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[{"type":"text","text":"Just like a cartoon..."}]

Smile 26 2 5

<title>Daily Smile: Thursday, February 5, 2026</title>

Just like a cartoon...

Daily Smile: Thursday, February 5, 2026

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

Like the Hawai‘i prep football icons that came before him, Hunter Fujikawa is poised to become the next great quarterback to come out of Mililani High School. 

, Fujikawa, a junior with the Trojans, is hoping his name can be uttered in the same sentence by the time it's all said and done. 

 from schools such as Ohio State, Alabama and Oregon, Fujikawa, a 6-foot-2 four-star quarterback, is on pace to have been on the list of notable alumni regardless of the school that produced him. And prior to this summer, that school would have been Punahou. 

Fujikawa won the starting job on Punahou's varsity team as a freshman and in all likelihood would have held the role for all four years. 

"Just a great opportunity to play under coach 

 and (offensive coordinator) Samson Satele," Fujikawa told Aloha State Daily of his decision to transfer. "Being able to have that caliber of coaches to help me develop and get to the next level. God closes one door and opens another."

Fujikawa is far from the only former Punahou standout to join Mililani this offseason. Star 6-foot-4 receiver Zion White, who began his high school career with the Buffanblu, transferred to national powerhouse IMG Academy for his junior season. White returned to the Islands for his senior year and will suit up for the Trojans alongside Fujikawa. 

"It's been great so far," White said. "Over here, all the boys just have their heads down 24/7, just working super hard."

White and Fujikawa grew up playing against each other on the youth circuit — White for the ‘Ewa Beach Hammerheads and Fujikawa for Fiyah Squad. Fujikawa was a freshman when White was a sophomore racking up college offers before Fujikawa went on to do the same. 

"I knew he had potential," White said of Fujikawa. "We kind of just had to build that relationship. We spent multiple hours just throwing together and just spending time together. And the connection, honestly, hasn't gone anywhere. It feels like a brotherhood in a sense."

In addition to Fujikawa and White, the Trojans will also feature a trio of Satele brothers in linebacker Toa, and defensive linemen Trison and Tayden. Toa and Trison have already committed to Oregon, while Tayden is entering his freshman year. Their father and offensive coordinator, Samson Satele, is a former University of Hawai‘i standout offensive lineman and eight-year NFL veteran. 

"It's been great so far," Fujikawa said of the transition to Mililani. "I love the boys. This team, we should have a great year ahead of us."

White, who is entering his senior year, has already committed to California, choosing the Golden Bears over a 

. Fujikawa, meanwhile, says he's putting his recruitment "on pause" in order to focus on his junior season. 

"Recruiting is going to keep going, but I just want to continue to build relationships with coaches and focus on the season, and then see what happens after," Fujikawa said. 

Mililani's season officially begins on Aug. 14 with a home game against Liberty High School of Henderson, Nev. As a program, the Trojans have two state titles to their name: one in 2014 as the HHSAA Division I champions, their lone top-tiered state crown. Mililani won the 2016 Division I HHSAA state title, but it was the same year the state introduced a new top tier in the Open Division. 

"What everybody wants to do and everyone's vision is winning the state championship," Fujikawa said. 

Added White, when asked about his individual goals for the 2026 season: "I have personal goals, but honestly, I'm a team-first kind of guy and I just want to win states above all." 

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Mililani football 080328

<title>Mililani's new dynamic duo looks to take Trojans back to HHSAA mountaintop</title>

Former Punahou teammates Zion White and Hunter Fujikawa are reunited at Mililani and have the Trojans thinking big ahead of the 2026 high school football season.

Mililani's new dynamic duo looks to take Trojans back to HHSAA mountaintop

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Food & Dining

Arts & Entertainment

The celebrity competitive eater Raina Huang will dine her way through Hawaiʻi this week with 

With 1.3 million followers on her Instagram, she has made stops in Hawaiʻi previously, including in May of 2025, when she participated in 

“I enjoy meeting my Hawaiʻi fans and getting together with my friends on the Island,” she told Aloha State Daily via email.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Her favorite kind of eating contest?"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Dumplings, she said. "}]

— four contests and three meet-and-greet events on Oʻahu — kick off this Friday, Aug. 7, at 1:30 p.m. at Waikīkī Beach Walk Plaza. As part of the event, she will take photos with fans while IL Gelato offers complimentary gelato samples, while supplies last. Later that afternoon at 3:30 p.m., she will head to 

 to eat a towering stack of handrolls in five minutes or less.

