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Okinawan club When Kenichi Kaneshiro wakes up each morning, he meditates and stretches. In the late afternoon, he sips a couple of whiskeys. He puffs on a cigarette, but doesn't inhale.
throws party for 3
turning 100 this year
They actually are 99 by Western
standards, but Okinawans
start the count earlierBy Pat Gee
pgee@starbulletin.comThese rituals have been a part of his life for many years, and he's not going to stop now, said his son, Ray Kaneshiro.
Kenichi Kaneshiro and two of his fellow Lanakila Okinawan Club members, Chiyoko Kochi and Kame Teruya, all turn 99 this year by Western calendars, but their Okinawan culture celebrates it as their 100th birthday, according to club president Kay Adaniya. (Some cultures consider nine months in the womb to be the first year of life, she noted.)
While friends piled on lei higher than their ears, the three were honored at the Lanakila Multi-purpose Senior Center yesterday, even though their birthdays will occur later in the year.
Kenichi Kaneshiro laughed when asked how much longer he wanted to live.
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"All my friends have passed away. Whenever the man upstairs says to go, I will go. Other than that, I will enjoy every single day," he answered, with his son interpreting.As first-generation immigrants descended from an ancestry known for longevity, none of the trio were able to say what is the secret of their long lives. But what they did have in common were hard work, staying active, and taking care of family and friends. Each had several children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Kenichi Kaneshiro sat proudly in a wheelchair, tanned, wearing a white shirt and royal blue tie. The women, Kochi and Teruya, walked with canes but moved around well on their own.
Jane Eckenrode, one of Koshi's nine children, said her mother is "fiercely independent" and has lived in her own apartment since her husband died in 1980. She moved from their big house in Manoa to the Makiki apartment where Eckenrode and her husband live on a different floor.
Koshi came to Hawaii when she was 16, and worked as a maid, nanny, cannery worker and waitress. But her life's work was sewing and doing laundry for their family and others.
She can still sew on a button, which she did last week, Eckenrode said.
When Koshi joined Lanakila 30 years ago, she learned to dance and play the shamisen and okoto musical instruments.
Teruya was the one who stood up to blow out 20-something candles on a big birthday cake on behalf of the Koshi and Kaneshiro.
Although her back is bent, she walks quickly and surely because she "takes a sprint around the park next to our house every day," said her son, Mike Teruya.
He said his mother doesn't believe in eating until she's full -- "just 80 percent full; she goes by that doctrine of small meals. She's very active and independent. She was riding the bus until she was 95, then her hip went bad with osteoarthritis." Other than that her health is good, he added. Teruya made work clothes for plantation workers in Wahiawa, and her hobby was raising anthurium, he said.
Kenichi Kaneshiro was a musician by trade who played drums and sang all over the state, and was popular as an emcee because of his sense of humor.
He used to own Koko's Restaurant in Kaimuki and has been active all his life. He "learned to how to survive on his own" in Maui when he moved to Hawaii at the age of 17 and educated himself by reading everything he could, his son said.
Ray Kaneshiro said his father still "has a terrific memory; he knows where every cent of his is ... And he says he intends to take every penny to heaven with him."