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Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"Racing to Halloween like..."}]

Smile 26 10 29

<title>Daily Smile: Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026</title>

Racing to Halloween like...

Daily Smile: Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

[{"type":"text","text":"This solo dining restaurant now serves Japanese breakfast."}]

, which opened in the 808 Center in July, is known for its solo dining experience. The eatery’s individualized dining concept is reminiscent of Ichiran, the popular Japanese ramen chain that’s known for its solo dining booths.

Katsu Zen just launched its solo dining breakfast menu, which is available every day except Monday (when the restaurant is closed) from 8 to 10:30 a.m. The solo dining restaurant features 12 seats at the counter; customers can scan the QR code to see the menu and order.

Choose from four set options: broiled fish ($12.99), salmon dashi chazuke ($9.99), soup ($8.99) or meat and eggs ($12.99). Sets usually include a choice of soup, rice, pickles, a side dish and rolled egg.

The broiled fish set comes with a choice of broiled mackerel, broiled salmon or broiled hopakapaka, along with a choice of soup (miso, chicken and vegetable egg, or pork and vegetable). Meanwhile, the salmon dashi chazuke set — which is expected to be a customer favorite — features rice topped with salted salmon, wakame with puff rice, and a dashi-based soup poured on top.

The soup set features your choice of soup with rice, pickles, a side dish and egg omelet. Finally, the meat and eggs set includes Arabiki sausages.

Katsu Zen also recently launched a $5 bento special, according to owner Jared Brown. The $5 bentos are available from 2 to 4:30 p.m. or until sold out. They feature the eatery’s pork loin set, and are slightly smaller than the eatery’s regular portion.

“The bentos are first come, first served,” Brown says. “It’s kind of a give-back deal for the community, just like the $1 cheese pizza slices (that we used to do at Little G Cafe). We don’t make any money on it, but maybe it’ll help somebody else.”

Open from 8 to 10:30 a.m. (breakfast); 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays to Sundays (closed Mondays)

Katsu Zen salmon chazuke 102126

<title>This solo dining restaurant now serves Japanese breakfast</title>

Katsu Zen, the only solo dining restaurant in Hawaiʻi, just launched a new breakfast menu. Its Japanese breakfast — served from 8 to 10:30 a.m. — features broiled fish, salmon dashi chazuke, and soup sets, which usually come with rice, choice of soup, pickles, a side dish and a rolled egg.

This solo dining restaurant now serves Japanese breakfast

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Real Estate

[{"type":"text","text":"Worried about being priced out of paradise?"}]

The upcoming Priced into Paradise expo — hosted by Honolulu City Councilmember Andria Tupola and Tristyn and Kamohai Kalama, stars of HGTV's "

" — aims to flip the adage on its head, connecting potential homebuyers and homeowners with educational opportunities and resources to build their futures here.

Priced into Paradise will span two days: from 3 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11, at Hyatt Place at Ho‘opili, 91-3456 Nana Hope St. in ‘Ewa Beach. Admission is free with registration. Find more information or register at 

Tupola told Aloha State Daily that the event began after doing a podcast with the Kalamas "about how we wanted to help more local families get the educational tools and resources to own homes and stay in Hawai‘i."

"From our podcast, we decided that we would host an event and bring resources and education and nonprofits, government entities, for-profit businesses together and just help families with wherever they were starting from," she continued. 

The first Priced into Paradise event was held at the Blaisdell Center with nearly 90 vendors and three informational sessions "and it was packed," Tupola says. The second year also was held at the Blaisdell with more informational sessions, she told ASD, "because the booths and the resources are great, but a lot of people do come to learn. They want to learn how do they start? How do they fix their credit? How do they get a down payment? What programs are out there? So we're running a lot more educational sessions."

This year, you'll be able to catch three workshops on homebuying, two on home renovations, two on real estate investing, one with WorkHawai‘i and a housing town hall. At the event, you'll also find resources for homebuying and housing; home renovations, construction and property improvements; financing, wealth building and investing; and work and career.

