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Kady Pascual

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

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WaikikiBrewingCo_Street

<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: The guest trap</title>

Today’s social media find comes from @WaikikiBrewingCo_Street, whose servers are switching places.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: The guest trap

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Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

My first purchase from any convenience store in Japan is usually an egg salad sandwich. They just hit different in Japan — the creamy, yolk-heavy spread made with kewpie mayo sandwiched between pillowy shokupan bread is always a mouthwatering combo.

, a Japanese sandwich shop, opened a few months ago in Eaton Square, I had to go check it out.

Coco Sand Café is located next to Komedokoro M’s, which is known for its onigiri. Like the musubi café, this spot is designed for takeout, but there are a few tables outside the store for customers.

The shop offers hot and cold sandwiches (the latter are in the fridge). Savory options include pork tenderloin katsu ($10.95), pork loin katsu ($10.95), chicken katsu ($9.45), salmon katsu ($10.95) and more.

We’re told the pork tenderloin katsu ($10.95) is the most popular option. The katsu is crispy on the outside and the tender pork is meaty and flavorful.

The creamy egg salad sando doesn’t disappoint, especially with its ample filling. While the price might seem steep, the sandwich halves are a generous size.

The café also offers croissant sandwiches with a variety of fillings, including kalua pork ($8.45), smoked salmon ($8.45), tuna ($7.95) and more.

The café also offers hot dishes like Napolitan ($9.50) and mentaiko pasta ($12.50), which is a customer favorite. Japanese Napolitan pasta features a slightly sweet, ketchup-based sauce and is an example of a popular yoshoku (Western-influenced) dish. The mentaiko pasta features a creamy sauce made with spicy cod roe and butter.

Only metered street parking is available, but there are other public paid lots close by.

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Open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays to Fridays, closed Saturdays and Sundays 

Coco Sand Cafe tonkatsu tenderloin sando 120425

<title>Where to get Japanese sandos in Honolulu</title>

Waikīkī-based Coco Sand Café opened a few months ago in Eaton Square. The takeout spot is popular for its hot and cold Japanese-style sandwiches and pastas.

Where to get Japanese sandos in Honolulu

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Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

Crime & Courts

Kamehameha Schools is facing a possible legal challenge over its admissions policy.

The Virginia-based nonprofit Students for Fair Admissions launched a 

 Thursday condemning Kamehameha Schools’ policy granting preference to Native Hawaiian students over any others.

“We believe that focus on ancestry, rather than merit or need, is neither fair nor legal, and we are committed to ending Kamehameha’s unlawful admissions policies in court,” reads the website.

While no court case has yet been filed, the message on the website urges parents whose children have been denied admission to Kamehameha Schools to share their stories.

Students for Fair Admissions has launched other campaigns against affirmative action policies at other schools. In particular, in 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court found that race-based admissions policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were unconstitutional as a result of cases brought by the group's founder, Edward Blum.

Blum is a conservative activist with a lengthy career of lawsuits against various policies or procedures that, he argues, are unfairly preferential to minority or ethnic groups.

Kamehameha Schools issued a statement on the matter Thursday assuring that they are “confident that our policy aligns with established law, and we will prevail.”

“We anticipated that our nearly 140-year-old admissions policy, providing preference to Native Hawaiian children, would again be challenged,” the statement read. “…Our kula and operational leaders are prepared and committed to vigorously defending the vision of Ke Ali‘i Pauahi.”

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees made its own statement, calling SFFA’s challenge “not only a direct affront to the will and legacy of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, but also an attack on the right of Native Hawaiians to care for our own, on our own terms.”

OHA’s statement noted that SFFA has no connection or commitment to Hawai‘i and that its challenge is not new, but represents one component of an escalating series of attacks against “the hard-won protections that enable our people to heal, rise and chart our future.”

In a 2003 lawsuit, Doe v. Kamehameha Schools, a U.S. District Court ruled in favor of the schools after an unnamed teenager — who was not Native Hawaiian — sought admission to Kamehameha Schools.

, Kamehameha Schools defended its policy on the grounds that it is a privately funded school system and that it exists to correct ongoing imbalances facing Native Hawaiians, particularly an educational need recognized by the U.S. Congress.

 in 2006 that the admissions policy is valid and “designed to counteract the significant, current educational deficits of Native Hawaiian children in Hawai‘i,” Kamehameha Schools 

 $7 million to the student a year later when the case was poised to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Aloha State Daily reached out to OHA, Kamehameha Schools and SFFA for comment.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: The guest trap

Kady Pascual

Social Media Editor

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: The guest trap

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Kady Pascual

Social Media Editor

More in Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

Gotta catch ‘em all — at Ala Moana Center: voices from Pokémon GO’s “Wild Area: Global” event

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