On Saturday, Aug. 8, Huang will participate in two signature competitions at the

. There, she will be part of the Kimchi Eating Contest and the Jajangmyeon Eating Contest, which start at 2 p.m. and are followed by a meet-and-greet events with fans.

Finally, Huang will participate in the third annual 

 at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 9. Contestants will compete to see who can eat the most burgers on the clock. Eight contestants — including local food personalities, members of the public, and special guests visiting Hawaiʻi for Korean Festival weekend — will battle for a $1,500 grand prize and the championship title. The contest will be followed by a meet-and-greet event for fans.

Raina Huang

<title>Raina Huang returns for four Hawaiʻi eating contests</title>

This celebrity competitive eater will be in Honolulu this week, with stops at the Korean Festival Hawaiʻi, Nori Bar Waikīkī and Oh My Grill.

Raina Huang returns for four Hawaiʻi eating contests

Aloha Spirit

Influential artist Toshiko Takaezu (1922-2011) was inspired by the places that shaped her youth: Hawaiʻi Island, Maui and Oʻahu. She used glazes like Makaha blue and some of her work includes bits of volcanic sand.

In the art world, she took audiences by surprise when she used clay to create not just functional items, such as ice cream bowls, but her signature “closed form” ceramic sculptures, which included rattles, stones, textiles, paintings and bits of hidden poetry.

Through Sunday, July 26, more than 120 pieces of her work are on display at Honolulu Museum of Art as part of the special exhibit “Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within.” It features the artist’s paintings and textiles, as well as ceramics. Today, HoMA has more than 100 works by Takaezu in its collection, at least a dozen of which are featured in “Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within.”

Sound plays a role in Takaezu’s closed form ceramic sculptures and Leilehua Lanzilotti, a Native Hawaiian composer and a co-curator of the exhibit, demonstrated some of them in videos. The museum also commissioned Dane Hi‘ipoi Nakama, a Hawai‘i-based artist, to create closed form ceramic works inspired by Takaezu’s art, which guests could hold and shake, giving the exhibit a hands-on component.

Takaezu’s relationship with the museum started in 1947, when she took painting classes at what was then known as the Honolulu Academy of Arts. More than a decade later, in 1959, Takaezu had her first solo exhibit at the museum, which was followed by a second one in 1973, and a retrospective of her work until that point, in 1993.

Takaezu eventually went on to take classes at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and later began teaching adult 

 in Honolulu. Eventually, she left Hawaiʻi to attend the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. 

She traveled the world, including Japan to explore her family heritage, Bolivia and Peru to experience other cultures and understand Indigenous crafts; and Guatemala to visit Indigenous weavers, according to the 

, a nonprofit which works to preserve her legacy. She also taught at 

Takaezu died in 2011. But she visited HoMA up until the year before, according to representatives of the museum. Today, the 

, which was her home in New Jersey, still serves as a creative space for public workshops, biennial raku firings for students of Princeton University’s ceramics classes, and artistic residencies. 

Aloha State Daily spoke with Los Angeles-based Darlene Fukuji, who reflected on her great-aunt and the inspirations that shaped Takaezu as an artist and a certain ice cream bowl that art curators want to put behind glass.

How did Hawaiʻi impact Toshiko as a person? And her art?

 No matter where my Auntie Toshi lived, she embraced the nature that was around her. Of course, growing up in Hawaiʻi, on the Big Island and Maui, and then coming eventually to Honolulu or Oʻahu, the nature and environment were just so much a part of her identity and everyday life. She did a great job of capturing some of those colors and hues in a lot of her works. I know times are different now, but back then, she was putting volcanic sand into the glazes, especially after her visit to Devastation Forest and seeing the volcanoes erupt. Now, you wouldn't do that because we just know not to mess with Pele and what that can cause. But back then, I think it was more of a common practice. She definitely wanted to bring Hawaiʻi into her work — quite literally — and did so in a lot of different ways, too.

She was working as a housekeeper. They called it something different back then, but essentially a modern-day housekeeper. It was during World War II times, and [that family] had a production pottery company, which is the Hawaiian Potter's Guild. They did more production wear. So, when you first enter the exhibition, if you look on the left-hand side, there are some examples from that time there. … Because she ended up working for the family that had this production pottery company, that was her first taste into ceramics, and she quickly took to it. But she was also very interested in weavings. One of her first loves was fabric, tapestry weaving, and she captured a lot of Hawaiʻi colors through that, as well. That's how she got started. 

