Daniel Nāhoʻopiʻi
"I think the number one thing is to shift [ideas about tourism] so that we can have local communities tell their own story . . ."
"I think the number one thing is to shift [ideas about tourism] so that we can have local communities tell their own story . . ."
Our student hui from the North Shore Field School (NSFS) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa had an opportunity to talk story with Daniel Nāhoʻopiʻi about his life, work, and ʻohana's connections to Waialeʻe. A parcel of land was passed down generationally where it remains with the Nāhoʻopiʻi ʻohana. Daniel currently serves as the Chief Administrative Officer and CEO of the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority and is known as a dedicated cultural leader in the community. Here, Daniel shares with us his thoughts on kuleana, ʻāina, and what it means to think about regenerative tourism today. His oral history and transcript will be housed at the Center for Oral History on UH Mānoa campus. The Center collects, documents, preserves, and highlights the recollections of Native Hawaiians and the multi-ethnic people of Hawaiʻi.
We are deeply honored and proud to share a small portion of his stories, memories, and dreams here...
Born on June 7, 1966, Daniel Nāhoʻopiʻi is Kānaka ʻŌiwi and Chinese descent. He was raised in Kapahulu, ʻOahu. The middle of three siblings, Daniel grew up on Winam Avenue close to the Ala Wai and shores of Waikiki with his brother Michael Kalani Nāhoʻopiʻi and sister Sandy Moana Siu Jun. His mother, Bertha Lee Nāhoʻopiʻi and his father, Samuel Paʻahao Nāhoʻopiʻi, Jr., instilled in their children a deep sense of kuleana and giving back to their community. After graduating from Kamehameha Schools, Daniel left home to earn his B.S. in Engineering at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. After spending time on the continental U.S., he returned home to earn his M.B.A. at the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Today, Daniel along with his siblings, have dedicated their careers and personal lives to bettering the future of Hawaiʻi. Notably, Michael Nāhoʻopiʻi serves as the Executive Director of the Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve Commission. In his role at HTA, Daniel is actively involved in the transformation, trends, and tempo of the tourism culture and economy in Hawaiʻi. He hopes to shift old narratives about tourism to one that will put the spotlight back on the local community members. Daniel tells us he hopes that the local community and land can be better respected. He explains that the work done by North Shore Community Land Trust and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa to preserve Waialeʻe is similar to what he envisions as a regenerative outlook on how we should also approach tourism:
"We tend to only look at tour[ism]... but we're shifting, but especially in Hawaiʻi and other places, it's been kind of a mass market tourism. Right. I mean, there are niches of things, but I wanted to have communities take advantage of the economic development they can benefit from, from tourism. Or, develop new experiences that visitors can see the other side of, you know, how we live day to day. And so that's why I got involved."
Daniel reminisced about family stories he heard from his grandparents, both on his Hawaiian and Chinese sides, living on Oʻahu. His grandfatherʻs oʻhana moved from Molokaʻi to Oʻahu, possibly during Kamehameha time, and whether you lived in the country or town, they would see Akua lele (Fireballs) in the sky. They were ubiquitous back then.
Image of Akua lele (Fireballs).
Back in old Hawaiʻi, his grandaunts and grandmother on his Chinese side would do a lot of Hawaiian crafts and speak ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi to each other. It was the way they communicated and talked story back then. Their Chinese culture was based on clan traditions and Daniel grew up with a big extended family. Through his mother's extended family relations, she received the Waiaeleʻe property. Listen to his story in his own words below!
Nāhoʻopiʻi Daniel Ancestry Clip
As Daniel grew up in Kaimukī and Kapahulu, there were always various cultural activities at the public parks. There were a lot of Hawaiian activities, including hula. When he was accepted to Kamehameha Schools, hula started to become part of his environment.
Merrie Monarch Competition [2014]
"...I have always been exposed to hula along the way, and then... I think when I was 25 or so some other friends and associates, Wayne Chang was opening up a hālau and so he told me... he said we should come out and be with him. So we were with him for awhile then he decided to close his hālau, and then through Wayne, I met Robert, and then later Robert invited me to join his hālau."
Hālau Nā Kamalei Group Photo [2015]
In the present, Daniel continues his commitment to championing traditional Kānaka Maoli practices through his involvement in Hawaiian civic clubs ---two in particular, the Maunalua Hawaiian Civic Club and Kuini Pi'olani Hawaiian Civic Club. Civic Clubs host a variety of educational, cultural, and community programs, events, and activities. Most notably, they raise scholarships for Native Hawaiian and local students, Daniel shares with us that his club, Maunalua Hawaiian Civic Club, for example, focuses on fishing and things related to fisheries.
"We support [the production and creation of] a calendar, so that kids and communities understand the cycle for fish and fishing and it's very community specific. ... there's one [a calendar] for out in the East Side and they hand them out in the schools."
Courtesy of Hawaiʻi State Archives.
