Composer, recording artist, conductor, impresario, orchestral arranger, logger, timber cruiser, B.C. Electric systems analyst, teacher, ski instructor, musicologist, traveler, band leader, advocate for social justice and pioneer in the field of world music—Harry Aoki managed to squeeze several lifetimes worth of experience into his 91 years on this planet.

A Black man and a Japanese was not the most common sight on the road in those days and there was more than one instance of racism. Harry recalled “Once you got 100 miles inland from the coast, you were in Ku Klux Klan territory.” By and large, though, they were welcomed and the music they played was well received.

Harry came to live with us because he had wanted to go to the States as a ski instructor. He couldn’t work there because he wasn’t an American citizen. He kept trying to get different jobs but he always came back to live with us.

The most illustrious McKinley High School Hall of Honor inductee is Senator Daniel K. Inouye. The facts of his upbringing are rather straightforward. He was born on September 7, 1924 in Honolulu. His father was Hyotaro Inouye and his mother Kame (née Imanaga). It is interesting to note that his mother was a Nisei, though he is not considered a Sansei. He grew up in a Chinese American enclave within the Japanese American community of Mo’ili’ili in Honolulu.

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