Virtual bon dance ushers in obon season at Hawaii’s Plantation Village

Hawaii’s Plantation Village, the outdoor history museum in Waipahu, kicks off the Japanese obon season with its first virtual bon dance Saturday, but the day’s in-person activities include a drive-thru pick up for bento, and shopping at a craft sale.

Evelyn Ahlo, executive director, said the community is highly anticipating this year’s 31st celebration, judging by all the inquiries, as the museum was closed last year due to the pandemic. The museum’s event was usually the first of Oahu’s summerlong obon festivals; old-timers remember it starting even before the restored village was established as a tribute to Hawaii’s multicultural sugar plantation life, she said.

The deadline has passed to order bentos (local-style Japanese lunches), catered by K’s Bento, Restaurant Kuni, and Da Andagi Guy, whose families have roots in the plantation days, Ahlo said.

However, there will be special hours on Saturday for the village gift shop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Craft goods include neck pillows, decorative hairpins and a variety of crocheted items, as well as donated rummage items such as bamboo steamers, Japanese dishes and tea sets, kimonos and happi coats.

The video, filmed by nearby Hawaii Technology Academy students, will feature performances by the Ewa Fukushima Bon Dance Club, Oahu District Bon Dance Club, the Waipahu Soto Mission Bon Dance Club; and the Hawaii Shin Kobukai and its subsidiary Iwakuni Dance Group.

Betty Dela Cuesta, the 87-year-old sensei, or teacher, of the Hawaii Shin Kobukai, will be dressing her dancers in traditional ­kimono as she has done for decades since the Plantation Village event started, said her granddaughter Lydia Morikawa. Dela Cuesta has been teaching Japanese folk dancing since 1984; Morikawa is her primary assistant in classes currently based at the Jodo Mission of Hawaii.

“We dress everyone in our group (about a dozen) and are also willing to assist others in getting dressed or fixing various parts of their kimono and obi that they are unsure about,” Morikawa said.

The virtual bon dance video, which will be released on Saturday, can be viewed at hawaiiplantationvillage.org.

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Hawaii’s Plantation Village

The museum’s summer schedule will be expanded to two Saturdays a month, including tours from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., on June 5 and 19; July 3 and 24; and Aug. 14 and 28. Normal hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays.

Info: 677-0110 or hawaiiplantation village.org