MEDIA RELEASE

The Hawaii Herald has taken a major step forward in its more than 30­-year ­history with the launch of its online edition.

“This is an historic moment for The Hawaii Herald, the only Hawaii­based newspaper dedicated to covering the local Japanese American community,” says Keiichi Tagata, president of parent company Hawaii Hochi, Ltd. “After 34 years of sharing stories in print with loyal readers, mostly in Hawaii, we look forward to sharing the Herald with a wider audience of readers around the world.”

Adds Editor Karleen Chinen: “We’ve gotten so many inquiries about whether we’re online or not, so I’m glad to finally be able to tell everyone, ‘Yes!’ I’m excited about the many opportunities taking the Herald online will afford us ­­ from new story ideas and new writers to, of course, new readers, with whom we would never have been able to connect with just a print edition.”

The Herald is working with Hawaii Information Service to build and maintain its online edition, which came together in less than two months. HIS is a local tech company that offers a variety of products and services to island firms, including building and maintaining dozens of websites for Realtors, financial institutions, attorneys and other small businesses.

“Our company actually began life as a publishing business, printing and distributing books of real ­­estate listings,” explains Hawaii Information Service CEO Faith Geronimo. “Having undergone several transformations ourselves — from paper to mainframes to the web and now mobile ­­– we are proud that The Hawaii Herald chose us to help it take its own pivotal leap online.”

All content from the print edition of the Herald will be available online for now. With new issues coming out on the first and third Friday, the plan is for the online version to be available after publication of the print edition.

The Hawaii Herald name dates back to 1942 — the World War II years — when Hawaii Hochi founder Fred Kinzaburo Makino changed the name of the Japanese­ language newspaper he founded in 1912 from Hawaii Hochi to a more “American” name, The Hawaii Herald, to deflect the anti-­Japanese sentiment in the community at the time.

The Japanese language newspaper finally returned to its original Hawaii Hochi name in 1952.

In 1980, attempts at establishing an English­ language publication that covered Hawaii’s Japanese American community finally took firm rooting with the debut of The Hawaii Herald, which has been published twice a month since then.

Hawaii Information Service is a technology company that is celebrating its 30th year in business in 2014.

Founded as a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) provider for Realtors on Kauai and Hawaii Island, the company has evolved to provide a variety of products and services to local businesses, from real estate and public data to websites, web apps, and marketing support services.

— Find out more:
www.thehawaiiherald.com
www.hawaiiinformation.com