YOSHIKO MASUOKA / 1913-2004

Masu’s co-founder
fed many

Yoshiko Masuoka, who co-founded Masu's Massive Plate Lunch at age 60 and was fondly known as "Grandma" to customers and neighbors, died on Wednesday. She was 90.

Masuoka was a tiny woman at 60 pounds and less than 5 feet tall, but friends and family said she will be remembered for a heart that was as big as the heaping portions she served customers at the Liliha Street restaurant.

"She was like the tutu of the whole community," said state Rep. Corinne Ching. "That's what was so special. Masu's is right near the urban core, but she made you feel you were in the country, in old Hawaii."

Masuoka, born in Hawaii on Dec. 10, 1913, was raised in Japan until age 16.

Returning to the islands, she ran a seamstress business out of her home for years but helped her son Paul open the restaurant at its first location in Kakaako in 1974, naming it after her late husband, Rikuo "Masu" Masuoka.

She had intended to serve only a supporting role, "but she took over," Paul Masuoka said. She often worked 16 hours a day, and ruled the restaurant's counter until she was 84.

"I don't know how she did it. No way, Jose, would I open something like that at 60," said Masuoka, who is now 60 himself.

The restaurant moved twice before settling at its current location at the corner of Liliha and Kuakini streets around 1990.

Yoshiko Masuoka's small size belied a feisty toughness, Paul Masuoka said. Everyone, even the celebrities whose signed photos cover the walls, had to take their place in line.

Then-Lt. Gov. Ben Cayetano came in once, and employees urged Yoshiko to serve the important guest first.

"She just said, 'Everyone's a customer,'" he said. Cayetano waited in line.

Masuoka is survived by sons Paul and Edwin, daughter Maizie Okimoto, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Memorial services will be held at 5 p.m. Aug. 8 at Hosoi Garden Mortuary. Entertainer Danny Kaleikini, a family friend, will act as master of ceremonies.