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The most bizarre section in Hawai‘i’s 

 is the one that relates to the state’s regulation of population growth. It is a testament to a bygone era informed by misguided local anxieties. 

Runaway population growth across the Hawaiian Islands once occupied the Hawai'i zeitgeist. While much of this mindset persists in the halls of society, it contrasts with Hawai‘i’s contemporary demographic woes. 

Between April 1960 and April 1970, Hawai‘i added 115,510 residents to its population, totalling 748,182 residents across the islands. It was a meteoric rise that stressed the Hawai‘i’s poor infrastructure, corrupt land management practices, and limited housing across the islands. 

Hawai‘i was a young, growing society. The median age of a resident was 25. Much of the State’s dynamism and vigour, in turn, were informed by a mix of talent both local and non-local.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Perhaps it was too much of a good thing. "}]

During this time, national commentators were fretting about the global population’s growth. Paul and Anne Ehrlich had co-authored 

in 1968. Internationally, the Club of Rome furnished the

report, which only further argued against overconsumption. Political views wrapped in scientific dogma started-off a new movement whose cultural salience was confirmed by the 1973 film 

While societies were wasteful and inefficient, these reports didn’t necessarily call for more efficiency. Instead, they called for fewer people. 

While the times have changed, our Constitution’s outdated language shows how we are still stuck in the ’70s. Through national debates over population control, Hawai‘i became a tragic guinea pig that used environmentalism to justify population control, opening the floodgates for arguments against urban development, immigration, and economic growth. 

These conversations continue to plague Hawai‘i’s zeitgeist, most notably when it comes to unnecessary conflict between economic growth and environmental stewardship.

In 1970, the Hawai‘i State Legislature passed Senate Resolution 305, establishing the State’s Temporary Commission on Population Stabilization. A 1972 report issued by the Commission suggested an inverse relationship between environmental stewardship and population growth. 

“It remains to be seen whether or not we will achieve a balance with the limits of the Hawaiian environment in this present period of growth in Hawaiian history,” the 

 warned, “but it should be recognized that with respect to maintaining the quality of the environment, population and prosperity are ‘trade-offs.’ If we expect to maintain a fixed level of pollution and impact on the environment by people in Hawaii, then any increase in one will require a corresponding decrease in the other.”

In the following year, the State Senate once again adopted a resolution calling for the establishment of an optimum state population. “The question of population equilibria among the Islands is a difficult one to answer quantitatively,” a 

 from the Department of Planning and Economic Development warned.

“One must consider the impact on the environment, what ‘quality of life’ should be used as a measure, means of developing a viable economy within a stable population, and the size of population on each Island which will bring about a desirable balance with the social and natural environment of Hawai‘i.”

Nationally, the Commission on Population and the American Future had been established by federal law in March 1970. A final 

 issued by the Commission was submitted to the U.S. Congress in March 1972, with proposals ranging from increased abortion access to voluntary sterilization to stricter immigration controls. Out of political embarrassment for its recommendations, the Nixon Administration largely distanced itself from the Commission.

However, the rhetoric which argued for limits on immigration had devastating consequences. In the present-day, arguments blaming immigrants for environmental degradation have had devastating 

Back in Hawai‘i, the reports stacked on one another. In 1972, Earl R. Babbie of the civic organization 

, a major argument for a cap on Hawai‘i’s population at one million (Hawai‘i’s population reached this threshold in the mid-’80s). 

These reports built a case for a more permanent state agency tasked with controlling the state’s population growth. As a result, the Commission on Population Stabilization and the Hawaiian Future was 

A primary architect of the measure, Nadao Yoshinga, was not solely worried about the influx of outsiders. Natural population growth among existing residents was another worry. Yoshinaga, an influential member of the State Senate, would 

 in the name of limited Hawai‘i’s population growth over the coming years. Limiting population by whatever means necessary (in the confines of the law) was the objective.

At around this time, Robert C. Schmitt, the State Statistician of Hawai‘i, 

 of the emerging field of population policy. Proponents of population control, at least in the early Statehood era, had started to organize in the late ’60s through such organizations as the University of Hawai‘i-sponsored Zero Population Growth-Honoulu, Citizens for Hawai‘i, Life of the Land, the Sierra Club, and Save our Surf. 

