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[{"type":"text","text":"He showed them deer who’s boss....."}]

Smile 1 3 26

<title>Daily Smile: Saturday, January 3, 2026</title>

He showed them deer who’s boss.....

Daily Smile: Saturday, January 3, 2026

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

 introduced its three-course tasting menu concept in 2024, but it became more consistent last year. Each tasting menu is featured for about a month.

The eatery just launched its January prix fixe menu ($48 per person), which is available from 5 to 7 p.m. until Jan. 31.

It includes the diner’s choice of an appetizer, main course and dessert from a pre-set selection.

“We’ve been having some of the staff come up with the menu items,” says chef Wade Ueoka.

The appetizer selection includes curry kabocha soup with fried basil, roasted vegetable salad and shrimp croquettes.

The salad comprises broccoli, onions, zucchini and carrots, and is topped with bacon, toasted macadamia nuts, dried cranberries and creamy apple cider vinaigrette. It’s a tasty way to eat your veggies (if you’re still trying to keep those New Year’s resolutions). The curry soup is thick and comforting; the kabocha flavor is mild and the soup has a slight spice.

The croquettes are filled with shrimp, carrots, onions, corn and edamame, and are served with a delectable yuzu garlic butter cream sauce.

Choose from entrees like tempura butterfish, Coq au Vin or “Korean mixed plate.” The tempura butterfish is a unique option, featuring a delicate, crispy batter and topped with a kabayaki sauce. It’s served with furikake edamame potato salad, white rice, and cucumber namasu.

Meanwhile, the “Korean mixed plate” includes spicy pork belly, fish jun, fried chicken, taegu salad, housemade kimchi and white rice. Coq au Vin is the eatery’s take on a classic French dish; this version features red wine-braised Jidori chicken with roasted potatoes and stewed vegetables.

Feeling fancy? You can upgrade your entrée to steak frites (supplemental $15), which come with polenta fries and sautéed spinach and mushrooms.

The steak frites and "Korean mixed plate" have been the most popular entrees, according to Ueoka.

“This is steak frites, but instead of regular potato fries, we did polenta fries,” he says.

Dessert choices include “Dubai chocolate” cream puff, pie selection of the day, tiramisu and lemon drop shave ice.

The “Dubai chocolate” cream puff is a nod to the trendy pistachio-filled chocolate bar. This version features a chocolate puff filled with pistachio pastry cream and topped with kataifi. The pie selection of the day will rotate; during our preview, a Waialua chocolate cream pie was served.

The classic tiramisu features light layers of Ladyfingers, mascarpone, coffee mascarpone and whipped cream.

If you enjoy tart, refreshing flavors, go for the lemon drop shave ice. Inspired by the cocktail, this dessert features a petite scoop of Thai basil yuzu sorbet covered with lemon vodka shave ice and lemon zest.

Tasting menu available from 5 to 7 p.m. until Jan. 31

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Artizen by MW chef Wade Ueoka 010625

<title>Artizen by MW launches limited-time January prix fixe menu</title>

The special three-course menu costs $48 per person and is available for dine-in or takeout until Jan. 31.

Artizen by MW launches limited-time January prix fixe menu

Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

Hawaii History

Columnists

Like most properties in Honolulu, this plot of land has seen many uses over the past 200 years. In the days of Kamehameha I, when John Papa ‘I‘i was at court, the parcel of land at the ‘Ewa-Mauka corner of Merchant and Bethel Streets contained the hale (houses) of lesser ali‘i.

These low-ranking chiefs often managed local lands, collected food and goods as tribute for the ali‘i nui, served as warriors, maintained community order, and acted as intermediaries between the maka‘āinana (commoners) and the ruling class. But Kamehameha and most of his court only stayed a few years, moving to Hawai‘i Island in 1812.

In 1854, the Privy Council received a petition requesting a lot on which to build a Sailor’s Home. Meant to provide safe, inexpensive lodging and support for merchant seamen, these homes were a purposeful alternative to waterfront taverns. The petition was granted under strict conditions: no intoxicating liquors, no gambling, no disorder, and no women of "lewd" character allowed. The Sailor’s Home welcomed countless seamen until it was damaged in the fires of 1886, after which it relocated to a large, grassy lot between Richards and Alakea Streets.

Originally founded in Japan in 1880, the Yokohama Specie Bank opened its Honolulu branch in 1892 to serve Japanese merchants and plantation workers. The bank first operated from offices inside the Japanese consulate, and quickly became a trusted financial anchor for a growing community.

