Back in her hanabattah days [childhood] growing up in Mililani, Hawai‘i, Shari Tamashiro, 53, nevah really ate Okinawan food even though she half Okinawan. She says it’s cuz her mom stay Japanese das why and her mom did all da cooking at home.
Da one Okinawan food Shari remembahs sampling during her youth wuz da signature Okinawan dish, ashi tibichi, or Okinawan pig feet soup. She relates how being forced to try ‘em wuz one small kine traumatic experience for her cuz da dish made her tink of one cute cartoon pig and she wondered, “Why would anyone want to cut its foot off and eat it?” Das why kinda interesting how dis once pig feet soup-hating girl would eventually come for be Hawai‘i’s most well-known Okinawan foodie.
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Lee Tonouchi (LT): What school you went? What year you grad?
Shari Tamashiro (ST): Mililani High School. 1990.
LT: You identify as Local? JapOkinawan? Uchinānchu? Nikkei?
ST: So on my Japanese side I’m fourth generation. On my Okinawan side, I’m third. To most people I just say I’m half Japanese, half Okinawan. But if it’s someone who’s in the know, I will say I am half Kabe, Hiroshima, and half Maezato, Itoman.
LT: As one kid sounds like you wuzn’t da biggest fan of Okinawan cooking so how you came so passionate about Okinawan food?
ST: You know, it’s because I was not exposed to Okinawan home cooking so that’s what caused me to seek it out. When I started working, I started going to the big three Okinawan restaurants. Sunrise, Hide-chan [which closed in 2022 when the owners retired], and Utage. Those three places introduced me to Okinawan food and I just fell in love with it. And I not only loved the food, I loved how the places were gathering places for the Okinawan community.
LT: You can try explain wotchoo mean by that.
ST: So I work at Kapi‘olani Community College and Sunrise restaurant is the closest to my work. And so after work, I would go there and it was a place where I could meet so many different people in the community.
The owner, Chokatsu Tamayose would be at the counter, calling out our names and introducing people. When you’re at Sunrise, it’s like people will hand you awamori [an Okinawan alcoholic beverage] or they’ll share their food with you. And it was such an interesting experience, right?
And I found that the same thing happened when I went to other Okinawan eateries like Hide-chan and Utage. I just started meeting all these different people in the community that I didn’t know. I haven’t had this experience at other restaurants, where you’re just there and people start talking to you, sharing food, and sharing drinks. I’ve only experienced it at the Okinawan restaurants.
LT: Interesting. What wuz da Hawai‘i Okinawan-owned restaurant project and what wuz your role?
ST: So in 2007, when the Okinawan-owned Columbia Inn got sold and was shutting down, Gene Kaneshiro, who was the last owner, was told that he should document the history of his family’s restaurant. But Gene realized he was part of a larger story. So are you familiar with the Oroku story?
LT: Yeah, but you should explain ‘em for da readers.
ST: Oroku, that’s the village where many of these old time Okinawan restaurant guys were from. So Gene and his friend Howard Takara of Oroku Aza Jin club decided they wanted to document the Oroku-owned restaurants in Hawai‘i, of which there were 75. They met up with restauranteurs and they started trying to record the names of the restaurants, the owners’ names, their addresses, when they opened, when they closed, and what were their specialties.
Eventually the list expanded to Okinawan-owned restaurants in general, not necessarily connected to Oroku. And over a decade later they created a spreadsheet that had a list of over 350 Okinawan-owned restaurants in Hawai‘i.
LT: So what you did for da projeck?
ST: I got involved because, Gene and Howard, they wanted to make sure someone kept the project going so the information wouldn't be lost. My job is to bring in technology so the list is actually going to go online.
LT: So das someting das pau [finished]?
ST: The website thing is not done yet. HawaiiOkinawans.com is up right now, but it only lists the currently open Okinawan-owned restaurants. The historic list is going to go up later this year.
LT: In helping out with dis project did you learn how come so many early Hawai‘i Okinawan immigrants ran restaurants?
ST: The first restaurant that we have recorded is American Cafe in 1923. Ushi Takara came over from Oroku, Okinawa, and he worked on the plantation on one of the neighbor islands. And when his contract was done, he came to Honolulu. And, you know, back then, banks wouldn’t make loans to non-whites. Ushi didn’t have the means to advance, so he got work at a restaurant for no pay. He washed dishes, scrubbed potatoes, cleaned, but he also watched and learned. And in return, he got two or three meals a day. From there he worked his way up into paying positions. That’s when he did a tanomoshi.
LT: Try explain for da people who dunno da term.
ST: Tanomoshi is a Japanese lending system where people pool money. I believe all the contributors were from the same village. It requires a lot of trust. But when people need to pool their money together, they’re able to do so. This is how they replaced traditional banking. And with the tanomoshi Ushi Takara was able to open up American Cafe in 1923 in downtown, Honolulu. Interestingly he consciously made the decision not to have Japanese or Okinawan food on the menu. Because he figured why would a person go out and pay for food that they could cook at home? So when you look at his menu, it had lamb with mint jelly, steak. you know, really fancy kine food.