These groups advocated for policies to halt population migration, economic development, and other factors like densified communities in the name of environmentalism. Perhaps tragically, this misguided approach to Hawai‘i’s prevailing problems created a manichean world of values in conflict with one another.

Arguments for population control in the name of environmental stewardship had a real impact on policy in the late ’70s. Most notably, this came to a head in 1977.

During his annual State of the State address, Governor George Ariyoshi directly addressed population control, arguing for immigration controls and density regulation in the name of the ‘aloha spirit.’

“The problem of excessive population seems to be central to nearly every problem in the State.” he started. “Too many people means too few jobs and too much competition for them. Too many people means too little land for agriculture, parks, and scenic vistas. Too many people means too much crime and too much erosion of possibly our single most important commodity: the Aloha Spirit. Too many people means too much pressure on all our governmental and private institutions.” 

Ariyoshi wanted fewer people in Hawai‘i, plain and simple. To reinforce his views, the State Legislature even sponsored a 

 on population and the Hawaiian future in March 1977. 

One piece of legislation would have discriminated against recent arrivals to Hawai‘i through residency requirements for state jobs. A Federal Judge based in Honolulu, the part-Hawaiian Sam P. King, condemned the State of Hawai‘i’s flirtation with a flagrantly “anti-migratory” statute.

These attempts provide a marked contrast with the present day. In January 2025, the Department of Human Services 

 that the State suffers from a vacancy rate of 24% of all civil services positions (equivalent to more than 4,000 jobs). 

Nevertheless, Hawai‘i still inserted a section into its Constitution at the 1978 Constitutional Convention that called for population planning. To date, it is the only Constitution in the United States with such explicit language.

Instead of promoting smarter urban planning methods that conserved space while reducing sprawl or incentivizing farmers to bring more fallow agricultural land into cultivation, it was more convenient to blame the outside migrants for Hawai‘i’s development problems.

Instead of fostering solutions which invite greater societal innovation, it is more convenient to fall for an ideology wrapped in the veneer of science. 

Since 1970, Hawai‘i’s population fortunes have reversed.

Global population growth is not exponential, nor could it sustain the growth rates witnessed after the Second World War. In fact, our planet’s 

 will likely begin declining before 2100. 

The paranoia of the ’70s became irrelevant over the following decade. By 1983, the Commission on Population and the Hawaiian Future had been abolished.

For a majority of Hawai‘i’s residents in 2025, the ’70s are a foreign, unknown domain. Since Hawai‘i’s 

 was 41 as of 2024, it’s safe to conclude more than half of Hawai‘i’s population was born after 1980.

Today, Hawai‘i is missing people. It is one of the fastest aging states in the United States. The population is contracting, with more than half of all Native Hawaiians on the planet living outside of the archipelago.

Culturally, it is still easy to blame the outsider for our own problems. Instead of acknowledging our own complicitly in failing to plan for the future, it is far easier to find that the outsider is only exacerbating the problems we are not addressing. Policies which now arrest growth not only injure potential migrants. They also hurt residents.

The debates over population control in the ’70s were about a fear of change and a society’s failure to properly navigate the pressures wrought by new forces.

Contemporary conflicts over growth still magnify this attitude. Not unironically, stewarding Hawai‘i’s environment means Hawai‘i’s environment needs to also steward Hawai‘i’s people.

“It should be remembered,” Governor John Burns said in 

, “that the key ingredient in any environment is man himself: he is part and parcel of and the key to the value of our total system of symbiotic relationships on this earth. Being a part of the environment demands that we consider human economics together with biological ecology.” 

“If man is hungry, ill-housed, undereducated or poorly treated in his society,” he wondered, “what service is it to him that his environment remains in its pristine, natural state?”

A society without one cannot have the other. We need to think about growth, not stabilization. We need to think about people.

In our own time, we need a Constitution whose thinking is not tethered to the past. While the language in outdated documents like our Constitution locks our zeitgeist in another time, we need to get over our history. We need a better zeitgeist.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Crowd i Stock 1357524756

<title>Hawai‘i's bizarre legacy of population control (and why it's still here)</title>

In the 1970s, Hawai‘i gave in to fears of overpopulation, so much so that population control was put into the State Constitution.

Hawai‘i's bizarre legacy of population control (and why it's still here)

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

Hawaii History

Kāhala Mall — the first enclosed, air-conditioned shopping center in the Islands — celebrates its 55th anniversary in October.

