Rachel Kondo is from Maui. She was born and raised in Pukalani.

She attended public school and graduated from Maui High. She later went to the mainland to get her Masters of fine Arts.

She is a hapa girl, her mother is haole and her father is a local third generation Japanese, his parents and grandparents worked for the plantation. Back-breaking work in the cane fields, ten hrs. A day in the hot sun.

She won Prime time Emmy Awards, Peabody, British Academy, Writers Guild and numerous awards and nominations for Shogun.

Her great grandparents would have been so proud of her.

In the 1900s, Japan was very poor, like a third-world country, unlike today. At that time, her great grandparents, Ojiichan and Odaachan, left Japan for a better life.

One very old saying from the plantation was “lucky you come Hawaii.”

Terao Nakasone
Kihei