For all those folks who want to post comments, please email to Mike or Rinsei. Hard copies photos (jpg format), zip disks and cds may be send to Rinsei Haimoto, 1636 Lehia St., Honolulu, HI 96818. Please identify the individual(s) in the photos. Zip files may be sent to Rinsei at "cuttery2k@yahoo.com"
Note: Majority of the "underlined word(s)" are photos that were donated by the paparazzi club. The secret is when you move the cursor over the "underlined word(s)", the cursor turns to a "HAND" , then you can click the left button on the mouse which will take you to the photo.
Here is what Hirome got to say about that morning:
There were some earlybirds who arrived at 7:00 AM so they could eat breakfast and do some sightseeing around Oahu before the beach picnic at the Hale Koa Hotel. Others, like Cindy, hit the streets of Waikiki to shop in the many stores along Kalakaua Avenue. Some of us hung out at the hospitality room, talking story and reminiscing. Before long, it was time to close up the hospitality room so we could get ready for the beach picnic.
I went down to the lobby of the hotel to wait for Cindy to return from her shopping jaunt through Waikiki. Of course, she does not return empty-handed. I know better than to ask her what are in the bags. As she goes up to the room to get her stuff for the beach picnic, I strike up a conversation with a fella from Scotland. He is here with his wife on their first visit to Hawaii. Had a nice chat with a nice chap.
By the time Cindy comes back down, there are several of us gathered in the lobby. We mosey on over to the Hale Koa Hotel in the mid-80's temperature. As you can see from the picture, Carri (Babcock) Morones and Patti Del Monaco are dressed and loaded with beach gear to hit the beach after the picnic lunch. The Hale Koa staff did a great job of setting up for the picnic and serving lunch on time. We got chicken and kalua pork with potato salad and drinks.
From one of the pictures, it looked like Ron Thomas brought along a bottle of Awamori. After the picnic, many folks walked (about 100 feet) to the beach to soak in the rays. Some of us returned to the hospitality room to soak in more stories. That lasted a short time since we had to get ready for Wayne Tanigawa's Polynesian Hospitality-the infamous Club Nigori.
While the beach party was going on, the golf tournament at Hickam Air Force Base was almost ending. Everybody who signed up made it to this event except for Barney Nakai who stayed up till 4am partying at the hospitality suite with other party members. This overindulgence is another story for who someone to tell.
Anyway fifteen golfers teed off for a first and second place prizes which were two golden dragon statues donated by Tony Villanueva'72 who couldn't make it to the reunion.
After birdies after birdies, John Kakazu'75 came in first place with a score of 77 and Guy Akasaki'71 came in second with a score of 85. Everybody received some sort of prizes, i.e. Okinawa key chain, golf balls, and golf hats.
The buzz phrase for this evening event was "party time at Club Nigori"!!! Finally most of the attendees will get to see what all the fuss about Club Nigori.
Shuttle van started about 6pm from the hotel and continued until all the attendees made it to Club Nigori. Even Robert Higa had to drive some of them to Nigori cuz they didn't want to miss any of the action.
Rinsei's comment was: It was a standing room event with alot of pupus and drinks and karaoke singing. Of course the paparazzi had to make sure that this evening will be remembered for a life time.
One alumni from the mainland mentioned that when he saw Club Nigori from the outside, it looked like an ordinary bar but once you entered, the atmosphere was totally Kubasaki Dragons. These Dragons and their spouses/guests came from all over the world, from the East Coast, the South, and West Coast. Also Dragons from North and Far East. There were numerous alumni who sang solo or as a duet with everybody else singing backup. There was alot of harmony in the air.
By 11pm, the jetlag started to catchup with some of the mainland attendees so, the shuttle started to take back to their hotel. Even a few of the Hawaii Dragons to include Nicole (Naomi's daughter) had to call in for the night.
Of course, there are a few night crawlers that kept the party mode alive at the hospitality suite till the wee hours of the morning. They maximized the use of the karaoke machine!!! They figured that they can get their beauty sleep after they get back from the reunion.
Here is what Hirome got to say about Club Nigori night:
When we finally got everybody to Club Nigori, I think we exceeded the maximum capacity for the place. It was standing room only. Junko, one of the owners of Club Nigori, ensured that various pupus (hors d'oeuvres) were always available.
After everybody got something to eat and drink, the crowd was itching to start singing. Once the first song started playing, the karaoke machine was in continuous operation. Ada Masaki did a great job of taking requests from the Dragons and ensuring the right songs were played. Naomi (Andow) Kanna's daughter, Nicole (8 years old, I think), even joined in the festivities and displayed her penchant for singing. She also enjoyed playing the video game at her table.
I was going to list the names of all the Dragons who entertained us with their singing but it would have taken too long. All in all, everyone had a great time. Oh yea, I can't forget to mention that much Orion beer was drunk and oodles of Okinawan soba were eaten.
After several hours of partying and enjoying the friendship of fellow Dragons at Club Nigori, many of us returned to the hospitality room and continued to party there into the wee hours of the morning.
One of those party animals who has been to Club Nigori numerous times, Ron Thomas'71 made a comment on the KHS Alumni Message about that evening:
Saw folks that always attended and some that make it only once in awhile, of course having it in Hawaii, on an island near the water like Oki was special. Nigori rocked! Mike Pellerin did a great job and we all enjoyed ourselves even Grace Umagat Dickson and Sanford and Leah (Norwood) Viele sorry I know I misspelled but its late sang.