“Celebrating 55 years really means the world to us, and we truly couldn’t have done it without the incredible partnerships we’ve built with our merchants, the loyalty of our customers and the unwavering support of this amazing community,” 

Ezy Paeste said in statement. “Over the years, we’ve witnessed so many special moments unfold here — teens landing their first jobs, couples on their first dates, families and friends turning visits into lasting traditions. Some folks have been coming here for generations, and now we’re seeing their children and grandchildren strolling through the same halls. It’s been an absolute honor to be part of those memories and to grow alongside this community through the years.”

Now home to nearly 100 retailers, restaurants and service providers, the East Honolulu retail hub opened in 1970. But its origins date back even earlier.

What was then called the Wai‘alae Shopping Center opened in November 1954 by Bishop Estate, according to a timeline included in a recent announcement from the mall. It featured a Piggly Wiggly grocery store, later Star Market, and Longs Drugs, and had the state's first Woolworth variety store and Wai‘alae Bowl.

In 1957, Kāhala Barber Shop, which is still in operation today, opened in phase 2. The next year, Liberty House opened in a 70,000-square-foot space.

[{"type":"text","text":"Here are some more timeline tidbits:"}]

 formed the Kāhala Center Co. to redevelop the open-air Wai‘alae Shopping Center into the state's first fully enclosed, air-conditioned shopping mall.

: Construction begins and the existing anchor stores — Longs Drugs, Liberty House and Star Market — remain opened. The H-1 freeway is also under construction at the same time.

: Kāhala Mall officially opens, with anchor tenants that include JC Penney, Longs Drugs, Liberty House, Star Market and other early merchants like Yum Yum Tree, Zales, Kāhala Barber and Reyn's.

: Compleat Kitchen opens in 1976 and Calista by Cotton Cargo opens in 1979. Both shops are still open today.

: Consolidated Theatres opens its eight-screen complex, which underwent a complete renovation in 2020-21, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

: California Pizza Kitchen opens its first restaurant in the Islands — and the first outside of California.

Pizza Hut (1986), Jeans Warehouse (1987), The Paperie (1991), Marsha Nadalin Salon & Spa (1993), Sanrio Surprises, GNC (1996), 

, American Savings Bank (1997), GameStop, Pictures Plus (1998), Panda Express (1999) and Chili’s (2000).

: Starbucks opens its first Hawai‘i location at Kāhala Mall.

: Flash flooding on March 31 damages about 60 of the mall's 90 businesses but the mall quickly reopens.

: Whole Foods Market opens its first Hawai‘i location in the space formerly occupied by Piggly Wiggly and Star Market.

: Kāhala Mall spans 414,000 square feet with nearly 100 tenants. Thirty merchants have operated there for a decade or more.

commemorative merchant flags featuring photographs of longstanding tenants will be displayed throughout the center, the announcement noted.

According to the mall, popular gift-with-purchase promotions will showcase the colors and design of the Kahala Mall carpet, a recognizable feature of the center for decades. You can receive these limited-edition gifts in September and throughout the holiday season.

Follow @kahalamall on social media to see photos of the Center's early days and through the years. Customers also can share their own memories of Kahala Mall by tagging #KahalaMall55 for a chance to win Kahala Mall gift cards and a grand staycation at the Kahala Hotel & Resort.

Kahala Mall is located at 4211 Waialae Ave., and open from 

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Old Longs Drugs

<title>55 years of Kāhala Mall</title>

The first enclosed, air-conditioned shopping center in the Islands celebrates its 55th anniversary in October.

55 years of Kāhala Mall

Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

The Mānoa Falls Trail is one of Oʻahu’s most beloved hikes, leading through lush rainforest to a 150-foot waterfall at the back of Mānoa Valley. Managed by the state’s Nā Ala Hele trail system since 1988, the path is maintained as part of the Honolulu Mauka Trail System, which links multiple routes across the ridges and valleys above Honolulu. In recent years, the trail underwent significant improvements to better accommodate the many visitors who explore the valley each day.

While a popular attraction, the trail has also seen its share of challenges. The Honolulu Fire Department regularly responds to rescues for lost or injured hikers, with some requiring helicopter evacuations. In rare but serious cases, hikers have suffered fatal accidents near the waterfall itself. Temporary closures are also not uncommon, especially after heavy rain or storm damage, when fallen trees and slippery terrain make conditions dangerous.

