JAPANESE CULTURAL CENTER OF HAWAI‘I STAFF
This close-knit team may have varied interests, but
they do share one commonality: their combined efforts to see the Japanese
Cultural Center of Hawai‘i continue to grow and mature as an institution that
preserves and educates about the Japanese American experience in Hawai’i—the
only place in the world with broad, relevant expertise on this unique issue.
Carole Hayashino
President & Executive
Director
Carole Hayashino joined the Cultural Center in 2012. She supervises the staff of 12 employees and oversees all operations of the Cultural Center. Prior to joining the JCCH team, Hayashino served as vice president for university advancement at California State University Sacramento where she oversaw the external relations of the university including private giving, alumni relations, university marketing, and publications.
She has also served as associate director of the Japanese American Citizens League in San Francisco and was involved in the national legislative effort for redress and reparations for Americans of Japanese Ancestry incarcerated during World War II.
Hayashino earned her undergraduate degree at San Francisco State University and graduate degree in educational administration at the University of San Francisco.
She has been awarded the Marin County Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award, Special Appreciation Award from the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Leadership Award from the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, the Community Ally Award by the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance and the Carol Hisatomi Asian Women's Leadership Award.
Neil Takekawa
Chief Operating Officer
Neil Takekawa joined the Cultural Center in May 2011. As chief operating officer, Takekawa oversees the center's educational programs, public events, and Resource Center.
Prior to serving as chief operating officer for the Blood Bank of Hawaii, Takekawa was vice-president of sales and marketing for Hawaii Superferry, president of Roberts Hawaii, president & chief executive officer of Hawaii Island Air, president of Aloha Island Air and vice president of customer services at Aloha Airlines.
He currently serves on the board of directors for the Japan America Society of Hawaii and is a member of the Hawaii Asia Pacific Association. Takekawa brings to the position a wealth of knowledge about the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai`i having served on the Cultural Center's board of directors for more than three years.
Takekawa is a graduate of the University of Hawai`i at Manoa with Bachelor of Science degrees in Financial Accounting and Management.
Caroline Okihara
Director of Finance & Administration
Caroline
Okihara joined the Cultural Center in April 2008 as its Director of Finance and
Administration. Prior to working at the
Cultural Center, Okihara was a senior staff accountant at KMH LLP, a CPA firm
that provides accounting and consulting services to for- and non-profit
organizations.
Okihara
is fluent in Japanese, has more than 15 years experience in the Japanese travel
industry and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in
business economics and statistics and a bachelor’s of arts in Japanese from the
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
Denise Tagomori Park
Public Relations/Membership Manager
Denise Tagomori Park joined the Japanese Cultural Center
of Hawai‘i as its Public Relations/Membership Manager in March 2010 and
manages
the Cultural Center’s relations with
the media and public, as well as oversees the organization’s membership.
Park most recently worked
at Pang Communications as a Senior Account Executive. Prior to that, she was an Account Executive at McNeil Wilson Communications. She was also a News Producer at KGMB9/CBS News for nearly four years. Park is a graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a degree in Journalism.
Christy Mari Takamune
Gallery/Gift Shop Manager
Christy Mari Takamune is the gallery mastermind who
builds, formulates and stylizes the exhibits at the Japanese Cultural Center of
Hawai‘i. Takamune ensures that the
Community Gallery features at least four new exhibitions every year since coming
to the organization in 2004.
Takamune has a bachelor’s in fine arts from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, an associates in science in fashion technology from the Honolulu Community College and brings with her years of retail experience as a fine jewelry merchandiser and manager.
Audrey Kaneko
Public Programs Coordinator
Audrey Kaneko is responsible for planning the majority of the public programs for the Cultural Center throughout the year. She collaborated the exhibition: Celebrate!: The Evolution of Japanese Celebration in Hawai`i.
Kaneko worked in Los Angeles for 10 years at the Japanese American National Museum as a project manager on exhibitions such as Fighting for Democracy: Who is the "We" in "We, the People"; Landscaping America: Beyond the Japanese Garden and companion short, Mamo's Weeds; Living Flowers: Ikebana and Contemporary Art; Big Drum Taiko in the United States; and From Bento to Mixed Plate: Americans of Japanese Ancestry in Multicultural Hawai`i. Most recently coordinated the exhibition Textured Lives: Japanese Immigrant Clothing from the Plantations of Hawai`i and is the producer for the documentary, Barbara Kawakami: A Textured Life, which made its Hawai`i premiere at the 2010 Hawaii International Film Festival. She is a graduate of the University of Hawai`i at Manoa with a degree in Asian Studies.
