By GWEN MURANAKA, Rafu Senior Editor
The presses are silent and a vital voice is stilled. Thursday was the end of an era as the Hawai’i Hochi published its final edition on Dec. 7, its 111th anniversary.
Founded in 1912 by Fred Kinzaburo Makino, the Hochi was a Japanese-language newspaper, serving the local Nikkei community in Hawaii. Six days earlier, the English-language bi-monthly Hawaii Herald released its final issue.
In a written statement to The Rafu, Taro Yoshida, president of Hawai’i Hochi Ltd., explained the difficult decision made by parent company Shizuoka Shimbun, which followed years of losses.
“To be honest with you, our newspaper business had been negative profits since before I became president in 2015,” Yoshida said. “However, we have managed to get revenue from our printing business and support from our parent company, Shizuoka Shimbun, to continue the newspaper business.”
The COVID pandemic and loss of subscribers and advertisers ultimately were too much for the newspapers to be sustained, he explained. While the newspapers have been shut down, Hawai’i Hochi continues as a printing company.
“The pandemic had happened, the cancellations of large subscribers and large printing customers caused our profits to deteriorate, and we created reorganization plans to continue our newspaper business. In the end, unfortunately, our parent company told us to close the newspaper business.” Yoshida said.
The closures follow a distressing trend. According to the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, the rate of local newspaper closures has accelerated to 2.5 per week in 2023. Medill examined the trend in a report released last month, noting that the state of local newspaper has a profound “implications for communities, their inhabitants and ultimately the health of our democracy.”
“The loss of (newspapers and journalists) has not only short-circuited the flow of news and information across news organizations but has also made it harder for people to hold their state and local elected officials accountable,” the report reads. “With fewer journalists covering city halls and state government, the average citizen knows less and less about what their local government officials are doing.”
In the Japanese and Japanese American communities they serve, the loss of these newspapers means the loss of coverage of unique stories and issues that are not covered by mainstream publications.
In a statement posted on the Hawai’i Herald website, the Japanese Community Association of Hawaii (JCAH) thanked the publications, saying, “JCAH’s objective is to perpetuate and embrace our precious Japanese culture, and your tabloid has been instrumental in sharing news to the larger community. Your service has been invaluable and will be missed.”
The staff were notified of plans to close earlier in the fall. Hawai’i Herald Editor Kristen Nemoto Jay noted that the closure has been devastating to both the staff and readers, many whom have subscribed for decades.
“The readers and community were in shock and mourning, as if we all learned of a close relative who had passed on. A close relative who, though we knew were in their last stages of life, thought we had more time with them,” Nemoto Jay said.
Nemoto Jay said the staff took particular pride in their coverage of the JA LGBTQ+ community, recalling taking free copies their special Pride Issue to the Honolulu Pride Festival in October. They also produced their first Black History Month edition in February.
“Some youths came over to our booth and were completely beside themselves to see their friend, who is non-binary, on the cover of The Hawai’i Herald. They were ecstatic and wanted to take pictures with us and the paper. To see that excitement from the youths, the soft whisper from the elder gentleman, and the hand-written letters from folks (one person wrote and thanked us for doing a feature about ‘Micronesian skirts,’ where prominent women within the local community were pictured wearing them) saying that a story opened their eyes more about their community — that was so impactful to see and witness,” she said.
“My hope for The Hawai’i Herald was to become another outlet for people to see and be seen — to know that their stories are not alone and to help bridge the gap especially between generations of our Nisei, Sansei, Yonsei and Gosei generations. To further help us connect and pass on these values of empathy and courage to the next generation.”
The company is open to selling The Hawai’i Herald and is exploring creating a digital archive to document its 111 years of journalism.
“As a community newspaper of the Nikkei community, we would like to sell The Hawai’i Herald if there is anyone who would like to take it over,” Yoshida said. “Since Hawaii Hochi is a Japanese-language newspaper and its subscribers are limited to those who can read Japanese, it would be difficult to make any major developments in the future.”
Even as the newspapers are gone, there is hope for a revitalization in a new online initiative started by the L.A.-based Zentoku Foundation. On its website, Zentoku notes through the work on their documentary, “Paper Chase,” they found that “the glue that has connected the Japanese American community through the years has been the Japanese American community newspapers.”
Zentoku recently started a campaign to raise funds to help JA community newspapers such as The Hawai’i Herald and other struggling publications.
In an email to supporters, Nemoto Jay said she and other members of The Hawai’i Herald are hopeful that this collaboration is the beginning of a new era:
“Though the Hawai’i Herald name will come to an end, I’m hoping the stories and community collaborations will continue and have been in contact with several outlets that are looking promising for it to move forward. Zentoku Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to help continue to share JA stories through their online platform, is hoping to help our community here in Hawai’i continue to share and preserve the voices that need to be carried on to the next generation and the next.
“I just encourage everyone reading to stay tuned and help support local organizations continue — especially our community newspapers.”
To read The Hawai’i Herald, visit www.thehawaiiherald.com. For more information on the Save the Papers initiative, visit www.zentokufoundation.org/save-the-papers-donation-page.