In 1908, in response to Honolulu’s growth, construction began on a permanent bank on the corner of Merchant and Bethel Streets where the Sailor’s Home once stood. The yellow brick building was completed in 1910 with elaborate terracotta ornamentation over its arched entrances and oculi, the circular openings at the top of the building. It was proclaimed completely fireproof when it opened because the brick-and-steel building had no exposed wood. It had copper-clad doors and sashes, and the window casings were copper-clad wood and marble.  

While Chinese and Hawaiians held accounts there, most of its depositors were Japanese. The building served as the bank’s Hawaiʻi headquarters for more than three decades, giving the community a sense of permanence. But that all ended on December 7, 1941.

On the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Territorial Governor Joseph Poindexter ordered the immediate closure of three Japanese banks in Hawai‘i. The Yokohama Specie Bank was seized and repurposed. During the war years, it functioned as a military police station, allowing MPs to coordinate with the Honolulu Police Department then headquartered across the street. Offices that once held ledgers and account books were used to store confiscated goods, while the basement was renovated to include toilets, showers, and barred cells to serve as a lockup for drunk soldiers.

In 1954, the U.S. Department of Justice, acting through its Alien Property Custodian, sold the building. It was then leased to the City of Honolulu for use as the Traffic Citation Bureau. Since that time, the building has seen many different occupants. Newspaper advertisements show an investment firm housed there in the 1960s, and the building was home to the Honolulu Magazine offices from 1982 to 2001.

In 2004, the historic building became home to The Cole Academy, a daycare and preschool founded by news editor Gina Mangieri and named for her son. Here begins our account of its ghost stories.

When the school was still operating in the old building, a friend of ours who worked at the academy spent long days teaching there. She shared her tales of strange happenings at the former bank with us.

In the basement, she often went down to do laundry. To keep the heavy door from closing, the staff often propped it open with a paint can. More than once, as our friend turned her back to sort clothes, she heard the scrape of metal on concrete. The door would swing closed on its own as if someone had deliberately moved the paint can. There was no wind in the basement, and no explanation she could ever find.

In the infant room, the babies sometimes behaved in ways that unsettled the caregivers. The infants would laugh and smile, reaching upward with open hands as their eyes stared at something above them. Nothing was there that the adults could see, yet the children’s attention moved as though they were following a presence floating above them.

There was a former teacher who had taken her own life one night on a lonely beach. Once in a while, when all was quiet, staff would catch a brief glimpse of her. Someone would notice the sway of long dreadlocks disappearing around a corner, or experience the sense of someone just out of sight in certain hallways. Though they never fully saw her, they believed it was their lost coworker.

Upstairs, older students spoke freely about someone they called “Uncle.” They talked about him as if he were familiar and kind.

“Uncle’s happy you’re here,” they would say, “He’s protecting us.”

Although the teachers never saw anyone, the children spoke as if “Uncle” were an actual person. They didn’t seem to be afraid of him, and they never questioned his presence.

Additionally, cameras often revealed orbs drifting through rooms when no one was there. The teachers from the infant room saw them too, small points of light seeming to move with intention around the children.

A few years ago, I was asked to come and bless the building. My friend and her coworker showed me around and pointed out the staircase leading to the basement. I looked down and watched in confusion as a red rubber ball bounced up the stairs. Up, up, up it traveled until it reached the floor in front of me. Then it rolled past slowly down the hall. Needless to say, something wanted my attention.

The building never felt violent. Just occupied. It almost seemed as if some of its former occupants enjoyed their time there and simply decided to stay.

Yokohama Specie Bank Building

<title>Hauntings at Honolulu's Yokohama Yokai</title>

On the corner of Merchant and Bethel Streets in Downtown Hotel, you'll find the Yokohama Special Bank Building. It's a storied site, once home to the hale pili of ali‘i. After the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army took over the bank building as a military police station. Is it any wonder occupants have reported strange occurences?

Hauntings at Honolulu's Yokohama Yokai

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

The new NCAA transfer portal for football officially opened on Friday, promising a hectic two weeks that will see plenty of player movement across the country, including at the University of Hawai‘i. 

FBS and FCS players with eligibility remaining were able to enter the portal at midnight Eastern Standard Time on Friday and will have until Jan. 16 to do so. 

In the 2024-2025 academic year, more than 4,900 FBS players and 3,200 FCS players entered the transfer portal, which both set records at the time. There were also two portal periods: One in December 2024 and one in April 2025. The January 2026 window will be the only transfer portal period of the 2025-2026 academic year. 

