Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi
Born and raised in Honolulu, Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi has written 13 books and countless newspaper, magazine and online articles about Hawai‘i’s history, culture, food and lifestyle. She has traveled the world as an award-winning member of the Society of American Travel Writers, including Bali, Pohnpei, Tonga, Macau, Sicily, Singapore and the Czech Republic. When she’s not perfecting prose, you’ll likely find her practicing serves and strokes on an East O‘ahu tennis court. For Aloha State Daily, she writes a monthly column, Uncles & Aunties, sharing the stories of our kūpuna, their lives, and the experiences making the Hawai‘i we know and love.
Latest from Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi
Uncles and Aunties: Joanne “Cookie” Fujio's fight against ALS
When Gary “Black” Miyashiro was diagnosed with ALS, he and his wife, Joanne “Cookie” Fujio immediately became champions of the ALS Network. It's work Joanne has continued to do, a decade after his death. The next Hawai‘i Walk & Roll to Cure ALS is coming up on Saturday, October 11, at Kapi‘olani Park
Cheryl Chee TsutsumiSeptember 15, 2025
USS Missouri volunteer looks back on Navy career
Fifth-generation kama‘āina John Fernie served for 30 years in the U.S. Navy, inspired by his boyhood heroes, and has worked and volunteered as a tour guide at the Missouri since 2006. You'll also find here information on how make reservations for events commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Cheryl Chee TsutsumiAugust 06, 2025
Uncles and Aunties: Malia Davis, inspired to be an animal caretaker by her grandparents
National Zookeeper Week is July 20-26. We spotlight an aunty who has spent half her life taking care of the elephants at Honolulu Zoo.
Cheryl Chee TsutsumiJuly 05, 2025
Uncles and Aunties: Dr. Martina Kamaka brings Hawaiian practices to medicine
Dr. Martina Kamaka comes from the Kamaka family noted for music but medicine has been her muse since childhood. Now she is a professor in the Department of Native Hawaiian Health at the University of Hawaiʻi’s John A. Burns School of Medicine. Part of her kuleana is the māla lāʻau lapaʻau (medicinal garden) of native and Polynesian-introduced plants used for healing that grow in a 3,300-square-foot oasis — which you can visit yourself on an upcoming public work day in the garden.
Cheryl Chee TsutsumiJune 13, 2025
Uncles and Aunties: Barbara Tinius, Ikenobo sensei
Kailuaʻs Barbara Tinius first explored the Japanese art of flower arrangement when woking in Tokyo in the ’80s. She has since achieved 16 levels of certification in the art and teaches classes that you can take yourself.
Cheryl Chee TsutsumiMay 10, 2025
Uncles and Aunties: Melvin Matsuda, the karate farmer of Kahuku
Kahuku-born and -raised, Melvin Matsuda decamped to California in the early ’70s with his black belt and ran successful martial arts schools in San Bernadino and Palm Springs for five years. But when his father asked if he would come home to look after the family farm, he signed on, came home, and never looked back.
Cheryl Chee TsutsumiApril 25, 2025