Do it! Duke Kahanamoku OceanFest, Simeon Den
FTR KOTOHIRA SHRINE - 13 AUGUST 2015 - Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha will host the first Otaku Summer Festival fundraiser on Aug. 23 to help restore the shrine for its centennial celebration. Honolulu Star-Advertiser photo by Cindy Ellen Russell
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
SUNDAY
Shrine fundraiser touts anime, manga and fun
Manga and anime fans and lovers of all things Japanese are invited to Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha Shrine for its first Otaku Summer Festival.
"Otaku" is a term that refers to people obsessed with manga and anime, and they’ll have plenty to enjoy at the festival, a fundraiser to help restore the nearly 100-year-old shrine in Kalihi.
Anime otaku can meet with Kyle Hebert, who has voiced dozens of characters in movies, television and video games, and is best known as the narrator of "Dragonball Z." He will hold a clinic on voice acting and even hold a demo audition. Anime artist Andy Lee will be joining other local talents Jon J. Murakami, Devin Oishi and Dennis Imoto, and new video games will be presented, courtesy of the Hawaii Video Gaming League.
Entertainment includes the Hanayagi Dance Academy, Waipahu Seibukan Kendo Club and Ryusei Taiko drumming, with the highlight of the day being all-girl band Crimson Apple. Kids also can enjoy traditional Japanese fair games, such as scooping up goldfish with a paper net.
Get a taste of classic Japanese fair food and other local favorites and pick up some collectibles from local vendors. Cosplayers are welcome.
Where: Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha Shrine, 1239 Olomea St.
When: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday
Cost: Free, parking at the Shrine and Damien Memorial School, 1401 Houghtailing St.
Info: Visit dukesoceanfest.com for a complete schedule of events.
COURTESY SIMEON DEN
SUNDAY
Artist stays ‘visible’ with return to isle
Eclectic performing artist Simeon Den brings his talents and intuition to the Doris Duke Theatre for a free-form evening of performance.
Den, reared on Oahu and trained in New York, blends dance, yoga, meditation and storytelling in his performances. His presentation here will include references to his upbringing in Kalihi as well as ruminations on death and aging. "I’m going to be 65, and about five years ago is when I started writing stories about aging and dying," said Den, who ran dance and fitness studios and restaurants in Hawaii for 17 years.
"In our culture, as you get older, you become invisible," he said. "There’s a need to be productive if you want to be visible."
He recalls meeting an elderly Japanese man and asking him the secret of long life, and getting as the answer, "No live too long."
His performance Sunday will be an impromptu affair. He might ask an audience member for a prop to dance with, or get someone to "throw out a word, like ‘compassion,’" to inspire a dance. He’ll be accompanied by violinist Fumiko Wellington of the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra, and members of a brush painting class he’s been giving will be reading haiku.
"It’s really up in the air," said Den.
Where: Doris Duke Theatre, Honolulu Museum of Art
When: 5 p.m. Sunday
Cost: $12-$15
Info: honolulumuseum.org or 532-6097
JAMM AQUINO / 2013
SATURDAY, AUG. 30
The annual OceanFest celebrates surfing, paddling and the sea
Celebrate legendary waterman Duke Kahanamoku at Duke’s OceanFest, a nine-day festival of competitions and special events in Waikiki starting Saturday.
The festival will present 27 events, including water sports like surfing and canoeing, and beach-based entertainment and cultural events. Unless noted, events will take place at Queens Surf at Waikiki, near the statue of Duke. A few spectator highlights:
Duke’s OceanFest Expo: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily, Exhibitions, merchandise and demonstrations.
Opening ceremony: 4 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday. Music, hula and lei draping of the Duke Kahanamoku statue.
Wounded Warrior Canoe Regatta, all day Saturday: Canoe races powered by wounded and retired service members.
Pro/Am sand volleyball tournament, Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort, 4 p.m.- 7 p.m. Tuesday: Olympic champion Misty May-Treanor will participate in six-on-six contests.
Surfing contests (all day): Men’s and women’s longboard competition, Sunday-Tuesday; dog surfing, Wednesday; tandem surfing, Thursday; alaia (traditional heavy wooden boards), Thursday; Legends surf classic, Aug. 28-29.
Lifeguard challenge: Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort, 8:30-11 a.m. Aug. 28. Teams of lifeguards display lifesaving skills in competition.
Entertainment events include music and film nights at the beach, featuring movies about the Duke and the ocean, 6 p.m. Thursday and Aug. 28 (free), and the Hawaiian 105 KINE Great Hawaiian Luau, 5-9 p.m. Aug. 29, Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort ($60, $35 youth from honoluluboxoffice.com).
Where: Waikiki
Cost: Free
COURTESY KUMU KAHUA THEATRE
THURSDAY, SEPT. 27
The past is calling on our protagonist
"Joker," a play that examines a closeted love, a secret past and loyalty, opens Kumu Kahua Theatre’s 45th season.
The Joker, portrayed by Jason Kanda, is a former gay activist from the Philippines who in the present day is married to his former lover’s wife — an act done out of devotion and loyalty to his closeted partner. The tension inherent in that relationship begins to wear on him, and when a friend from the Philippines visits, things get rocky.
"With the arrival of the friend from the Philippines comes the threat of exposure, of exposing who he is and who was, and carrying everything out from under him as a family," said director Wil Kahele. "He’s cut off everybody back in the Philippines, along with his father, and when the friend shows up, he has to come to terms with who he is.
"At the core of this story, it’s really about love and it’s about letting go, and how you just have to face what’s in front of you and recognize it for what it is."
Written by Yilong Liu, a University of Hawaii drama graduate, the play premiered at the Earl Ernst Lab Theatre last year. "Everybody was just buzzing about it," Kahele said. "Hopefully with this production we’ll have more time to flesh things out."
Both Kanda and Denise Aiko Chinen, who plays Joker’s wife, performed in the UH production.
Where: Kumu Kahua Theatre, 46 Merchant St.
When: 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays; through Sept. 27
Cost: $5-$20
Info: kumukahua.org or 536-4441