Kuini Piʻolani, he continues, is more focused on the educational initiatives to encourage more teaching, use, and celebration of Ōʻlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language). Daniel explains to us that he has studied Ōʻlelo Hawaiʻi but is not fluent in it. One of their projects/initiatives advocated a need for all public information officers to have some level of fluency:
So people like the PR people in each state agency—and maybe even the county level—that they themselves, should be—have some kind of knowledge of Hawaiian language, because a lot of publications and such need to be in Hawaiian now because there’s so many native speakers, especially the younger ones, right? And so communication has—you have to ensure that the communication is done properly. Yeah. So we’ve been trying to push that bill.
As Daniel shared with us, his family's property in Waiale'e is a Land Commission Award 2816 Royal Patent 1328. This parcel of land was given to Kahaleipu. His mother, Bertha Lee Nāho'opi'i, inherited it from her uncle who was her grandmotherʻs brother-in-law. Daniel recalls his mother was their favorite niece and hānai daughter. "We were always close to that uncle," Daniel remembers. Below is clip of Daniel sharing a copy of the map, and explains how the highlighted yellow portions are the land that his family owns. Listen below!
Daniel explains where his parcels are located on a map illustration of Waiale'e.
Parcel illustration of the Nāhoʻopiʻi Family Land in Waialeʻe
Limu ʻele ʻele
Our conversation with Daniel naturally ended with his thoughts on the future of kuleana lands and his family parcels in Waialeʻe. It is clear that Daniel is playing a significant role in changing the narrative and possibilities of how tourism in Hawaiʻi can be shifted to teach visitors about the importance of respecting the land and nature.
"...wherever the water used to come out, we used to always pick the limu ʻeleʻele. I don't know if you know what that is. The dark green limu? Yeah, so, we used to always pick it there, but now there's none, they said. And I was talking to some other people and they said, yeah, they don't know where it is anymore. Well because the water's not flowing."
Loʻi pond in Waialeʻe.
Limu ʻele ʻele
Daniel shares that the number one thing is to shift the narrative about tourism so that we can have local communities tell their own story. He reminds us that one of the challenges with tourism is Hawaiʻi is that not all communities want to tell their story. Therefore, HTA and other tourism-affiliated organizations have to give them that flexibility and freedom to decide how best to support them. Furthermore, he is clear to explain:
"And at the same time, we want visitors to look at Hawaiʻi in a completely different context. It's not a resort area. It's more a cultural and environmental area, you know? That's a tough shift, especially because we don't have everything. It sounds good on paper, but when they get here, it still looks like a resort because we ourselves as residents haven't been moving either, right? We haven't done that much environmentally and improving the way we manage our land, yeah? So until that happens, then the visitors are not going to make an effort, even though we tell them to do stuff, if they see everybody else just dumping trash and not recycling in the hotel. You know what, why should they? Yeah. So we've gotta make that big shift, and everybody has to come along."
During our conversations with Daniel, it was incredible to learn about his own dedication as well as his brother, Michael's, dedication to community projects and restoration work in Hawai'i. They are making space for difficult conversations that are happening in Hawai'i and are conscientious in how their work impacts the local communities, businesses, and culture. Here, he shares with us some thoughts on 'āina and Kahoʻolawe.
Thoughts on ʻāina and Kahoʻolawe: “I think everybody should go to see the damage that can happen when humans, you know, disrespect the land… and how hard it is to then to restore, you know… So it takes a lot of work and yet still there's a lot more to do. But, you feel the pain of the land there...”
Our final questions wrapped up what Waialeʻe means to Daniel and what his family plans to do with the land. He responds here:
"... It gives me some food for thought about what we would do with our parcels. You know, I don’t know what we’re going to do. It really takes so much work... The family’s like, “...It’s a lot of work and money.” But if we can coordinate better with the nonprofit and the Land Trust, maybe we can take advantage of what they're doing now and the redevelopment that it will help us as well. So we have to really think seriously about that."
What Waialeʻe means to Daniel and envisioning a new type of Hawaiʻi
Our conversation with Daniel was eyeopening for the student hui and reminded us that we each have an important role to play in the preservation of kuleana lands, ancestral knowledge, and family histories. As students of Anthropology, Pacific Islands Studies, American Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Oral Histories, we all walked away with a deeper call and deeper sense ---we have much work to do. We are grateful to Daniel for his generous time and sharing his story with us.
Mahalo nui for reading. We hope you check out other oral history projects completed by fellow students!
Pictured (L to R): Micah Mizukami, Kenji Caltado, Alejandra Rivas, Daniel Nāhoʻopiʻi, Pualani Smith-Kauhane, Dianne Shen.
The North Shore Field School (NSFS) started in 2012 as an Indigenous, community-based archaeological methods training program working at Kupopolo Heiau and ‘Uko‘a in the Waialua moku; it was run as a Spring semester Saturday class by the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) Department of Anthropology and sponsored by the ‘Āina Ulu program of the Kamehameha Schools (KS).
The Center for Oral History (COH) in the Department of Ethnic Studies was first established in 1976 by the Hawaiʻi State Legislature as a part of the Social Science Research Institute in the College of Social Sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.