Top-secret Japanese Submarines Discovered

Posted on November 13, 2009 | Category: Research

Pisces looking at the deck gun of I-14 underwater submarine wreck. Photo by Wild Life Productions

Two World War II Japanese submarines, designed with revolutionary technology to attack the U.S. mainland, have been discovered off the coast of Oʻahu. They are the I-14, which carried two aircraft while submerged; and the I-201, one of the fastest attack subs of WWII.

The submarines are widely believed to have been intentionally sunk by the U.S. Navy at the end of the war to keep the technology from the Soviet Union.

The announcement of the discovery was made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Hawaiʻi Undersea Research Laboratory at Mānoa and by National Geographic Channel, which documented and partly funded the search mission for the upcoming special Hunt for the Samurai Subs.

Homeless in Hawaiʻi

Posted on November 13, 2009 | Category: General

The Center on the Family at Mānoa and the Homeless Programs Branch of the Hawaiʻi Public Housing Authority have released the Homeless Service Utilization Report: Hawaiʻi 2009.

Authored by Assistant Specialist Sarah Yuan and Director Sylvia Yuen, the report provides state- and county-level data about the demographic characteristics of individuals and households who accessed homeless support services during the 2009 fiscal year.

“We developed the report to provide easy access to important statistics on the homeless, especially for those who need the data to improve policies, programs, and services for the homeless,” says Yuan.

Report highlights
Download the report (3.1 MB PDF)

Eric Yamamoto Receives Justice Award

Posted on November 13, 2009 | Category: Award, People

Eric Yamamoto

Mānoa Professor Eric Yamamoto received the Haʻaheo Award for outstanding contributions to justice for communities in Hawaiʻi and beyond. The award was presented by the American Board of Trial Advocates, Hawaiʻi Chapter, a national organization of prominent trial attorneys.

Perceptions of Saving Coral Reef Studied

Posted on November 13, 2009 | Category: Research

Photo by Kostantinos Stamoulis, Hawaiʻi Coral Reef Initiative.

An analysis done in Hawaiʻi over several years by researchers from Mānoa and Oregon State University found that most people visiting the state’s coral reef ecosystems enjoy them and care deeply about them, and will generally endorse whatever management is needed to protect them.

This is one of the first studies to ever examine what tourists and recreationists actually think about coral reef ecosystems in the islands. The survey suggests that coral reef ecosystems are so stunningly beautiful that almost everyone wants them protected, making any potential controversies over human use versus environmental conservation to be a rare exception. Read more

$1.3 Million in Scholarships Awarded

Posted on November 13, 2009 | Category: Academic

Mānoa’s Shidler College of Business awarded more than $1.3 million in scholarships to 286 business students for the 2009–2010 academic year.

Close to 200 scholarship donors and their respective students attended the Scholarship Luncheon at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaiʻi on Nov. 9, to meet and interact with each other. The annual event recognizes donors for their support of students and their continued commitment to education.

Examining Filipino Culture Nights

Posted on November 13, 2009 | Category: People

Mānoa Associate Professor Theodore Gonzalves published The Day the Dancers Stayed: Performing in the Filipino/American Diaspora, which explores the ways that cultural celebrations challenge official accounts of the past while reinventing culture and history for Filipino American college students.

Pilipino Cultural Nights at American campuses have been a rite of passage for youth culture and a source of local community pride since the 1980s. Through performances—and parodies of them—these celebrations of national identity through music, dance and theatrical narratives reemphasize what it means to be Filipino American. In The Day the Dancers Stayed, Gonzalves uses interviews and participant observer techniques to consider the relationship between the invention of performance repertoire and the development of diasporic identification. Read more

Kudos

Posted on November 13, 2009 | Category: People

At a ceremony on Nov. 6 Katsunori Yamazato, a representative from the University of the Ryukyus, presented the official letter of appointment to Robert Huey.

Mānoa’s Robert N. Huey, director of the Center for Japanese Studies has been appointed a member of the University of Ryukyus’ Management Council, the Japanese equivalent to the UH Board of Regents.

This appointment is not usually bestowed upon a non-Japanese person, and should be recognized as a significant step for the leading university in Okinawa. Read more

Eat Out to Support Culinary Students

Posted on November 13, 2009 | Category: Events

Eat out to support UH culinary students during the Hawaiʻi Restaurant Association’s second annual Restaurant Week Nov. 16–22. Dine at selected restaurants and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Diamond Head.

Dozens of restaurants are participating (including The Pearl at Leeward Community College). Some establishments have special menus for the event.

For the complete list and more information, see the restaurant association website.