“I Want Them to Dream,” Says President of Izakaya Naru, 2025 Hale ‘Aina Award Winner of Best Izakaya

On its slip of South King Street​,​ near Fukuya Deli in Mō‘ili‘ili​,​ Izakaya Naru is tiny. Including nine counter stools festooned in the pinks, purples and blues of Okinawan bingata prints, it seats fewer than 30—and it’s always packed. Sizzling taco rice, rafute braised pork belly, mimiga pig’s ear, handmade ​​​jimami​ peanut tofu: Naru’s theme is Okinawan, ​​though most of its small plates are Japanese izakaya fare.

“When we opened,” back in 2010, “Japanese restaurants had every kind of dish. Plus sushi,” says Hiroyuki Akiyama, Naru Hawai‘i’s president. “Customers would sit down, look at the menu. ‘You guys have sushi?’ I said no. ‘Sashimi? Tempura? Udon?’ I was like, what are they thinking? I got culture shock.”

The first years were a learning curve for Naru and its customers; now, Akiyama estimates two-thirds are local and the rest Japanese expats. Inside the washi-papered walls, he’s been the lone constant through the izakaya’s 15 years. Sent by his Tokyo-based company to open its first Hawai‘i outpost, Akiyama saw Naru as a way​ ​station, a training ground for his dream of owning his own place in Japan. Instead, it’s become his life.

Working at ​Naru​ 13 hours a day, seven days a week—and then more at home—Akiyama busses tables, pinch​ ​hits in the kitchen, brings in golf partners after 18 holes, pays bills and manages schedules. Fifteen years ago, his goal was to learn and leave. Now, it’s to teach the next generation. ​​And then to open his own place—in Hawai‘i.

“Going out on my own is of course a personal challenge,” he says. “But more than that, if I can become independent, I want that to become a goal and a personal challenge for my staff. I want them to dream.”

2700 S. King St., #D104, Mō‘ili‘ili, (808) 951-0510, naru-honolulu.com, @izakaya.naru