By day, the Mānoa Falls Trail feels like a living postcard. Its lush forest and idyllic scenery draw countless visitors to its famous water cascade. But as with many places in Hawaiʻi, the beauty of the landscape holds a deeper layer of stories passed down through generations. Long after the hikers have gone home and the valley quiets under the canopy of trees, Mānoa takes on an entirely different presence that locals whisper about with caution, and visitors sometimes stumble upon when they least expect it. It is in these hushed moments, after dark, that the trail reveals its other side.

One weekend night in the early 1970s, Vance went on a double date with a friend. His girlfriend was beside him in the front seat, while the second couple sat in the back. On a whim, the group decided to drive up toward Mānoa Falls. They reached the chain that blocked cars from going farther and parked beneath the trees. It was late, and the valley was wrapped in silence and heavy darkness. The two couples sat for a while talking inside the car. That was when Vance noticed something strange: two eyes, suspended in the air in front of them.

At first, he didn’t understand what he was looking at. But the longer he stared, the more dread crept in.

[{"type":"text","text":"Grabbing his date’s arm, he blurted out, “Look! Eyes!”"}]

She followed his gaze and screamed, as did his friend’s date when she looked up. In the back seat, Vance’s friend kept his head down, refusing to see for himself.

“No! No! I’m not looking!” he shouted when Vance demanded to know if he could see it too.

The hair rose on Vance’s neck, chicken skin running down his arms. In a rush of panic, he started the engine, threw the car in reverse, and sped down the road, not slowing until they were safely back in the residential streets of the valley.

Years later, Vance shared the story with a younger co-worker who had graduated from Roosevelt High School. The co-worker grew animated and hurried off to fetch an old yearbook. Flipping through the pages, he pointed out a photograph of students standing at the same chain that blocked the Mānoa Falls trail. In the picture, clear as day, were a pair of eyes. This time, they were not high up in the trees, but close to the ground. It wasn’t a trick of light or imagination. That picture, he said, is still in that old Roosevelt High School yearbook. Vance was shaken all over again.

His unease deepened when, on a tour years later, he listened to storyteller Glen Grant describe disembodied eyes seen across the island with warnings not to follow, for they beckoned people to the other side. Standing there listening to Glen’s stories, Vance’s wife turned to him, eyes wide, and whispered, “That’s exactly what you’ve been telling me all these years.”

Those strange encounters in the 1970s weren’t the last time someone would see something unusual there. Just a few years ago, while the trail was officially closed for maintenance, four friends decided to visit at night, hoping to capture evidence of something paranormal on video. They had already made stops at Morgan’s Corner and Tantalus Drive when one of them suggested the Mānoa Falls Trail.

[{"type":"text","text":"It was a moonless night, so he joked, “Guarantee get night marchers!”"}]

The group’s excitement overrode any hesitation that an individual might have had. Around midnight, they parked in the middle of the dark road, headlights shining on the closed gate. One man stayed behind in the car to take a call from his girlfriend, while the other three stepped out with their phones set to record. A cool breeze moved through the valley, carrying the damp scent of mud and rotting vegetation. Mosquitoes buzzed in their ears. One man held an EMF meter, but its lights stayed still and dark.

[{"type":"text","text":"Then came the first sign that something wasn’t right."}]

“Aw man, my phone died!” one of them shouted, and seconds later another man’s phone went black.

Confused, they huddled by the car, trying to make sense of the sudden power loss, while the fourth man inside continued his call without interruption. Out of the corner of his eye, one of the men caught movement by the trail. His blood went cold; not from thoughts of ghosts but of feral pigs. He grabbed a flashlight from the car, but the beam was weak, and the shadows at the gate were impenetrable. Uneasy, he climbed back inside the car and called to his friends, who had moved closer to the gate.

Several long minutes passed before the pair suddenly ran back and jumped into the vehicle. The driver started the engine and tore down the rough road, potholes rattling the tires, not slowing until they reached the residential neighborhood.

