Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi
General Assignment ReporterKuʻuwehi Hiraishi is an award-winning journalist and founding member of the ‘Ahahui Haku Moʻolelo (Hawaiian Journalism Association). She was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaiʻi, and was one of the first graduates of the Hawaiian language immersion school Ke Kula ʻo Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu.
She went on to study Journalism & Mass Communications at Seattle University, and returned home to work on the Hawaiian language television news program ʻĀhaʻi ʻŌlelo Ola, which aired on Hawaii News Now’s Sunrise morning program.
Her unique skillset of Hawaiian language fluency and journalism were valuable assets in building the Hawaiian news media industry with the launch of ʻŌiwi TV, an on-demand television news station with programming produced by and for Native Hawaiians. Her in-depth research and reporting on Native Hawaiian water rights earned her and the ʻŌiwi TV team their first international journalism award at the World Indigenous Television Broadcasters’ Network Journalism Awards in 2012.
After a brief hiatus working in communications for the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, she returned to journalism as a general assignment reporter at Hawaiʻi Public Radio. Her commitment to her Native Hawaiian community and her fluency in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi has led her to build a de facto ʻōiwi beat at the news station, covering issues important to the Native Hawaiian and Indigenous communities. Contact her at khiraishi@hawaiipublicradio.org.
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Research into the history of government-run reformatories and industrial schools in Hawaiʻi during the early 1900s is getting a boost in funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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The 61st annual Merrie Monarch Hula Festival wrapped up in Hilo over the weekend, and residents are already looking forward to next year. Every year around this time, residents in this rainy town know exactly what to expect. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi was in Hilo for the festivities and has this story.
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The traditional practice of “going on kapu” allows hula practitioners to cleanse their bodies, their minds and their lives of the unnecessary to really focus on hula. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi explains how it differs among hālau.
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Hula is not the only Hawaiian tradition honored at Merrie Monarch this week. The festival is paying tribute to the 40th anniversary of the Hawaiian language revitalization movement. ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi teachers, students and pioneers were in Hilo to perform on hula's biggest stage. HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi reports.
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Every year, and exclusively during the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival, crowds flock to a small church in the coastal community of Keaukaha for a taste of authentic Hawaiian food. HPR’s Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi reports on how it came to be.
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Hālau only get seven minutes to perform each number on stage at the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival. To ensure precise timing, some kumu hula on Oʻahu created a replica of the Hilo stage in vacant retail space in Kalihi. HPR’s Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi reports.
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The host town of Hilo is preparing for the influx of hula dancers and hula fans to the 61st annual Merrie Monarch Festival. Organizers expect dancers from more than 20 hālau hula across the islands and as far away as California. HPR reporter Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi has this story.
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Can speaking Pidgin give you an advantage when learning the Hawaiian language? That is the subject of a study by a linguist at the University of British Columbia in Canada. As HPR's Kuʻuwehi Hiraishi reports, the linguist drew inspiration from a similar study comparing Māori and Māori-accented English in Aotearoa.
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The Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture has restricted the off-island movement of ʻōhiʻa plants and plant parts since 2015. This includes ʻōhiʻa lehua, leaves and seeds.
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The Hawaiʻi State Senate has become the first state legislative body in the country to adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.