"Two Japanee Bruddahs": A Nichi Bei Times column
By Kyle Tatsumoto and Keith Kamisugi

Japanee Bruddah Keet on September 11...

So, I suggested to Japanee Bruddah Kyle that we use our October column to share our thoughts about last month's tragedy, even though so much has been said on the tragedy. I'm sure one wonders how the attacks affected people in the state farthest away from New York.

One prominent family in Hawai'i suffered a great loss. Heather Ho, an executive pastry chef for Windows on the World, a restaurant at the top of one of the World Trade Center towers, was the granddaughter of Chinn Ho, a real estate developer known throughout the state. Heather's father, Stuart Ho, is a well-connected investment executive.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported that Heather "was named one of six 'rising star' chefs by the San Francisco Chronicle's food editors in 1999, and the city's pastry chef of the year by San Francisco magazine for 2000." Many of my friends in the culinary and hospitality circles in San Francisco knew of Heather, at least by name.

Seeing her picture in the newspaper that week made me think of my friend Robynne Maii from Honolulu. Robynne also left Hawai'i to work as a pastry chef in New York City. I had to contact Robynne's sister to see if she was okay, since my information for her was old. I was relieved when I got an e-mail back from Rob that same day saying that she was fine.

I'm sure she's thinking that she won't be flying anytime soon. And that is a big problem for Hawai'i's business and government leaders. With tourism being a prime economic pump, a decline in air travel can spell doom for the state in the aftermath of the attacks. Although possible, people don't ride ships to Hawai'i.

In fact, Donna Mercado Kim, a Hawai'i State Senator, e-mailed me the other day saying that the economy is "in the tank." I thought the economy in Hawai'i was already in the tank when I left last November. I can't imagine it declining any further.

Well, I guess I'll find out when I return home for the first time since moving to the Bay Area to emcee my friend Reid's wedding reception at the Halekulani hotel on the sands of Waikiki. I will likely have conversations with kama'aina about how New Yorkers really came together after the tragedy in a new sense of cooperation and assistance, outreach and support.

In Hawai'i, we call it the aloha spirit.

Japanee Bruddah Kyle on September 11...

Growing up in Hawai'i, the most remote spot on the planet, one can't help but feel kind of left out, isolated from the mainland and the rest of the world.

It seemed that even Mother Nature ignored us. While the rest of the world, at least from what I saw on television, changed from summer to fall colors to a snowy winter, we were perpetually stuck in summer, with the same weather forecast, "sunny and warm with a chance of windward and mauka showers," day after day, month after month.

As a child, I believed in Santa Claus, but was convinced that he never stopped in Hawai'i because it was too far. Those reindeer couldn't possibly make it across the ocean. And I knew dat barefoot Santa on da surfboard wasn't fo' real. The real proof, however, was that unlike everyone on the mainland, nobody in Hawai'i had a chimney. How could Santa come inside da house fo' leave da presents? From da jalousie window?

It's as if Hawai'i existed in its own universe, untouched by happenings across the sea. The events of September 11th proved that the world is much smaller than we think, and that even Hawai'i is very much a part of the global community.

In fact, next to New York itself, Hawai'i, 5,000 miles removed, may ultimately be impacted by the events of September 11th more than any other state in the nation. The $11 billion tourist industry, which accounts for a third of the jobs in Hawai'i, is in a free fall. Hotel occupancy rates, generally over 75% at this time of year, have dropped to 50%. Like cascading dominoes, bleak headlines stream forth daily from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin -- "JAL trims 17 flights a week to Hawai'i," "Aloha Air cancels 25% of its flights," "Drastic business drops hit hotels, tourist companies," "Hawaiian Airlines to lay off 430."

The ripples of the terrorist attacks have traveled thousands of miles, resulting in a tsunami on Hawai'i's shores. A Holy War in the Middle East leads to an atrocity in New York. Concerned about the safety of air travel, the Smith family in Nebraska cancels their vacation trip to Hawai'i. Kimo Kealoha, the sole provider for a family of four in Waipahu is laid off from his job at a Waikiki hotel.

Malama America and malama Hawai'i.

Kyle Tatsumoto wen go Castle. Keith Kamisugi wen go Mililani. So wot?
Two Japanee Bruddahs is a monthly column in the Nichi Bei Times.

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