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ASD Staff

When you're fixated on annoying your dog but he enjoys it more than you do...

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Daily Smile: Wednesday, January 14, 2026

"Golden Retrievers are so athletic, I bet he loves to play fetch..."

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Daily Smiles: Tuesday, January 13, 2026

I’m such a helper! I monitor the peaceful transfer of dog food from the big bag to the small bag...

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Daily Smile: Monday, January 12, 2026

Dog discusses what he does for a living...

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Daily Smile: Sunday, January 11, 2026

"When my husband asks me what we did today..."

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Daily Smile: Saturday, January 10, 2026

Who has four paws and is excited for a snow day?

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Daily Smile: Friday, January 9, 2026

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Daily Smile: Thursday, January 8, 2026

Why dogs love sleeping in the bed explained...

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Daily Smile: Wednesday, January 7, 2026

This is Diego. He has discovered a suspicious cactus wearing a sombrero that dances, glows, and mocks his brave alarm barks. Refuses to back down despite clear sorcery. Absolute unit of a watchdog. would hire for home security...

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Daily Smile: Tuesday, January 6, 2026

De Soto 2025

DeSoto Brown

Hawai‘i History

Columnists

Do you remember Ward Warehouse? It was something of a landmark in Kaka‘ako once, but after being demolished nearly 10 years ago it’s now on its way to being forgotten.

The Ward family is foundational to the history of Kaka‘ako. Back in the 19th century, the clan came to own a large tract of land stretching from their private home that was just across King Street from Thomas Square, all the way down to what is now Kewalo Basin. This ownership, of course, is the origin of the name Ward Avenue for the street that formed most of the boundary of the property on its ‘Ewa side.

By the middle of the 20th century, the Ward land contained a mix of private homes and a variety of business tenants. The family-owned corporation that managed the property, Victoria Ward Ltd., started taking small steps towards more lucrative tenants in the 1950s but ramped up its redevelopment goals in the early 1960s by constructing a series of modern, low-rise structures.

A major new commitment came in early 1974 with the start of construction of Ward Warehouse on a 4.1 acre site between Ala Moana Boulevard, Ward Avenue and Auahi Street. The location had some special considerations in that it was covered by two very different types of zoning: one was for retail while the other was strictly for wholesale and industrial uses. The latter category was slightly problematic for what was intended as, essentially, a shopping center open to the public, and initially required a careful selection of tenants.

Designed by architect Steve Au, Ward Warehouse had a notably 1970s appearance. The hippie movement in the USA by this time had popularized more earthy, natural materials, so the complex’s exteriors were dark-stained wood, inspired in particular by a trend-setting development called Sea Ranch in California from the late 1960s. The only outside decorations were sections of bold painted “supergraphics” in geometric patterns. Industrial elements were not covered up but were openly displayed; on the outside, pipes and fittings were painted in bright colors to show them off, along with some oversized machine parts that were installed purely as decor. Inside the rental spaces, high ceilings showed undisguised conduits, light fixtures and air-conditioning ducts. Floors were concrete and walls were mostly unpainted wood. The effect was “honesty” in materials vs shiny synthetic surfaces.

Ward Warehouse opened with 87 tenant spaces; some interiors had the potential for the construction of mezzanines. Parking on the ground level accommodated 250 vehicles while the four-level concrete garage had 400 more spots. A soft opening for some businesses took place in time for Christmas 1974. By April 1975 the complex was placing large display ads in the Honolulu newspapers.

Those who are old enough to have patronized Ward Warehouse will undoubtedly remember particular stores or restaurants they regularly visited. For many people, the Old Spaghetti Factory at the far ‘Ewa end, with its two-story interior spaces, was surely a favorite (it has since moved to Aloha Tower). Embellished by numerous antique light fixtures and other old-time props which the company had been able to accumulate when such items were mostly inexpensive salvage goods from the demolition of 80- or 90-year-old structures in the USA, the low-cost restaurant had a unique feeling in its diverse seating areas.

Of course many other businesses came and went through Ward Warehouse over the years. There was the Liquor Collection which was filled with limited-edition figural ceramic specialty bottles, stores just for outdoor furniture, kitchenware, and flags, and the Nohea Gallery for local artwork of all kinds.

Ward Warehouse was never intended to last throughout the ages. A 1969 newspaper article quoted a statement from Victoria Ward Ltd that said offices and high-rise structures were eventually planned along Ala Moana Boulevard. Closure of the shopping center came on July 31, 2017 followed by demolition that began in November.