Even for Tupola, chair of the city council's Housing, Homelessness and Parks committee and a homeowner for 18 years, "I have been to Priced into Paradise twice and every time I go, the things that people share [are] so enlightening because when you're a homeowner, you buy a house, but it doesn't come with all the education of insurance and renovations and loans and appreciation and how do you do your equity, so every Priced into Paradise, I, myself, have learned a lot. ... The whole conference is trying to teach local families how you can build your wealth through equity and how you can keep more generations of your family living here."

[{"type":"text","text":"She encourages people to come and learn. "}]

"There's so much that even people who do own homes could learn that would really help them to increase the value of their home."

, CEO of the Honolulu Board of Realtors, presenting sponsor of this year's event, said the organization has been focused on "ensuring that the message gets out that you can become a homeowner — homeownership is possible, you do not have to leave the Islands, and while it may not be easy, it is possible." 

But you need education, access to resources and to understand where you are in the path.

BOR sponsors homebuyer education programs — including a 

 with the Hawai‘i HomeOwnership Center —  but Young notes that Priced into Paradise "fits right in" with BOR's goals of increasing awareness "and that is such a daunting task to get people to truly believe. Our Realtors face it so, so often, where people just can't imagine themselves being a homeowner, so that's why we support the homebuying education."

Young says homeownership can be life-changing because it offers stability.

"If you're renting, you never know if your rent is going to continue to rise," she explains. "Now, if you're in a condo, yes, maintenance fees may go up, but every monthly payment, you are building your own equity and that has long-term benefits for you."

[{"type":"text","text":"Why should someone check out Priced into Paradise? "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Young is quick to answer: the resources."}]

"And it's in a safe space, where everyone coming is generally in, possibly, the same boat as you," she told ASD. "You can get your questions answered, you can get access to the resources, and hopefully, within a year, you actually can become a homeowner."

Oahu neighborhoods homes i Stock

<title>'Priced into Paradise' returns in November</title>

The event, which aims to connect potential homebuyers and homeowners with educational opportunities and resources, will take place Nov. 10 and 11 at Hyatt Place at Ho‘opili.

'Priced into Paradise' returns in November

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

Sports

 opera singer will take the big screen for its Hawaiʻi premiere on Monday, followed by screenings on Thursday, Oct. 29, and Sunday, Nov. 15, as part the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival.

Ta’u Pupu’a, who portrays his younger self in his first acting role in the 10-minute film, “The Platform,” was born in Tonga and drafted to the Cleveland Browns before an injury cut short his football dreams. He then did what most football players do not do … and pursued a career as an opera singer.

Directed by Mark Harris, who was raised in Hawaiʻi and Los Angeles, the film recently won 

Best Drama at the LA Shorts International Film Festival

 and has been nominated for HIFF’s Best Short Film Award.

“This movie is for all ages, all genders; it’s for everyone,” Pupu’a told Aloha State Daily. “It's a story about never giving up. It’s a story of trusting your talents, your faith — and courage.”

The idea for “The Platform” came about after Harris’ mother, Lee Casegrillo, read about the opera singer giving a concert in Hawaiʻi in a local newspaper. She mailed the story to her son, who was living in Los Angeles.

“And he saw it and was like, 'This is incredible. This should be made into a movie,'” Pupu’a said.

Harris and the film’s cowriter, Monica Foley, flew out to New York to meet Pupu’a and pitch the idea.

This week, Oʻahu residents will have the chance to hear Pupu’a, who is in town for the film festival, perform live at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at the Hideout at The Laylow Waikīkī, Autograph Collection.

Pupu’a is one of nine kids and has a sister who lives on Oʻahu, and cousins and extended family who call Oʻahu, Maui and Hawaiʻi Island home.

“I’m very excited to come out there and share this with them,” he said.

He remembers when one of his brothers took a course on classical music at The University of Utah. 

Soon, he was hearing the soaring voices of opera singers such as Luciano Pavarotti and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, which started to plant the seed for a love of classical music.

“He would come home and play a lot of Mozart and Handel and Bach,” Pupu’a said. “I just didn't understand that kind of music, so I used to scream at him,ʻTurn it off. Play some R&B, play some hip hop or something,’ and then I would go to play football.”

When Pupu’a suffered a football career-ending injury, he returned to his parents’ house in Salt Lake City and moved into the basement. He was depressed because the sport had been his life since he was 10 years old.

He went to church and was singing when people turned around to tell him he should do something with his voice.