After they’d finally calmed down, the two men explained what happened. As they approached the gate, they saw a pair of white lights floating about four feet off the ground. They looked like two eyes. It was weird and confusing, and neither of them could figure out what they were looking at—two lights, about the same distance apart as a pair of eyes on someone’s face. But there was no face, no head, no body. The lights slowly seemed to drift closer toward them, and when they got about a foot in front of the gate, they blinked. That’s when the men took off running. I asked if they got it on video, but they did not.

“I wasn’t aiming the camera right at the lights, so all I got was bushes and then the blurry road as we were running back to the car. But seriously, we saw what we saw.”

I then asked if they would ever return to try to get whatever they saw on video, and he laughed and said, “Maybe. Probably not for a long time, but maybe.”

Gate to Manoa Falls Trail 2

<title>Disembodied eyes at Mānoa Falls Trail</title>

If you look out into the dark of night at this storied trail, something just might look back at you.

Disembodied eyes at Mānoa Falls Trail

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

 throughout much of the state, only one plan to extract freshwater from the ocean remains active.

Three separate desalination projects have been proposed on different islands over the last decade. But of those three, only one is still being developed, while another project has ended and the third never really began.

Pūlama Lāna‘i, the land management company established in 2012 by the island’s owner Larry Ellison, had plans to develop a desalination plant on the island in order to support greater housing developments on the island. Maui County planning records 

 that the facility, a 15-acre plant located near Manele Golf Course on the island’s southern coast, would be able to provide 5 million gallons of freshwater per day.

However, by 2015, those plans stalled, after the Lāna‘i Planning Commission only granted Pūlama Lāna‘i a 15-year permit for the facility, rather than a 30-year one as initially requested.

 from Planning Commission meetings in 2014 show skepticism from commissioners and residents about the project, including concerns about the health of the island’s aquifer, which was already overextended at the time, and the potential for a failure at the plant to compromise the island’s primary water source.

 in 2015 suggested that Pūlama Lāna‘i still intended to develop a desalination plant, but as of 2025, no such plans have materialized.

Two other desalination projects have produced more tangible results. In 2018, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded $1.9 million to the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai‘i Authority to develop a prototype solar-powered desalination facility in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island.

That facility was reportedly successful, with project partner Trevi Systems 

 in 2024 that the facility could produce 500 cubic meters — about 132,000 gallons — of fresh water per day without reliance on an external energy grid.

However, the NELHA facility was a test project only that 

 between June 2022 and September 2023. While the project paved the way for larger-scale renewable desalination facilities in the future, none have so far been proposed for Hawai‘i.

The third facility, planned on O‘ahu, is gradually moving toward reality. The Kalaeloa Seawater Desalination Facility is planned for construction at Campbell Industrial Park, with a proposed yield of 1.7 million gallons of water per day.

, Honolulu County consumed nearly 45 billion gallons of water between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024, averaging out to about 123 million gallons per day.

While construction has not yet started on the $204 million Kalaeloa facility — which is scheduled to go online in 2027 — the bureaucratic process continues apace. According to a project 

, the Honolulu Board of Water Supply approved in May a test report that concluded that the water produced by the facility will not cause any detrimental impact to customer pipes or existing water infrastructure.

Aloha State Daily reached out to the Board of Water Supply, NELHA and Pūlama Lāna‘i for comment.

Kona1 0 16x9

<title>Still salty: Only one desalination project in Hawai‘i still alive</title>

The ongoing legal battle over water on Maui amid drought conditions had us wondering — we're surrounded by water, could desalination help ease Hawai‘i's water woes? Here's what we've learned about three desalination projects in the Islands.

Still salty: Only one desalination project in Hawai‘i still alive

Ala Moana Shopping Center is said to be the largest open-air mall in the world, but its beginnings were far humbler. Long before the plans were drawn and the foundation was laid, this flat, sandy area was once filled with loko i‘a (fishponds) and loko i‘a kalo (taro fields used to raise small fish). The ‘ili (land division) of Kālia ran from the ‘Ewa end of Ala Moana Center to what is now Halekūlani Hotel.

Within these wetlands, wildlife was abundant, and Hawaiian families lived and worked to care for the land and feed their people. They raised their children here, and served their ali‘i as was required, and lived out their years as a community of abundance. 

