Yoko Oki

2008 Silversword Award of Cultural Excellence Recipient

Yoko Shirai was born in Kyoto, Japan on January 28, 1931. She was surrounded by music in her early childhood as her father loved music and played the violin, piano, shamisen and guitar. She moved to Tokyo when she was 13 years old where she graduated from Takatsu Koto Jyogakko. A chance viewing of Sugimura Haruko of Bungaku-za, a famous theatrical group, in Morimoto Kaoru’s play “Onna no Issho” (Life of a Woman) left Yoko with a strong interest in acting. At 17 she was accepted into the Butai Geijutsu Gakuin, Japan’s well-known “Shingeki” performing arts school. There, she learned drama and dance alongside classmates who would later became famous, such as musical composer, Izumi Taku, movie actor, Umezu Sakae, and stage actress, Kitamura Masako, to name a few. Yoko learned both classical and modern ballet from famous dance teachers, Ito Michio and Yada Shigeru. When she was 21, Yoko was fortunate to perform at Yurakuza in the very first postwar performance of a foreign ballet in Japan called “Petoroshika” which was produced by Komaki Masae.

Yoko married a young nisei soldier by the name of Herbert Oki and moved to Hawaii in 1953. Her drama background helped her to develop her career as both a radio and television personality. She worked first as a Japanese radio disc jockey at KIKI, and later at KOHO, and also KZOO, both all-Japanese programming radio stations in Hawaii. Yoko also did a short stint as a TV host on channel 4, then KULA TV. She interviewed many famous Japanese celebrities such as kabuki actor Matsumoto Koshiro and Japanese pro wrestlers, Rikidozan and Rocky Aoki, who later opened up the Benihana Restaurants in the U.S. This introduction to TV and her work in radio led to her career at KIKU, Hawaii’s first all-Japanese programming television station in 1966. Yoko wore many “hats” at KIKU. She was an account executive, a producer, a talent scout, and a program host. She loved the job as it blended her creative talent, natural salesmanship, and her commitment to the Japanese community.

During the 1970’s news from Japan came late and in limited fashion to Hawaii. Yoko felt that the Japanese community deserved to have up-to-the-minute information from Japan. In 1977 she brokered a deal to broadcast daily Japanese news in Hawaii on KSHO, a UHF station. Although it only lasted two years, Yoko developed many contacts in Japan with TBS, Nippon Television, Terebi Asahi, and NHK that led to opportunities in bringing many Japanese shows and commercials to shoot in Hawaii - popular shows such as “Sore Wa Himitsudesu,” “Beat Takeshi’s Genki Ga Deru Terebi,” and “Tetsuwan Dash.” Yoko was also involved in serious programs such as “The Santa Maria,” a Japanese documentary on the travels of Christopher Columbus and she was also the Hawaii correspondent for “Showa Tenno Gohogyo Tokubetsu Bangumi” (Japan’s international special report on the passing of Emperor Hirohito).

With all of her experience in radio, television, and the Japanese community under her belt, Yoko opened Royal Hawaiian Advertising International in 1979, with the help of her two sons. It was one of the first advertising agencies to specialize in the Japanese market. Yoko was involved in many projects that kept Hawaii and Japan connected. Her company represented many successful Japan-based travel guides on Hawaii. She created and published “Magazine Ticket Hawaii,” a local Japanese language guide to local entertainment in Hawaii. She also worked with many Japanese stage productions such as “Takarazuka,” Tabishibai performers, “Umezawa Tomio Gekidan,” and a children’s production called “Kappaza.” In addition, Yoko worked passionately with Matsuri in Hawaii, now the Pan-Pacific Festival, during its fledgling years and well into its current existence. Her company handled the advertising and marketing, but she was truly dedicated to it because she felt so strongly that the local community, especially other issei like herself, would enjoy and appreciate the talent and culture that came from Japan with this festival. She also believed the younger generation could learn more about their ancestral culture and in turn, appreciate their families more.

In 1993 Yoko retired from Royal Hawaiian Advertising, but still remained very active in the Japanese community. She continued to coordinate and assist in the annual service project “Kuakini Hospital Hale Pulama Mau Mochi Tsuki Program” she started in 1977 for the elderly who lived at the nursing home. She did a weekly program at radio KZOO where she read the Japanese version of the New York Times best-selling book and hit movie, “Bridges of Madison County.” She helped to establish the Minyo Minbu Association, a group of local Japanese dance and singing groups. She coordinated karaoke contests for senior citizens. She established a choir group called Echo Ilima and she even penned the lyrics of “Hawaii Neo Hakkei,” a song about the islands of Hawaii (the melody is based on Hole Hole Bushi and composed by Nodaira Tami).

Today, Yoko still practices weekly with her choir group, Echo Ilima and is a proud grandmother of 5. She continues the best she can, as an unofficial ambassador of the Pan-Pacific Festival. She still devotes her time and energy to the Festival, attending the bon dance at the Ho’olaule’a every year, networking with other community organizations, and even hosting some of the visiting Japanese groups. Recently, with some outside funding, but mostly with her own monies, she even published “Natsu Da Matsuri Da, I Love Hawaii,” a book on the first 25 years of the Pan-Pacific Festival.