“I decided to pack my one suitcase — and a backpack full of faith and courage — and move to New York because if you want to be an opera singer, or a Broadway singer, you would come to New York.”

Upon arriving, he walked around a bit, making stops at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The Juilliard School and The Metropolitan Opera House.

“And I thought to myself: ʻHow do I break into this? How do I do this?’” he said.

He looked at the row of restaurants across from The Metropolitan Opera and figured singers and directors would stop there to eat. He crossed the street to inquire about a job and got hired on the spot.

After playing football in front of 90,000 people and getting those kinds of paychecks, becoming a server was an adjustment, he recalled.

“I would finish work around 2 or 3 a.m.,” he said. “I would walk outside of the restaurant tired as a dog, but I would look across the street, and I would see The Metropolitan Opera with its lights on, and Juilliard with the lights on, and I thought to myself: ʻI have to keep going. I have to keep going for my family.’”

Pupu’a talked with students at the local music schools, getting recommendations for voice teachers and pianists. Things took a noteworthy turn when he went to a book signing for a famous Polynesian opera singer he had listened to years earlier: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

“But she looked at the name, and I guess recognized that's a Polynesian name, and then she looked up and saw me, and she sat back and said, ʻDo you live here?’ And I said, ʻYeah.’ And she says, ‘So what do you do?’ And I stood up tall because I'm six- five, so I stood up really tall, and I said ʻI'm a tenor.’”

She asked where he was studying and Pupu’a explained he was not in school but had a private teacher. He also admitted it was hard. Then, the world-renowned Māori soprano mentioned she ran a foundation that helps talented singers and asked him to call her to talk more. He called that night.

When she was back in town six months later, she invited him to her farewell concert at Carnegie Hall and then asked him to sing for her in a room at The Juilliard School. When Pupu’a showed up at Juilliard, the head of the school’s voice department was also in the room.

“And she said, ʻNow sing!’” he said, remembering how the soprano asked him to start. “They had a pianist there, so I started singing.”

Then, the voice director suggested he apply for The Juilliard School.

“And Kiri turned around and looked at me and says, ʻCan you learn five operatic arias in different languages and a monologue in a month?” he said. “And I said, ʻSure! Why not?’”

After two rounds of auditions, he advanced.

“After that, we did countless interviews and lots of coaching to see if we're coachable and all that,” he added. “And then I got a phone call a month later and it said, ʻCongratulations, you're one of four.’”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"He went on to study at Juilliard."}]

It turns out, opera and football have a lot in common, he added. With football, you have the turf and the crowd. With opera, it’s the stage and the audience.

“The only difference is one is wearing a helmet and shoulder pads, and you run around and hit people,” Pupu’a said. “And the other one, you wear wigs and makeup and period costumes. It's the same thing. You're performing in front of an audience, and you're hitting the right note, and you're hitting the right quarterback.”

Recently, “The Platform” screened in Hollywood at the LA Shorts International Film Festival and former musicians came up to Pupu’a and shared they wished they had kept playing music.

“And then I look at them and I said, ‘You know what, it's never too late. Why not?’” the opera singer said. “Go and pick up that cello or whatever instrument you decided to put away, and go for it.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"HOW TO WATCH:"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Monday, Oct. 26 (Oʻahu)"}]

 short film as part of “Pacific Showcase Shorts: Where We Belong”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Tuesday, Oct. 27 (Oʻahu)"}]

Hideout at The Laylow Waikīkī, Autograph Collection

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Thursday, Oct. 29 (Oʻahu)"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sunday, Nov. 15 (Maui)"}]

"The Platform"

<title>Opera singer Ta’u Pupu’a stars in film with Hawaiʻi premiere</title>

This NFL defensive lineman’s career took a noteworthy turn when he decided to become an opera singer. Now that story is captured in the short film “The Platform,” which will have its Hawaiʻi premiere this week.

Opera singer Ta’u Pupu’a stars in film with Hawaiʻi premiere

Ray Tsuchiyama

Columnists

After Hurricane Lala, residents of a Waikīkī high-rise waited 

for power and water to be restored while nearby buildings were already back online, due to its own flooded circuitry.