Derrick S. Iwata
Education Specialist
Derrick
Iwata started as a volunteer at the Cultural Center in 2000, and was promoted
to a full-time position four years later.
As the organization’s Education Specialist, Iwata helps to educate
people, especially teachers and students, interested in learning about the
Japanese American experience in Hawai‘i and the Japanese culture.
A graduate of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa college of education, Derrick is an avid bon dancer with a certificate in Japanese dance from Otaki Minbu Kai.
Angela Ameling
Volunteers/Grants Coordinator
Angela Ameling joined the Cultural Center in September 2011 and oversees the center's volunteer program and serves as a liaison between staff and volunteers. Ameling also oversees and administers all grants for the center.
Ameling's educational experience, coupled with extensive hands-on museum experience at the Atomic Testing Museum, National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum of Ecuador and the Wynn Gallery of Fine Art prepared her for her role at the Cultural Center.
She holds a master's degree in Museum Education from George Washington University and bachelor's degree in Art from the University of Nevada, Reno.
Resource Center Coordinator
Nicolita Garces joined the Cultural Center in 2010 and assists with the operations of the Resource Center. She is currently attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa Library and Information Science Master Degree Program.
She earned a Master of Arts degree in Political Science and specialized in International Relations with an interest in education and migration studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. As a Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) program assistant language teacher of English from 1999-2002, Nicolita taught at Mikuni Senior High School in Fukui-ken, Japan. She speaks conversational Japanese, Chinese Mandarin and Filipino (Ilocano dialect).
Leianne Fujimura
Administrative Assistant/Accounting Clerk
Leianne Fujimura joined the Cultural Center staff in
2005 and helps with administrative and board needs, manages accounts payable
and prepares the staff payroll.
Fujimura previously held secretarial positions at Dick
Pacific, Luana Hills Country Club and Pacific Guardian Life. Fujimura graduated from Brigham Young
University – Hawai‘i with a major in Japanese and minor in secretarial science.
Michelle Miyashiro
Administrative Assistant
Michelle Miyashiro came aboard the Cultural Center staff
in 2005 as an Office Assistant. Miyashiro’s
efficient assistance to the membership department allows the Cultural Center to
successfully service its growing membership and continue in its efforts to
increase these numbers.
Miyashiro is a graduate of the University of Hawai‘i
at Mānoa who majored in
Japanese.
Jane Kurahara
Staff Emeritus
Jane Kurahara is a retired school librarian and dedicates much of her free time in the Resource Center. She was the co-manager of the Resource Center as a volunteer from 2001 to 2006.
Kurahara has co-chaired the Hawaii Confinement Sites Committee since it inception in 2005. She has taken the lead on the planning, coordination, and discourse on outreach presentations, archaeological surveys, spearheaded acquisition of key archival collection manuscripts and photographs relating to internment, was key in creating the original and traveling Dark Clouds Over Paradise exhibits, and the development of the Hawaii internment curriculum of materials being taught in schools today.
Betsy Young
Staff Emeritus
Betsy Young is an award-winning public school teacher, social studies curriculum specialist and school librarian, who has kept education as her main focus by helping to develop curriculum on Japanese American internment in Hawaii being taught in our schools today.
She has conducted countless outreach presentations to community groups and schools, and chaired and coordinated the successful Day of Remembrance on February 21, 2010 which highlighted the Honouliuli internment camp. She also co-managed the Resource Center as a volunteer from 2001-2006.
Barbara Ishida
Staff Emeritus
Since 1995, Barbara Ishida has been volunteering her time to manage the Gift Shop – a 500 square-foot area connected to the Cultural Center Community Gallery.
14 years later, and with the help from a group of her good friends who volunteers alongside the Nisei Mānoa resident, Ishida has fashioned the Gift Shop into an array of nostalgic Japanese ceramic wares, books and antique doll sets.