Howard Hughes Corporation, by then the owner of the site, first announced that two “ultraluxury” towers would soon rise here, the Ward Village Gateway. One of these was to be the 

 with units offered for prices ranging from $1.3 million to $23 million; these were first put on sale in 2015. But in 2018 the entire project was dropped, even after Howard Hughes had spent $29 million on it, and 28 of the 125 apartments in the Cylinder had been sold. In 2019 Victoria Place was approved for construction on the Waikīkī end of the property. Next to it was the start of the new Victoria Ward Park which would eventually occupy what had been the center part of Ward Warehouse.

However, it wouldn’t be until 2025 that one of the familiar construction cranes would finally be erected on the rest of the former Ward Warehouse, signaling yet another of the Kaka‘ako condominiums to come: Kalae.

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<title>Changing Kaka‘ako: Remembering Ward Warehouse</title>

Ward Warehouse was never meant to last — even the previous owners who built it, Victoria Ward Ltd, always intended for offices and high-rises to take its place. But it had a four-decade run from its 1975 opening to its 2017 demolition, featuring such businesses as Old Spaghetti Factory, Orson's, The Liquor Collection, Nohea Gallery and more. Here's a look back at the shopping center, including a glimpse of the neighborhood before Ward Warehouse came along and fishing, rather than shopping, was the area's industry.

Changing Kaka‘ako: Remembering Ward Warehouse

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Sterling Higa

Crime & Courts

The Moanalua High School girls wrestling team has won five state titles in a row. That is the sort of sentence that usually ends a story. This week it begins one.

Sean Sakaida coached that team through four of those titles. He is 

, accused of producing child pornography with one of his wrestlers. Court records say he began dating the girl when she was in ninth grade.

Within a day of the FBI posting a tip form, two more possible victims came forward.

The morning after Sakaida’s arrest, the mother of his three children walked into Family Court with a handwritten petition for a protective order. She alleged that he abused her children, and she asked the court to keep him away for 20 years.

The courts have not yet ruled. But the public record is already heavy enough to ask: How did he get here?

The wrestlers were children. Their parents signed the permission slips and drove them to practice and trusted a man — and the school that hired him — to help form their daughters.

That formation is what a coach is for. A parent lends a child to a coach for a few hours a day so the child can learn to work hard, compete well, and get up off the mat.

Sakaida, by his own account, made himself available at all hours. In 2012, at Roosevelt High School, a parent accused him of kissing a 13-year-old wrestler and texting other girls as late as 3 a.m. He denied the kiss. He did not deny the texts. He told the Star-Advertiser he was only helping students with their problems, and that former students still called him “because he was always available.”

Every parent should hear alarm bells in that sentence. A 30-year-old man texting other people’s teenage daughters at 3 a.m. is not “available.” He is a threat. Teens have problems, and they should carry those problems to their parents. A coach who becomes the person they carry them to instead has not added something to a family. He has taken something from it. The best-friend coach is a type we have learned to admire. It is a type we should learn to resist.

The Department of Education investigated in 2012. But it never called the police. Sakaida was placed on leave. The next year Moanalua hired him. Moanalua’s athletic director has 

 whether the school knew about the 2012 allegations.

, and anyone with a search engine could have found it in under a minute. If Moanalua knew, that is one kind of trouble. If Moanalua did not check, that is another.

Then Sakaida won: First a few individual champions, then four state titles in a row. In 2025 the school received a complaint that he was in a relationship with a 17-year-old wrestler. The school investigated. Again, no one called the police.

Sakaida was placed on leave, his contract lapsed, and his name went into a confidential registry. According to federal prosecutors, the relationship continued for months afterward. It took a private citizen tipping the FBI in January to bring in anyone with a badge.

Wrestling is a fine sport. It builds tough, hard-working people, because the mat does not lie. It teaches responsibility, because a wrestler who loses cannot blame a teammate.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to win, and nothing wrong with winning. But the desire to win is like fire: useful in the hearth, ruinous in the curtains.

We know what that desire looks like when it gets loose. Students who live in the weight room and skip the classroom. Teenagers taking steroids to gain an edge. Schools that hire a coach with a complaint already on file because his teams bring home hardware.

The desire to win at any cost is idolatry, pure and simple, and idols always want to be fed. In this case, it appears, girls were the offering.

Here is what happens next if nothing changes. The victims will rightly sue. The DOE will settle out of court to avoid the headlines. The settlement will be sealed, and the public will pay the bill without ever learning who knew what. Records requests will die under “pending litigation.” The criminal trial will produce details, and we will consume them the way we consume cold-case podcasts, and then we will forget.