One storm. One outage. But it points to a much larger question: What happens when Hawaiʻi's aging condominium buildings can no longer keep up with the demands placed on them?

Walk through any 1960s or ’70s-era condominium tower in Waikīkī or Makiki, and you are looking at a building entering a difficult stage of its economic life.

Many of Hawaiʻi's condominium buildings are now 40, 50 or even 60 years old. The issue is not necessarily their structural lives; it is that major systems installed decades ago — plumbing, electrical, elevators and roofs — are increasingly expensive to maintain or replace.

The bills are not small. Some owners are facing special assessments of $50,000, $100,000 or more per unit for repairs and replacement of aging building systems.

And for many owners, their condominium may be the largest asset they own, yet they face a large bill for a unit they may eventually have difficulty selling.

Here is what is missing: Hawaiʻi has a law for terminating a condominium.

 It does not have a practical legal mechanism for turning majority agreement into redevelopment.

Hawaiʻi law provides a process for condominium termination for liquidation through a court-ordered partition sale, which does not address the collective-action problem when a large majority of owners want to sell or rebuild but a minority does not.

Owners are not simply choosing repair over redevelopment.

They often have no practical redevelopment

And zoning can make the problem worse. Tear down an older, grandfathered tower, and current rules may permit less density than the building already contains. A developer may be willing to take on the project, but if the replacement building cannot generate enough value to pay for land, construction, financing and owner buyouts, there is no deal.

The state has never built a door for a redevelopment pathway with development incentives.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Other places have."}]

New South Wales, Australia, created a statutory

 that addresses the collective-action problem. A supermajority can initiate a renewal plan, with a court reviewing the process and protections for dissenting owners, including compensation based on independently determined value.

Florida provides another useful example, although its experience also demonstrates how minority-owner protections can complicate redevelopment and generate litigation.

Japan has gone further in combining condominium-reconstruction mechanisms with urban-planning tools that can allow additional development potential to help finance replacement buildings.

The lesson is not that Hawaiʻi should copy any one system. It is that the problem has already been addressed elsewhere in pieces — and Hawaiʻi needs two of them.

Chapter 514B should be amended to create a condominium-renewal process under which a substantial supermajority of owners could approve a redevelopment plan, subject to independent valuation, notice, financial disclosure, and judicial review.

The principle should be straightforward: dissenting owners deserve fair value and due process, but they should not possess an indefinite veto over a transaction approved by an overwhelming majority and determined to satisfy statutory protections.

A specialized condominium-renewal docket within Hawaiʻi's existing Circuit Court system could develop expertise in these cases without creating an entirely new court.

Second, a way to make the redevelopment economically possible.

Even an approved redevelopment plan is worthless if the replacement building does not pencil.

This is where land economics becomes critical.

Hawaiʻi should establish a statewide statutory framework allowing qualifying older condominiums to seek a defined redevelopment incentive — potentially additional floor area or other development flexibility — when specific criteria are met.

The criteria could include building age, documented physical or financial obsolescence, a professional structural or capital-needs assessment, an approved renewal plan and demonstrated economic feasibility.

This should not become a blank check for developers or a wholesale rewrite of county zoning. The Legislature would establish the rules and eligibility standards; the appropriate authority would administer them against objective criteria; and the courts would address owner rights and the fairness of the renewal process.

The objective would not be to guarantee redevelopment. Some buildings will still be too small, too expensive, or too constrained to make the numbers work. That is a market outcome. But Hawaiʻi should 

This would not apply neatly to every building. Leasehold condominiums present a different problem because the underlying ground lease and landowner's rights must also be addressed. That is a separate legal and economic issue.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Every component already exists somewhere."}]

New South Wales built a mechanism for collective action. Florida offers experience with owner buyouts, dissenters and the litigation that can follow. Japan demonstrates how redevelopment law and additional development potential can sometimes work together to finance replacement buildings. (More on this in future columns.)

Hawaiʻi already knows how to establish special land-use frameworks (e.g. HCDA) when a public policy objective demands them.

What Hawaiʻi lacks is a system that connects these pieces.

We do not need the government to rebuild every aging condominium. We do not need to guarantee developers a profit. And we should not take away the legitimate property rights of minority owners.

