September

September 1, 2005

Ronna Bolante,

Sept.
1930:

Paradise
of the Pacific, predecessor to HONOLULU Magazine, visits a bustling sugar plantation
on O’ahu. “Occasionally we saw two or three tiny Filipino or Japanese women emerging
from the tall cane clothed in the garb of their task, attending the irrigation
ditches,” the magazine writes, photo above. “Big hats, with drooping cloth cover,
and arms protected, else the sharp blades of the cane would cut them like knives.
Tired, patient little women, with babies waiting their return, part of the great
army of burden bearers of the race.”

Sept. 1945:

On
Aug. 14, 1945, Hawai’i finally received the news it had waited four years to hear.
President Harry Truman announced that Japan had surrendered, bringing an end to
World War II. “Deliriously happy servicemen swarmed through downtown Honolulu
and Waikïkï, making so much noise with shouts and tooting of auto horns that the
terrifyingly loud air raid sirens announcing the event actually could not be heard,”
writes Paradise of the Pacific, photo below left.

Sept. 1985:

HONOLULU
Magazine takes a look at the yakuza in Honolulu, which Newsweek had dubbed “the
center of the Japanese mob’s U.S. operations.” “Most yakuza activities in Hawai’i
center on the Japanese tourist. Yakuza are suspected of pushing prostitution and
pornography, of operating massage parlors, of running gambling operations,” the
magazine reports. Honolulu police also suspected yakuza of laundering their money
by investing in legitimate Hawai’i companies, including hotels, restaurants and
golf courses. “Says one HPD detective, ‘To say they’re not here is being naïve.
But to prove they’re here is difficult.'”

This article appears in the September 2005 issue of HONOLULU Magazine.