In the 1920s, the landscape of Kālia changed drastically as the Ala Wai Canal was created. The marshes, the lo‘i kalo, and loko i‘a were filled in with the dredge from the canal project, leaving a foundation for future developers. Later, a daring idea of an expansive, two-level, open-air mall broke ground. In August 1959, Ala Moana opened its doors, and almost overnight, it reshaped Honolulu’s commercial landscape. Where Fort Street once bustled as the city’s premier shopping district, lined with department stores and filled with foot traffic, Ala Moana offered something new and modern. With its wide walkways, ample parking, and a design that encouraged strolling between open-air shops, the mall became the city’s new hub for commerce and social life.

The shopping mall grew steadily, adding new wings and anchor stores as Honolulu expanded around it. Soon, Ala Moana Center was recognized as an international destination, blending entertainment, everyday necessities, and luxury stores. Its stage in the center court became a place for hula shows, school performances, and community events, reminding shoppers that the center is also a gathering place.

But beneath the polished storefronts and bustling walkways lies a much older story—one that reaches back to the days when Kālia was nothing more than sand, wetlands, and fishponds. In those sands, generations of Hawaiians laid their loved ones to rest. Though the newspapers of the 1950s said nothing of such discoveries during construction, the uncovering of pre-contact burials in the immediate vicinity in recent years reminds us that Ala Moana was not built on empty ground.

Behind the scenes, often out of view of the customers, Ala Moana Shopping Center takes on another life entirely. Employees who have worked its halls day in and day out tell of shadows that do not belong to any living person, of whispers caught in the stillness, and of presences that refuse to let go of the space.

One former worker at Sears confessed that the stockroom was unbearably haunted. At first, she just saw glimpses of a small girl darting between racks where no child should have been. After a few weeks, sightings of this girl were constant, even early in the mornings before the store opened. Another person stated that he once saw a man gliding across the sales floor in the middle of the day. He emphasized gliding.

“As in, his body didn’t bounce like a normal person walking,” he said, “The dude literally floated across the floor because he had no feet!”

There were strange sounds, too. At night, it sounded like hangers scraping over the metal bars of the clothing racks when no one was nearby. Others claimed to hear heavy ladders being dragged across the tile floors. The most numerous complaints were strange footsteps. One person said they’d often hear steps behind them as if someone was following them. Another said they heard what sounded like dozens of people walking past, but the store was already closed and no one was there.

And then there are the stories from the loading docks, places few shoppers ever notice. One man remembers working late at night, running air conditioning conduits overhead along the Mauka side and through the service corridor near where the old Arby’s used to be. As they approached the service corridor, one man jumped down from the scissor lift to open the door. He struggled a bit and realized that it was locked tight, the knob refusing to turn.

He turned around and started walking back to the lift, calling out, “The door’s locked!”

Suddenly, the door swung open behind him. For a long moment, no one spoke. The four men stared at the open doorway, the echo of what had just happened leaving their skin cold. Two decades later, the memory still lingers, sharper than any dream.

Another construction worker shared his story about the area when Foodland used to be near the Post Office. They were working on renovations, and in the middle of the day, he saw a Hawaiian woman walking through the construction area. He yelled at her because she was barefoot and not wearing a hard hat. As he rushed to approach her, he said she just walked right through the wall.

The old-timers at Sears whispered that Ala Moana sits atop a portal, a crossing point for spirits. Although the center has changed dramatically over the years, some things, like hauntings and portals, neer go away. Maybe it was the sandy ground, once used for burials, or maybe something older still, tied to the waters and fishponds that once filled Kālia. Whatever the reason, the mall seems to hold open a door to the other side.

Ala Moana Loading Dock Gates Large

<title>Hauntings at Hawai‘i’s Biggest Mall</title>

With a long history of Hawaiians living in the area prior to Ala Mona Center's development, the shopping center has been home to many strange and eerie sightings.

Hauntings at Hawai‘i’s Biggest Mall

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

I was recently driving on McCully Street and a new restaurant sign caught my eye. I made it a point to look it up and find out more.

 opened about two weeks ago on McCully Street in the former space of Izakaya Torae Torae. The eatery started by opening for dinner — its menu features udon and izakaya-style small plates — and just started its lunch service.

Lunch features counter seating only, while the entire restaurant is open for dinner.

The lunch menu is more limited, compared to the eatery’s dinner options. The lunch menu features udon sets, which all come with a mini salad, kinpira gobo and mix rice (made with hijiki seaweed).