Despite the portal not opening until Friday, 10 players on the University of Hawai‘i's 2025 roster had already announced their intentions to enter the transfer portal in receivers 

 and Joey Farthing, defensive backs Ben Drake, Deliyon Freeman and Semaj James, defensive lineman Aiden McComber, quarterbacks Luke Weaver and Dermaricus Davis, offensive lineman KT Carter, and punter 

, threw the game-winning touchdown to Nick Cenacle with 10 seconds remaining. He went 

 in place of regular starter Micah Alejado, who dealt with 

 throughout the course of the season. Alejado is expected to return as the starting quarterback and has three years of eligibility remaining, while Weaver will have two seasons of college ball left. 

The nature of the NCAA transfer portal, which officially launched in 2018, has seen adjustments as rules changed in collegiate athletics. When the portal launched, athletes who did not graduate from their previous schools originally had to sit out for a year in academic residence. That is no longer the case, as athletes can compete for their new schools right away. Additionally, a ruling in 2024 allowed student-athletes to transfer an unlimited amount of times. University of Hawai‘i men's basketball senior guard Dre Bullock, for example, is at his fourth school in four years. 

New additions for the University of Hawai‘i football in the upcoming portal period will also have academic considerations. UH-Mānoa's spring semester begins on Jan. 12, while the final day to register for classes is 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 20. 

Hawaii departing QBs 010126

<title>NCAA transfer portal opens for football</title>

The 15-day window for players to enter the portal opened on Friday and closes on Jan. 16.

NCAA transfer portal opens for football

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Crime & Courts

A pair of Hawai‘i Island men were charged in federal court Monday for their alleged role in a years-long fireworks smuggling operation.

Darrel Goo, 52, of Kea‘au, and Cy Tamura, 45, of Hilo, were charged in U.S. District Court with transporting fireworks into Hawai‘i illegally, unlawful transport and storage of explosive materials, and trafficking explosives via interstate commerce. Goo, a convicted felon following a 1994 vehicle theft case, was also charged with being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition.

According to a criminal complaint, Goo had been in contact with Wisconsin-based fireworks wholesaler U.S. Mainland Fireworks Company between 2016 and 2025, arranging each year to bulk-purchase fireworks for as much as $131,000 at once.

To conceal his purchases, Goo allegedly would either pre-pay for the fireworks using multiple money orders through a series of proxies on the Big Island, or simply with cash. He also used the alias John Branco and random addresses in Alaska to further obfuscate his purchases.

The complaint claims that, in 2020, Goo — as “Branco” — ordered 588 cases of aerial fireworks for more than $51,000, which he paid for with 50 $1,000 money orders sent from various Big Island post office locations.

Meanwhile, the complaint states that Tamura would arrange for the transport of shipping containers to the island each year. While the containers would be labeled as containing horticultural materials such as horse hay or potting soil, they would contain the fireworks Goo ordered.

Naturally, the complaint also states that neither Goo nor Tamura had proper licenses to import or store fireworks.

The complaint also alleges that Goo, while traveling to Wisconsin to complete these transactions, would also stop over in Indiana or Kentucky to purchase “overload” fireworks — pyrotechnics containing more explosive material than consumer-grade fireworks.

Also included in the complaint is an affidavit by an IRS criminal investigation special agent, Shaun Morita, who claimed that an undercover investigation recorded Goo and Tamura’s interactions with the Mainland Fireworks Company in 2025. During this year’s transaction — for which Goo paid about $62,500 in cash — Goo told a Mainland Fireworks employee that their sales markup in Hawai‘i ranged between 600% and 1,000%.

In August, a U.S. magistrate judge issued a search warrant for Goo’s and Tamura’s residences, which turned up about 37,000 pounds of fireworks along with various firearms and more than $40,000 in cash. All of the fireworks tested were found to vastly exceed the explosive limits of consumer fireworks: the complaint states that some contained as much as 1,164 times the explosive limit.

“While we are in the early stages of this particular case, and those charged are presumed innocent, it is our intent to send the clear message that the safety of our local communities remains our number one priority,” said U.S. attorney Ken Sorenson in a statement. “Those who compromise that safety by violating federal laws related to commercial fireworks will find themselves facing justice in federal court.”

If convicted, Goo and Tamura each face up to 10 years’ imprisonment and fines as much as $250,000 per count. Goo also faces another 15 years for the gun charge.

Daily Smile: Saturday, January 3, 2026

ASD Staff

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Daily Smile: Saturday, January 3, 2026

Authors

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