Summer 2026 Newsletter: Chozen-ji in the Community
Zen & Politics
This Spring, the dojo hosted the fifth cohort of Zen & Politics: The Way of Public Leadership. Bill Kaneko, Michael Kanen Roshi, Cristina Moon, Nalani Kaku, and Dwight Matsuo led this yearʻs program, which included 17 participants hailing from local government, nonprofits, and the private sector.
We were honored to be joined by several wonderful guest speakers during the live-in weekends that bookended Z&P, as well as during the weekly talk story sessions in between, including former Governor John Waiheʻe, Chief Judge Karen Nakasone, American Savings Bank CEO Ann Teranishi, Hawaiʻi Department of Budget and Finance Director Seth Colby, and Speaker of the Hawaiʻi House of Representatives Nadine Nakamura.
Eddie Kamae songbook project
On Saturday, January 10th Chozen-ji hosted the official launch of Ka Puke Mele ʻo Eddie Kamae: He Huakaʻi Mele, the Hawaiian-language edition of the free online Eddie Kamae songbook.
This event was a celebration of the music, stories, and cultural legacy of Eddie Kamae, who dedicated his life to preserving Hawaiian music, history, ʻike, and aloha through his founding of the band, The Sons of Hawaiʻi, and through the ten documentaries he and his wife Myrna produced. In particular, this event is the launch of the all-Hawaiian language version of the online songbook, Ka Puke Mele ʻo Eddie Kamae: He Huakaʻi Mele.
Eddie was also a dedicated member of Chozen-ji so it was fitting that we host this event here. The event was anchored by Lilinoe Andrews and we were joined by Myrna Kamae along with The Sons of Hawaiʻi. The evening included hula, Hawaiian food, and speeches honoring all the effort to launch the songbook.
Removed By Force Book launch
On June 14, Bill Kaneko and Sara Lin launched their new book, Removed By Force: The Eviction of Hawaiʻi's Japanese Americans During World War II, at an event and book signing at Chozen-ji. The book details how 1,500 Japanese Americans living in Hawaiʻi were forcibly removed from their homes after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the legal efforts that resulted in families eventually receiving reparations from the U.S. government.
The book release followed the successful documentary film by the same name and co-produced by Bill, which was screened at The Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, and at venues across the country and in Tokyo. The film is available to watch online through PBS Hawaiʻi.