Friends of HIMELE

Friends of HIMELE recognizes and honors those individuals who contribute selflessly towards HIMELE's events and activities. These are volunteers who devote their time, energy, and resources in support of HIMELE's mission to promote and support Hawaiian music, culture, and the Hawaiian steel guitar.

Friends of HIMELE includes those who have supported HIMELE and Ke Kula Mele School of Hawaiian Music including students, parents, or other individuals who are aware of and believe in HIMELE's efforts.

Shinichi Kakiuchi

pc-Don Touchi

This time Friends of HIMELE honors and pays tribute to Shinichi Kakiuchi.

Shinichi Kakiuchi brings an engineer's precision and a musician's ear to the Hawaiian steel guitar, and he has become one of HIMELE's most dedicated friends in Japan.

Shinichi makes his home in Fujimino City in Saitama Prefecture. Asked about interesting places near home, he points to Kawagoe, known as "Koedo," whose streets still recall the samurai era, and to the Railway Museum in Ōmiya.

His connection to HIMELE began online. In 2013 he came across the Maui Steel Guitar Festival on Facebook, and in 2014 he took part in the festival's open stage. Since then he has returned to Hawai?i again and again, performing at the Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival during Waikīkī Steel Guitar Week in 2024 and 2025. He and his wife, Kumiko, have also contributed performances to HIMELE's Virtual Open Stage Showcase.

Back home, Shinichi is leading the way for steel guitar in Japan. Each month he hosts a study session for HSGA Japan members on picking out steel guitar parts by ear from classic records, passing the sounds of the masters on to a new circle of players. He also provides live music for local hula hālau.

He also serves the Japnese steel guitar community by representing the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association (HSGA) as one of its Japan Coordinators.

Bobby and Priscilla Ingano, Kumiko, Kathleen Ingano, and Shinichi at the 2024 Waikīkī Steel Guitar Experience
Shinichi, Kumiko and Alan Akaka at the 2015 Maui Steel Guitar Festival
Shinichi, Tetsuya Ishiyama, and Mayumi Kaneko at the 2017 Maui Steel Guitar Festival
Kumiko, Shinichi, Kumiko's mom, Dr. Kris Oka, and Pūloko Hayes at the 2015 Maui Steel Guitar Festival
Gary Aiko, Shinichi, and Kumiko performing on the 2014 Maui Steel Guitar Festival Open Stage
Shinichi, Kumiko, and Bobby Ingano Performing at the 2024 Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival
Shinichi and Kumiko performing on the 2017 Hawai‘i Island Steel Guitar Experience Open Stage
Shinichi and Vickie Van Fechtmann at the 2017 Hawai‘i Island Steel Guitar Experience Steel Guitar Workshop

Slideshow photo credits: Kumiko Kakiuchi-1,2; Don Touchi-3,7; Addison Ching-4,8; Colleen Ricci, 5; Don Rostow, 6

When he isn't playing steel, Shinichi works full time as an electrical and electronics engineer. That technical streak carries into his hobbies, which include photography and modifying guitars.

For Shinichi, HIMELE matters because it keeps the door to Hawai‘i open for players from around the world. "It's great that HIMELE provides an opportunity to experience steel guitar playing in Hawai‘i almost every month," he says. He notes that since 2015, HIMELE's events have filled the gap left when HSGA's every-other-year chance to perform in Waikīkī went away, and now offer that opportunity far more often. From Saitama to Waikīkī, Shinichi Kakiuchi is helping build a bridge for the Hawaiian steel guitar-one record, one study session, and one performance at a time. Mahalo, Shinichi!

Friends of HIMELE

Shinichi Kakiuchi

Previous Friends of HIMELE Features