But we should give a willing majority of owners a legitimate path to discover whether redevelopment makes more sense than another special assessment.

Hawaiʻi's aging condominium problem is not simply about old buildings. It is about what happens when private property, collective ownership, land economics, and outdated law collide.

Hawaiʻi does not have a shortage of aging condos. It has a shortage of options for renewing them.

That is a shortage the Legislature can fix.

For a parent hoping to pass a Makiki condo to the next generation, the question is no longer simply what the unit is worth. It is whether the building around it has a future.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":" "}]

Ray Tsuchiyama’s series explores one central question: How does Hawai‘i use the wealth and land it already has to create its next economic future? He can be reached at 

Honolulu high rises i Stock 2276409033

<title>Hawaiʻi doesn't have a condo crisis, it has a missing law</title>

Tens of thousands of people in Hawai‘i live in apartment towers that are now a half-century old, or older. Owners face sometimes ruinously expensive assessments to repair or replace aging building systems. Under Hawai‘i law they're stuck. There's no provision for owners to take the radical step of collectively selling their units and handing the building off to someone else to redevelop. Other places have such laws, here's how they work.

Hawaiʻi doesn't have a condo crisis, it has a missing law

Business & Tourism

 is opening its second Waikīkī location on Friday, July 17.

ahu location is on the second level of Waikīkī Beach Walk. The new restaurant — a 

 — features both indoor and outdoor seating.

The Waikīkī Beach Walk restaurant will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The menu at this location is mostly the same as the ones at the other Liliha Bakery restaurants. This location also has a bar menu.

Popular dishes include the eatery’s loco moco ($22.95) — featuring hamburger steak, two eggs and gravy over rice — carved prime rib ($36.95 for 10 ounces, $48.95 for 16 ounces) and three-piece fried chicken plate ($24.95). The eatery’s fried chicken is made to order; three-piece plates come with two chicken thighs and a drumstick.

[{"type":"text","text":"The carved prime rib is available from 11 a.m. on. "}]

Most plates come with the eatery’s signature butter roll, rice, corn, and your choice of potato mac salad or a mixed greens salad.

When it comes to sweeter options, popular choices include the ultimate berries and nuts French toast ($20.50) and mac nut waffard ($20.50). The latter features a mac nut waffle with custard, blueberries, strawberries, mixed nuts and whipped cream.

The eatery’s bakery case is filled with signature desserts like Coco Puffs ($3.75), poi mochi doughnuts ($3.49), matcha Coco Puffs ($3.95), Kouign Amanns ($5.75) and Dubai chocolate brownies ($5.50).

Customers can park at Embassy Suites by Hilton Waikīkī Beach Walk (valet parking).

Liliha Bakery Beach Walk loco moco 071526

<title>First look at Liliha Bakery's new Waikīkī restaurant</title>

The business is opening its sixth location on Oʻahu this Friday, July 17. The Waikīkī Beach Walk restaurant will be open daily and features signature dishes like fried chicken, loco moco, Coco Puffs and poi doughnuts.

First look at Liliha Bakery's new Waikīkī restaurant

Courtyard by Marriott Waikīkī Beach has recently unveiled a comprehensive, multi-million dollar renovation.

Throughout the 405-room property, located on Royal Hawaiian Avenue, you'll find updated guest rooms and public spaces, new spots to grab a bite and other upgrades. 

[{"type":"text","text":"This revamp, according to a recent announcement, includes:"}]

The hotel was originally built in 1969 and last renovated in December 2015, the property team told Aloha State Daily in an email. The renovations for the public spaces began on Aug. 15, 2025, while the renovations for the accommodations started nearly a year earlier, on Oct. 5, 2024.

"This transformation was a natural next step for the hotel, allowing the property to align with the expectations of today’s traveler, whether visiting for business, leisure, or a blend of both," General Manager Paul Garcia said in a statement provided to ASD. "By reimagining its accommodations, on-site spaces and experiences, Courtyard by Marriott Waikiki Beach has created a more flexible, lifestyle-driven environment that reflects the energy of Waikīkī while supporting how guests travel today." 

The team said it could not disclose financial information or specific numbers when asked about the total costs of the renovations.

Daily Smile: Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026

ASD Staff

Reporter

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Daily Smile: Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026

Authors

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