LT: So that explains how come had that first one, but wea all da rest came from?
ST: So Ushi would hire people from Oroku with that same deal, wash dishes, scrub potatoes, and work your way up. And then eventually he helped them do their own tanomoshi so that they could open up their own restaurants, not a franchise, but their own independent restaurants. And so that’s why there were so many Hawai‘i restauranteurs from Oroku.
LT: Got it. Eh, go tell us about your creation. What is Okinawan FEASTival?
ST: When the pandemic hit, I was really worried about our Okinawan restaurants. The first Okinawan FEASTival was started for survival. It was to draw attention to our Okinawan restaurants and to encourage people to go and support them.
Over time, it’s kind of evolved into more of a celebration of Okinawan food where chefs will do their takes on various Okinawan dishes.
LT: I personally love da creativity of your event cuz lotta times chefs will invent lotta really interesting Okinawan fusion dishes. But den I also hear from Okinawan purists who get upset and say, That’s not REAL Okinawan food! How would you answer da critics?
ST: How can anyone who lives in Hawai‘i demand purity in our cuisine? Our culture is the culture of coming together. Chef Grant Sato teaches culinary where I work. He hasn't made this for FEASTival, but it’s a great illustration of what makes Hawai‘i special. At KCC Grant once made us a special Okinawan laulau [instead of a traditional Hawaiian laulau] where it had Okinawan rafutē [braised pork belly] and Okinawan sweet potato in it. It was sooooo good. I think our cuisine in Hawai‘i is fascinating because we see cultures coming together to create some really interesting things.
LT: Ho! I like eat that Okinawan laulau now! You bettah tell Bruddah Grant for make that for FEASTival one day so people who is not Shari Tamashiro can eat ‘em too. So far, what wuz your favorite-est Okinawan FEASTival dish?
ST: I think Kapa Hale makes the most fascinating andāgī. So Chef Keaka Lee actually made a hush puppy andāgī where he’s using cornmeal to change the texture of it. And in doing so, he created a more savory andāgī. His was called Anda da Sea (Under the Sea), which had crispy crab, shrimp, and corn inside of a cornmeal andāgī. It was one of the best!
LT: Who you grateful to in your journey to becoming one Okinawan foodie?
ST: It’s three. It’s Chokatsu Tamayose from Sunrise, Hidemitsu Tamayose [No relation to Chokatsu] from Hide-chan, and it’s Jocelyn Kishimoto from Utage. I didn’t grow up eating Okinawan food, so I have to pay to eat homestyle Okinawan cooking. And I think there’s a lot of people in the same situation as me where we didn’t have the opportunity to grow up eating Okinawan food from grandma or mom or grandpa or whoever. So I feel like these three restaurants helped me to find my way.
LT: On top your social medias you strongly advocate for supporting Okinawan-owned businesses, even if da business no mo nahting for do with Okinawan culture. To support one business just cuz da owner get Okinawan ancestry, is that racist or what?
ST: You know, when Okinawans came to Hawai‘i, they faced a lot of discrimination from the Japanese. It was really difficult. They spoke a different language. They were looked down upon for raising pigs. And one of the reasons I think that the Okinawan community in Hawai‘i is so strong is because they banded together to support each other.
Like when the the Okinawan-owned restaurants were in operation, the restaurants helped each other out tremendously. They knew who was Okinawan and they all supported each other by buying their provisions from Okinawan vendors. So there was this really strong sense of community support.
Okinawans call this yuimāru. We saw the spirit of yuimāru come out during the post-war relief effort when Hawai‘i Okinawans were sending literally tons of food, clothing, school supplies, medicine, over 550 pigs, and 750 goats to Okinawa. We saw Okinawans come together to create the Hawaii Okinawa Center, to create the Okinawan Festival.
Yuimāru has been such an integral part of the Hawai‘i Okinawan community. And for me, yuimāru is something that is probably the major value I want people to know. I want to tell people, yes, let’s support each other. So if a place is Okinawan owned, but they just sell burgers, why not support them?
LT: Is dea one famous Hawai‘i-exclusive Okinawan food item that visitors to Hawai‘i should try?
ST: They should try andāgī in Hawai‘i. So historically in Okinawa, sātā andāgī is a food you could take on a journey. Like it could last for a month. You don’t see any dairy in theirs. And personally, when I eat sātā andāgī in Okinawa, it sucks all the moisture out of my mouth. But in Hawai‘i, ours is truly more like an Okinawan donut because we add dairy. I feel like our andāgī in Hawai‘i has a much crisper texture and a fluffier interior, and it’s a little sweeter. So I think the recipe has changed a lot in Hawai‘i, which is why it has to be separated from Okinawan sātā andāgī. That’s why I think we should call it Hawai‘i andāgī.
LT: So where should people get their Hawai‘i andāgī from?
ST: Aloha Andagi. They often have pop ups at Marukai. The boss Junko Bise does her original andāgī as well as a rotating special flavor.
LT: So which one you recommend?
ST: Why not buy both!
© 2025 Lee A. Tonouchi