The noodles and sauces are made in house. We’re told that the restaurant gets its flour from Sun Noodle — who imports it from Japan — and uses a special machine to make the noodles. The udon noodles here are known for their firmer, chewier texture.

This dipping-style udon is the eatery’s signature dish. We’re told this udon style is from Saitama prefecture, which is north of Tokyo. 

The noodles are served cold, separately from the broth, and customers dip the noodles into the hot broth at their leisure. This process ensures the noodles stay chewy throughout the duration of meal, instead of getting softer as they sit in the broth.

Pork or chicken can be included in the hot broth, if customers desire a more savory, meatier flavor. I enjoyed the noodles’ elasticity and chewy texture.

The shrimp tempura udon set comprises hot udon served with two pieces of shrimp tempura. This set features udon served in a more familiar way, and noodles are slightly softer, especially when sitting in the broth for some time.

Other lunch sets include curry udon, which features a curry-based soup ($21.50); tanuki udon ($18), or udon in a hot dashi broth with tempura flakes; and kitsune udon ($19). The latter features hot udon with jumbo inari.

Meanwhile, the dinner menu includes pūpū like takoyaki ($9.75), salted seaweed cabbage ($5.50), fried squid skewers ($7), inari sushi ($4), agedashi tofu ($8.50) and more. You can also choose from bowls like kake udon ($13.50), zaru udon ($13.50) and more.

Udon Yonpachi is open for dine-in only (no reservations accepted), but the eatery will eventually offer takeout. Limited customer parking is available in the restaurant’s lot.

Open for lunch 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, dinner 5-10 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays

Limited customer parking is available at the restaurant

Udon Yonpachi noodles 081825

<title>New udon spot open in McCully</title>

Udon Yonpachi offers firmer, chewier noodles served with a hot dipping sauce. The new eatery recently started opening for lunch with a variety of noodle sets.

New udon spot open in McCully

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Aloha Spirit

Cassondra “Cassie” Christman, a volunteer at Maui Humane Society who wears many hats, loves working with animals — dogs in particular. Christman has used her own social media platform to advocate for adopting and fostering furry friends, in addition to sharing the organization’s needs from wishlists for specific pets to relocating dogs from Molokai and Lānaʻi.

Cassie and Walnut

Meet this Maui Humane Society volunteer and the pets she cares for

ASD icon blue inverse lighter

ASD Staff

Broccoli Cheddar

Adopt-a-Pet Maui: Curious cat named 'Broccoli Cheddar' needs a safe home

Three-year-old terrier mix Bingo, formerly known as Kinako, was adopted on Aug. 8 by Matt Yoshika and Chiako Fukushima. Aloha State Daily featured this 29-pound pooch on April 4.

Adopt a Pet

Meet this Maui Humane Society volunteer and the pets she cares for

Adopt-a-Pet Maui: Curious cat named 'Broccoli Cheddar' needs a safe home

Adopt-a-Pet Sept. 11, 2025: Kinako, renamed Bingo, has found a furever family

Adopt-a-Pet Aug. 28, 2025: Build a lasting bond with Booboo

Adopt-a-Pet Aug. 28, 2025: Loki is looking for his future bestie

Adopt a Pet Aug. 20, 2025: Here's the scoop on Bee-Boop

Adopt-a-Pet Aug. 14, 2025: Eddie 'eagerly explores all the world has to offer'

Adopt-a-Pet Aug. 7, 2025: Ben the cat loves gentle pets and treats

Adopt-a-Pet Aug. 7, 2025: Lu + you = forever ʻohana

Adopt-a-Pet July 31, 2025: Moo, with black and white spotted fur, canʻt wait to meet you

Adopt-a-Pet July 31, 2025: Axle has a big heart and goofy personality

Adopt-a-Pet July 24, 2025: ʻFall in love with Gage and his snaggletoothʻ

Adopt-a-Pet July 24, 2025: Cruise with Kruz, a mixed breed dog

Adopt-a-Pet July 17, 2025: Toby, visually and hearing impaired, with so much love to give

Adopt-a-Pet July 17, 2025: Shaggy knows tricks like ʻsitʻ and ʻdownʻ

Adopt-a-Pet July 10, 2025: Debo never wants to be left behind

Adopt-a-Pet July 10, 2025: Wally wants to find a new home

Adopt-a-Pet July 3, 2025: Cheddar makes life better!