We should not. Every detail that emerges should be read as a specification for reform. A school is not a police department. When a complaint involves a possible sex crime against a child, the school’s first call should be to the people whose job is investigating crimes.

That is already the law. Hawaiʻi makes every school employee a mandated reporter, required to report suspected abuse immediately to Child Welfare Services or the police. It’s not clear that the schools did. The Legislature should ask why, in public, before the settlements seal the answer.

A coaching hire should require a check of past complaints across the whole system, not just a clean criminal record. Parents should ask who is texting their daughter at midnight, and a coach should be dismissed if the answer is him.

Moanalua has a case filled with trophies. At what cost?

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<title>Moanalua won four state titles: Who paid?</title>

In 2012, a parent accused a Roosevelt coach of kissing a 13-year-old wrestler. The next year, Moanalua hired him and he won four state titles. ASD columnist Sterling Higa on idolatry, mandated reporting, and the trophy case nobody wants to look inside.

Moanalua won four state titles: Who paid?

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Haley Lehman

Government & Politics

Aloha Spirit

Honolulu-based Jessica Lee’s 420 hours of volunteer service, success on the varsity I golf team, experience as a violinist and a trip to Boston earned her the Congressional Award Gold Medal this year.

 is awarded to young people who log a minimum of 400 hours of voluntary public service, 200 hours of personal development, 200 hours of physical fitness and a five-day, four-night expedition or exploration during a two-year period. 

Lee became one of 877 gold medalists from across the U.S. this year. She told Aloha State Daily that she aspires to serve the community and treat everyone with kindness.

Congressman Ed Case presented the award, a gold medal from U.S. Congress and a certificate of special recognition to Lee in August. He said that the award encourages high expectations, perseverance, resilience and achievement. Lee is the seventh person to receive the gold medal in his district in the last quarter-century, Case said.

Lee told ASD she was excited when she learned that she would receive the award, and that she found joy in the application process, which reinforced time management skills, discipline and resilience, she said, adding that her volunteer service led her to make new connections and get more involved in her community.

Lee’s volunteer service in health care stems from her grandfather’s experience in Korea after he was diagnosed with lung cancer. She said that her grandfather received misinformation about his diagnosis and treatment, and this experience led her to volunteer in the medical field in Hawaiʻi. 

Lee spent time with elderly patients in the adult care centers at St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaiʻi, interacted with patients and doctors and shadowed medical professionals.

When she started volunteering at St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaiʻi, she saw families facing language barriers that prevented them from fully understanding the information they received from medical professionals. Lee said that when language barriers are removed, patients can ask the right questions and have a greater sense of agency over their medical decisions.

“I noticed that there were different underserved pockets in our community and I wanted to help address those pockets,” she said.

She started a nonprofit called Cancer Health Awareness & Mindfulness Program (

) to empower patients to empower patients through health literacy. Through CHAMP, Lee organizes workshops on cancer risks, prevention strategies and local resources. This summer, CHAMP partnered with 

the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center Skin Van 

to host a skin cancer awareness event at Ala Moana Beach Park.

Lee also helps lead Caring of the Elderly at Punahou School, which serves kūpuna in Mānoa twice a month.

Golf has been a big part of Lee’s life since she was 4 years old when her family moved from New York to Hawaiʻi, she noted.

“Sports are very addicting in a way because you just have this adrenaline, love, passion, for the sport,” she said, adding that playing golf has made her more resilient and taught her about failure.

“Even if you fail or even if you have this one terrible shot, you can still move on and have the bravery and courage to move forward," she continued. "It’s taught me to step out of your comfort zone to do something brave and try.”

The Punahou Varsity I girls golf team won the state championship three years in a row and Lee placed second in the state in 2024.

Lee started playing violin in fourth grade and got involved with the school orchestra in fifth grade.

“I really enjoy playing the violin and experiencing the different repertoire and music that they select,” she said.

During Lee’s trip to Boston in the spring of 2025, she toured college campuses, visited museums, explored the city and tried new foods.

She said that navigating the transportation system was the most challenging part of the trip. It was her first riding the subway, known as the “T," and admittedly got lost at times.

Lee has been advocating for Korean heritage and language in school curriculums since she was in the seventh grade. It started when she voiced to include Korean as part of the Punahou School curriculum during the Damon Speech. She created a petition that 300 students signed and advocated to neighborhood boards and the Hawaiʻi Legislature to include Korean heritage initiatives in schools.

