Hawaii Hochi (newspaper)

Frederick Kinzaburo Makino was born in Yokohama, Japan, on August 27, 1877. His father, Joseph Higgenbotham, was a merchant/trader from Manchester, England. His mother was Kin Makino from Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. His father died in September 1881, when Makino was only four years old, and little is known about Makino's formal schooling, aside from his ability to read, write, and speak both English and Japanese. In 1899, at the age of twenty-two, Makino came to Hawai'i to join his two brothers, who had emigrated earlier, and immediately went to Na'ālehu to work at his brother's general store. In short succession, he worked as a bookkeeper for the Kona Sugar Company and then the Honoka'a Sugar Company.

In 1901, he left the Big Island and moved to Honolulu, where he opened the Makino Drug Store at the corner of Nu'uanu Avenue and Hotel Street. Two years later, he married Michiye Okamura of Kauai on April 7, 1903, and opened a "law office" above his drug store. At that time, Japanese immigrants faced numerous immigration and other legal problems, but there were no Japanese lawyers. Although Makino did not possess a law degree, he served as a consultant for them.

In 1909, Japanese workers initiated a strike on the island of O'ahu, which "in every respect . . . was the most important labor conflict that had ever occurred in Hawaii up to that date." ^[1] It marked a fundamental shift in the character and impact of previous labor movements, extending far beyond the plantations to involve the planter elite, high-ranking government officials, and influential leaders within the Japanese community. Unlike previous strikes, this work stoppage resulted from nearly eight months of deliberations, meetings, and discussions among Japanese plantation workers about their salaries and the need to increase them. It was also remarkable for its scope and scale, becoming an island-wide strike involving Japanese laborers from the various plantations on O'ahu. This strike not only resulted in nearly $2,000,000 in losses for plantation owners, but also led to Makino's arrest, along with prominent Japanese newspaper reporters and editors, including Nippu Jiji editor Yasutaro Soga , whom officials charged with conspiracy to initiate violence on behalf of their cause. They were held responsible for the various riots and disturbances that occurred during the strike. ^[2] Ultimately, the planters broke the strike but made a number of concessions to laborers, including higher wages, better housing facilities, and improved sanitation. However, it was the leaders of the strike who bore the brunt of the planters' wrath. They were tried and found guilty of conspiracy, sentenced to ten months in O'ahu Prison, and fined $300.

After his release from prison, Makino became dissatisfied with the leadership of the Japanese community, particularly Soga's conciliatory attitude toward planters. In December 1912, Makino founded the Hawaii Hochi to present an alternative perspective within the Japanese community and, in its first issue, stressed its "non-party and independent status" to protect the "rights and interests of the Japanese." ^[3] During the early years of its publication, the Hawaii Hochi faced a number of difficulties, as none of its employees, including Makino himself, had any experience in publishing a newspaper. Often, Makino was unable to pay his rent, telephone bill, and his employees' salaries. He even had difficulty purchasing paper for printing. Eventually, Makino was forced to pay cash for everything because no one would extend him credit. Undaunted, Makino sold his drugstore inventory at below-wholesale prices to raise funds, diverted income from his law practice to pay for newspaper expenses, and even had his wife sell the pigs she had raised in the backyard of their Mānoa residence.

Despite a difficult start, the Hawaii Hochi, under Makino's leadership, became one of the most active organizations supporting various causes in the Japanese community. Soon after its founding, the newspaper began criticizing immigration officials who forced Japanese picture brides and their grooms to be married en masse in a Christian ceremony upon arrival. As a result of these protests, the director of immigration ended the practice of these "assembly line" marriages. The Hochi also spearheaded efforts to gain citizenship for Japanese soldiers who fought for the United States during World War I; as a result, 400 veterans became United States citizens. In 1919, the Hochi appealed for the unity among Japanese and Filipino workers in their common grievances against plantation owners, which culminated in the 1920 strike. During that same period, the Hochi became active in the language school controversy as Japanese language schools came under increasingly discriminatory rules and regulations, leading to the closure of many schools. Makino himself led the legal challenge against these regulations, and in 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the regulations on language schools unconstitutional. The Hochi also became involved in two high-profile crimes involving Japanese defendants—the Myles Fukunaga case and the Massie Trial—that to Makino seemed to illustrate the existence of a dual system of justice that privileged the rights of whites at the expense of ethnics.