I can’t imagine starting college in my 30s. And deciding you want to be an artist then. She started to take classes or audit classes at UH Mānoa, and that was the time when Claude Horan was starting up the program there, and they would bring in all these world-renowned artists to come and visit and do talks. And she got that bug and wanted to go to Cranbrook [Academy of Art] to study under Maija Grotell.

She went back to school in her 30s. Can you share more about that?

 I can't imagine deciding you want to be an artist in your later years, when everybody's kind of —  I don't know what the normal was, but I'm pretty sure the normal was you get married. You have kids pretty early on. Not go to school and decide you're going to be an artist. But I think she knew she was meant for it, and she went with a group of other artists from Hawaiʻi as well, and went to Cranbrook. 

How would you describe your great-aunt in three words?

 Poetic, bold and truthful. (She laughs).

Yeah, she was not afraid to tell people what was on her mind. Maybe it runs in the family. (More laughter).

My take on her poeticness was the way that she spoke. I don't know how to describe it, but it was almost like the way she spoke was poetic. It wasn't in complete sentences all the time. It was these wise sayings that came across as simple, but very complex at the same time. That's what I mean by poetic. She just was a unique individual. She was a force and had this unique way about her and this draw to her.

What are some of the things you learned from her over the years?

 She lived mostly in the east coast, but would also live a good chunk of time during the summer and then winter times in Hawaiʻi when she wasn't doing workshops all over the place. But when I grew up with her, she always had this entourage around her. I don't know how else to describe it. Lots of friends. And I was young, so I don't quite remember who was who. I just kind of know familiar names, but she was always very adamant on using your hands to make things, to do things — and also education. She was always asking about school and taking a real keen interest in that and being very supportive. 

She helped shape everyone in my family to see the importance of art in our everyday lives. She would make work, and it was meant to be used as functional ware, too. And I think in being a part of protecting and promoting her legacy,  curators [will say things like], ʻOh my gosh, you use this as your fruit tray? Or you use this as your ice cream bowl? This is crazy!’ But she was very humble as a person. In a family, no one cares who you are or what you do, it's just your family. I had no idea she was a famous artist. Like you kind of knew, but not to the extent. And only, I think, in my older age have I started to get a better understanding of how prominent of an artist she is.

Yeah, she made me an ice cream bowl. I lived with my grandma, her sister, for a good amount of time as well, since my parents were divorced. And all the siblings would come over almost every night and drink coffee and talk story, so I  have fond memories of all of the siblings — especially the sisters — being very, very close and supporting one another. My Auntie Toshi supported so many people in our family. We wouldn't be who we are if not for her support and generosity.

What was it like to attend the opening of the exhibit? 

That was definitely a full circle moment. I'm so pleased with the locals who came out to support her legacy. And it was kind of this family reunion where east meets west, because she lived in both the eastern world and western world. And Hawaiʻi is kind of in the middle of all of that, too. And it was a lot to process, so I started just writing my reflections, and then decided to do a poem that I can send to you. Because it just took me a long time to get over this excitement and high of seeing everybody together, from family to her friends to the next generation of [artists].

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"The great abstract expressionist sculptor"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"from Hawai‘i, who paved the way for many"}]

reaching for the stars and shaping her own moons

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"an Uchinanchu woman painting in the round"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"Closed forms holding secret messages"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"Rattles with their own voice"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"Fingerprints tattooed into the glaze"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"Weavings in the hues of Hawai‘i"}]

Full circle back to where she first took a clay class

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"still drawing big crowds"}]

creating reunions of friends, families, artists, students, and apprentices

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"giving honor to the land that shaped her"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"For me it has been a journey of a lifetime"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"seven years in the making,"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"ensuring her place in history."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"Her flowers were given"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"this Valentine’s Day."}]

-Darlene Fukuji, reflecting on her great-aunt, Toshiko Takaezu

free admission for kamaʻāina on the third Sunday of each month

, which includes access to the special exhibit. Explore the galleries and outdoor spaces, plus get creative and become the artist while taking part in hands-on activities. HoMA also offers a number of 

 that correspond with this special exhibit.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Toshiko Takaezu

<title>HoMA features innovative artist with Hawaiʻi Island roots</title>

Artist Toshiko Takaezu first tried her hand at ceramics making functional pieces, but eventually pioneered her signature “closed form” ceramic sculptures, many of which contain rattles. The artist and teacher took inspiration from the places that shaped her youth, including Hawai’i Island, Maui and O’ahu. Learn about her art and how you can see it for free this weekend.

Daily Smile: Thursday, February 5, 2026

ASD Staff

Reporter

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Daily Smile: Thursday, February 5, 2026

Authors

ASD Staff

Reporter

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