“Families often lose their heritage language in three generations,” she said. “If you can be taught during schools, you can understand your culture more and connect with your grandparents.”

As a senior, Lee is applying to colleges and hopes to pursue the intersection of public health and culture to become a physician. She said she hopes to empower people to have more agency over their medical decisions through health literacy.

“The best way to empower patients is with the information and knowledge and questions to ask.”

Jessica Lee

<title>Punahou School senior earns Congressional Award Gold Medal</title>

Jessica Lee, a senior at Punahou, was awarded the highest honor presented to young people by the U.S. Congress in August for her achievement in voluntary public service, personal development, physical fitness and leadership.

Punahou School senior earns Congressional Award Gold Medal

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Business & Tourism

 — which has locations in Japan and California — is bringing is signature Japanese kissaten-style café experience to Honolulu for a limited time.

The pop-up will be open to the public starting at 10 a.m. Aug. 13, according to Takuma Lathrop, president of Dining Innovation West. It’s located in an enclosed section of TsuruTonTan, which is located in Royal Hawaiian Center.

“We’re friends with the owners of the brand in Japan,” says Lathrop. “They opened in California and we went to check it out; we started talking about the possibility of partnering up.”

Right now, there is no set end date for the pop-up, but Lathrop says it should be open for at least one month. To start, the pop-up will be open to the first 60 customers — no reservations accepted; first-come, first-served — but Lathrop says its hours will eventually be extended.

“As soon as we feel more comfortable to handle more people, we’ll get to a point where there won’t be a limit,” he says. “We just want to make sure we are making the best possible dishes correctly so everyone can enjoy the taste.”

Takagi Coffee is known for its handcrafted, made-to-order souffle pancakes and freshly roasted coffee. The Honolulu pop-up’s menu is more limited, compared to the brand’s California and Japan locations, but will still feature signature dishes, according to Lathrop.

The coffee menu features a house blend ($5), cold brew ($6) and lattes ($7). Customers can also choose from several hot or iced matcha lattes ($7-$9). The matcha cream ($2 add-on) comes highly recommended for the iced matcha lattes.

Souffle pancakes come with toppings like strawberry, mango and matcha (two pieces for $17, four pieces for $22). In addition to your fruit of choice, pancakes are topped with whipped cream, cookie crumbles and vanilla ice cream.

A savory option (two pieces for $18, three pieces for $23) — topped with thick-cut bacon, sunny side-up eggs and hollandaise — is also available. 

“Personally, I like savory things; the savory pancake is really good,” Lathrop says. “It’s surprisingly very hearty and good for people who aren’t super into sweets.”

The pop-up also features Yoshoku (Japanese-style Western dishes) plates, which are served with miso soup.

Choose from omurice ($19), tonkatsu with rice ($20) and wagyu hamburger steak ($22).

The omurice features a more traditional version, according to Lathrop. The Japanese tomato-flavored rice comprises bacon, onions and mushrooms, and is enrobed with a fluffy egg and topped with demi-glace sauce.

The hamburger steak features American wagyu beef and is served with rice and miso soup. The demi-glace is served on the side, so customers can add as much or as little as they want.

Customers can opt for the tonkatsu plate or the katsu sando ($16), which features pork cutlet, veggies, mustard mayonnaise and katsu sauce between pieces of Japanese bread. It’s served with wedge fries on the side.

Customers can also look forward to Japanese-style parfaits ($13), which are layered with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, cornflakes and more.

[{"type":"text","text":"Choose from matcha, fresh strawberries and coffee jelly."}]

The pop-up might add dishes to the menu as time goes on, according to Lathrop, who encourages customers to follow the business on Instagram for updates.

“It’s simple dishes, but executed with very high-quality ingredients,” he says. “Because we’re slowly rolling out, we want to make sure that we can give everybody a good experience.”

Open from 10 a.m. Aug. 13; limited to 60 customers per day (to start)

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<title>Takagi Coffee is a new Japanese-style cafe pop-up in Honolulu</title>

The pop-up is opening to the public on Thursday, Aug. 13, at 10 a.m. It’s within Royal Hawaiian Center’s TsuruTonTan, and for the first few days, the pop-up will be limited to the first 60 customers. Takagi Coffee is serving up sweet and savory Japanese souffle pancakes, omurice, wagyu hamburger steak and layered parfaits.

Takagi Coffee is a new Japanese-style cafe pop-up in Honolulu