As part of the Hochi's efforts to broaden its community reach, in 1925, Makino introduced an English section, called the Bee for its sting. The Bee specifically appealed to Nisei who preferred to read news events in English. Bee editor George Wright was an Ohio mining engineer who moved to Hawai'i in 1917 as a machinist for the navy and was fired in 1925 for union activities. ^[4] During his career at the Hochi , Wright became an accomplished journalist, best known for bringing the topic of language schools to the English-speaking public. According to newspaper scholar Helen Geracimos Chapin, both the English and Japanese sections of the Hochi became highly readable when it "adopted the tabloid form, which came into its own in the United States in the 1920s, its half-sheet format featuring big headlines and lots of photos." ^[5]

Despite the activism of the Hochi under Makino's leadership, Makino was never arrested or incarcerated during World War II. Some have claimed that the "FBI was afraid that if they arrested Makino without good cause, he might file a lawsuit against them after the war." ^[6] Others have argued that, in investigating Makino, authorities realized that his "opinions and actions were always independent and the authorities could find no relation between Makino and the Japanese government," and thus could not find cause to arrest him. Scholar Masayo Umezawa Duus also attributed Makino's lack of incarceration to the fact that after the war began, Makino reportedly met with Robert Shivers , head of the FBI's Hawai'i office, for a number of "clandestine meetings." ^[7] While no one is sure of the purpose of these meetings, Makino was never arrested, even though he had expected the possibility. During the war, the Hawaii Hochi was renamed the Hawaii Herald to deflect anti-Japanese sentiment. However, it eventually returned to its original banner, Hawaii Hochi, in January 1952.

After the war, the Hochi's editorials were distinctly less radical than before, in part due to the deaths of three important people to Makino and to the newspaper. On May 24, 1931, Kosaka Hoga, who had been editor-in-chief from 1915 to 1930, died suddenly. Joseph Lightfoot, a lawyer who had worked on behalf of Makino and his causes, including the language school controversy, also died shortly after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case was decided. Finally, during the war, George Wright, the paper's English editor since 1925, died on December 10, 1944. Five years later, after returning from a trip to Maui, Makino suffered a heart attack and never fully recovered. On February 17, 1953, at the age of 76, he died at Queen's Hospital, leaving behind a beloved wife and a formidable legacy of activism in the press. More than 1,000 attended the Buddhist funeral service for Frederick Makino. Even the Honolulu Star-Bulletin , which once fought the Hochi over its coverage of events in Hawai'i, placed Makino's photo and obituary on page one. ^[8]

Japanese newspaperman Konosuke Oishi of the Shizuoka Shimbun purchased the Hawaii Hochi in 1962 and decided that Hawai'i's Japanese American community needed a publication of its own for the growing population of Nisei, Sansei , and Yonsei who could not read Japanese. Oishi and Hawaii Hochi's 's president and publisher, Paul S. Yempuku, created a new Hawaii Herald in March 1969 as a weekly eight-page tabloid for an English-language audience, which ran for four years.

A new all-English, twice-monthly version of the Hawaii Herald debuted in 1980. It provided comprehensive and varied coverage, chronicling past achievements and events, as well as contemporary concerns within the Japanese American community. In addition to articles by award-winning writers and journalists, calendars, and community-focused items related to the Japanese American community, it kept its readers abreast of relevant events and activities. On December 7, 2023, the Hawaii Hochi shut down, 111th years after its first publication. While some articles of the Hawaii Herald are available on its website, the Hoover Institution Library & Archives has acquired materials from both papers to be part of the Hoji Shinbun Digital Collection, the world’s largest online archive of open-access, full-image Japanese diaspora newspapers. ^[9]

Chapin, Helen Geracimos. Shaping History: The Role of Newspapers in Hawai'i . Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1996.

Duus, Masayo Umezawa. The Japanese Conspiracy: The Oahu Sugar Strike of 1920. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999.

Fourth Report of the Commissioner of Labor on Hawaii, 1910 . Washington: Government Printing Office, 1911.

Fred Kinzaburo Makino: A Biography . Honolulu: n.p., 1986?.

The Hawaii Herald. "About the Herald.".

Hawaii Hochi Printing.

"Rites Slated Tomorrow for F. K. Makino." Honolulu Star-Bulletin , February 18, 1953, 1.

Sakamaki, Shunzo. "A History of the Japanese Press in Hawaii." Master's thesis, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, 1928.

Shiramizu, Shigehiko. "Good Old Days of the Press: Two Great Men in the Japanese Community." Paper presented to Hawaii Newspaper Project Reporter "Political Role of Newspapers in Hawaiian History" (Honolulu: sn, 1986): 1-13.

Shiramizu, Shigehiko. "Ethnic Press and Its Society, A Case of Japanese Press in Hawaii." Keio Communication Review 11 (1990): 49-71.

Wakukawa, Ernest. A History of the Japanese People in Hawaii . Honolulu: The Toyo Shoin, 1938.