like a really expensive lawn gnome.”
The surf spot known as Lighthouse is named for the historic beacon.
歴史ある灯台にちなんで “ライトハウス”と呼ばれる サーフスポット。
Amid Honolulu’s ever-changing landscape, wherein rapid development often leads to the demolishing of beloved landmarks, the lighthouse has remained steadfast. As such, the beacon has become a fixture of local life in surprising ways.
In early mornings and dusky evenings, boaters aren’t the only ones with their eyes on the tower. Surfers who frequent the windy reef below call the break Lighthouse, or simply “LH,” in their group chats. As Kaimukī local Race Skelton explains, the lighthouse is a crucial landmark for all serious surfers who call LH their home break. By marking the beacon and looking east to Black Point, Skelton can triangulate the best position to catch waves. The spot is “known to be windy and shifty, so having a lineup marker is helpful,” Skelton says, adding that understanding how to use the lighthouse to position yourself “gives us an advantage over people who don’t regularly surf there.”
After nightfall, the lighthouse guides the way for mariners and ocean-goers alike.
日没後、灯台は船乗りや海 辺の人々を導き続ける。
Skelton describes the break as a mediumdifficulty spot, but one that attracts a specific kind of crowd. “It’s pretty low-key,” he says, explaining that the heavy winds and unpredictable waves cause some surfers to forgo the break. “It attracts a certain type of surfer who doesn’t like crowds,” he says. “You want to go there for solitude.”
“It’s kind of trippy,” Skelton says about the moment the light turns on at dusk, illuminating the path as surfers hike up the hill back to their cars. His favorite times, though, are during a Kona low—a persistent low-pressure system that brings rain from the south. As the rain builds, thin rivulets stream like tears down the slope of Lē‘ahi and past the tower. In a way, surfer and tower mirror each other, lonesome warriors refusing to yield in any weather. “Some other surf spots don’t have anything,” Skelton says. “We have this iconic landmark.”
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Visit this vibrant neighborhood to explore one-of-a-kind finds, locally owned boutiques and globally inspired cuisine. Delight in alfresco dining experiences and expect everything from home decor and gifts to island-style favorites and luxe attire.
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Halekulani, the most internationally acclaimed of all Hawai‘i hotels, blends serenity and understated elegance with exceptional service to create an oasis of tranquility.
ハワイを代表するホテル、
ハレクラニは、オアシスのような 安らぎと上質なエレガンス、
一流のサービスでお客様を お迎えしています。
LEGACY
レガシー
Halekulani’s beachfront location has welcomed people since 1883, when the original owner, Robert Lewers, built a two-story house on the site of what is now the main building.
The fishermen of the area would bring their canoes onto the beach in front of the property to rest. So welcomed were they by the Lewers family that the locals named the location “house befitting heaven,” or Halekulani.
In 1917, Juliet and Clifford Kimball purchased the hotel, expanded it, and established it as a stylish resort for vacationers, giving it the name the locals originally bestowed on it, Halekulani. The hotel was sold following the passing of the Kimballs in 1962. Almost 20 years later, it was purchased by what is now the Honolulu-based Halekulani Corporation. The hotel was closed and rebuilt as the existing 453-room property.
Today, Halekulani’s staff, location, and hospitality reflect the original Hawaiian welcome that defined the property.
Each of Halekulani’s restaurants celebrates its own distinct style of cuisine, and all offer stunning views of the sea.
Select from La Mer for fine dining, Orchids for more casual elegance, and House Without A Key for a relaxed ambience.
Enjoy extraordinary cocktails reminiscent of Hawai‘i’s golden age of travel at Earl’s pool bar located in the iconic House Without A Key.
A culmination of art and science, Halekulani Bakery located across the street at Halepuna Waikiki features delectable artisan breads, a contemporary coffee bar with specialty coffees, pastry pairings, savory bites, and Halekulani’s signature Coconut Cake.
SpaHalekulani honors the longstanding theme of Kawehewehe (healing waters) through multiple water features while boasting quiet technology and enhanced lighting and sound.
From the moment of arrival, we carry you from one experience to another with seamless transitions and a keen state of heightened awareness. Within minutes, your senses are stimulated, and the shift from mind to body puts you gently at ease. The reimagined spa features three private spa suites, full salon, boutique, additional treatment rooms, and a Skin Care Suite.