Jim Eulitt and his Bro showed up. Jim reminded me that he and I jammed on Oki on a few occasions and the memories came back once I knew the connection. Good seeing him after so many years.
Babu behaved didn't get too drunk and no speedo this year!
Emmerson Edwards' first DEFC Reports about the fabulous REUNION Irene and Robert have put together (everything discussed was inlcude in the cost and more):
Ten things you should know...........
PICTURE THIS:
CERTIFCATES EARNED/AWARDED:
I said ten but as you can see there were more than ten wonderful things going on......and get this....guess what....after I close this message I am heading to the airport with the Pango Pango DRAGON to catch a flight to KONA....the stuff planned there is OFF DA HOOK.....
WHERE ARE THE PICTURES YOU ASK?!?!?!WHEN CAN YOU SEE SOME.....
Oooooooo lawdy there are sooooooo manyyyyy shots taken I'm not sure when and how many will ever make it to the PICTURE BOARD...stand by.....
classes represented range from 1955 to 1982.....ME....I'm putting in my VOTE FOR DOING THE REUNION in HAWAII AGAIN!!!!
KONA here I come ...the DUST plays 29OCT02....wooooo wooooo
This report with photos have been created on Sunday November 03, 2002 and updated as of Saturday February 15, 2003.
The editors of the 2002 Paradise Hawaii Reunion News Report will appreciate any donation of stories and photos that will be posted on this page.
Please provide date, location, names of the folks in the photo, & a comment.
Around 5am after couple of hours of sleep, Irene and her helpers started to prepare a full course breakfast for the attendees at the hospitality suite. This ritual would continue till Sunday morning.
After a few hours of sleep, Cindy and I awoke to go up to the hospitality room to enjoy Irene's breakfast bar. With the assistance of Yumiko Taniguchi, a good friend of Irene and visiting from Japan, Irene ensured that everybody had enough to eat and drink. There were rice (gotta have that), eggs, bacon, Portuguese sausage (yummy), fruits, donuts, orange juice, coffee, tea, liquor, wine, and beer (gotta keep practicing according to Mike Connolly).
Irene had arranged for a shuttle van for us to Club Nigori starting at 6:00 pm. As you can see from the picture, we had the van crammed with Dragons. It's a good thing the cops didn't pull us over.
Ok here's another attendee's perspective. It was fun fun fun! I was in Hawaii on business as usual and did a last minute thing in getting to the reunion. Made all the Oahu events and it was done masterfully.
Having had a hand in the 88 Dallas Reunion I know how much work goes into such an event and all I can say is that Irene and Robert did good!!!
1- Roof Top HOSPITALITY SUITE (PENTHOUSE) scenery of Waikiki from the Hospitality Suite....each evening
2- Over flow off the hook vituals, condiments, and libations
3- Breakfast on the roof overlooking Waikiki each morning
4- A GRAND reception dinner with over 170 attendees (100 KHS islanders and 70 mainlanders) in a fabulous location - The Hale Koa (Military) Hotel - LIVE BAND with a CLASS of '66 the featured singer
5- Dancing to live music from midnight to three a.m. each night (one of the TOP bands played across the street from our hotel wed, thurs, friday and saturday night)
6- KARAOKE each evening in the HOTEL LOBBY area
7- KARAOKE each evening in the HOSPITALITY SUITE
8- Moonlight Dinner Cruise
9- One block from the world famous HAWAIIAN Shoppers Market
10-Sight Seeing Tour of the big island
11- Waikiki Beach Party with To MUCH FOOD to EAT, to much FUN in the water, to much AMBIANCE in a picture perfect palm tree setting.....(Some BODY SLAP ME I Can't take much more)
12- Over abundance of FLOWERS for each lady and LEI's for all attendees
13- Wayne Tanigawa does it again - spectacular set up at the SHERATON WAIKIKI HOTEL at in the ESPRIT room.....hooked us up so that over 50 DRAGONS had RESERVED Seatng to hear the TOP BAND IN HAWAII...perform EARTH WIND And FIRE, MICHAEL JACKSON, TEMPTATIONS, SANTANA, BEATLES, WHAM, DOOBIE BROTHERS,
RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS, EAGLES, BRUCE SPRINGFIELD, GLADYS NIGHT, LYNYRD(sp) SKYNNER (sp)......on and on
14- New First Time Ever CRAWLING Certificates were awarded to MAD DOG KHS '69, BLUE GOOSE DRAGON KHS '68 (And his spouse), BIG SISTER DRAGON KHS '69, IBETCHA DRAGON KHS '69, SINGING DRAGON KHS '74, CREDIT DRAGON's spouse, KEYBOARD DRAGON KHS ' 67, a KHS '64 GRADUATE, a KHS '62 GRADUATE, a KHS '63 Graduate and someone who is an Honarary KHS GRADUATE.
15- HAWAII CRAWL DOWN CERTIFICATES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER were issued and earned by SHIMMY DRAGON and spouse, MEGA MEMORY DRAGON, CREDIT DRAGON, D2G, PICTURE MOUNTING DRAGON, BOH BOH Number 1 (aka..DBB5), BOH BOH Number 2 and SINGING DRAGON
16- BEEN THERE DONE THAT CLUB NIGORI CERTIFICATES were issued to ALL KHS ALUMNI that attended this REUNION....oooooo what a night!!!!!....arrived by 1900 hours left at 0100.....free food...just about every DRAGON sang songs....even the DESERT FLOWER and BIG SISTER DRAGON Chimmed in.......
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