Harry Kojima "The Ambassador of Hawaii Local Fishing"

Harry Kojima (1944-2011)

“Hey Gang! Come on! Let’s go fishing! ”

Description: Harry Toshio Kojima (Hari), nicknamed “Ambassador of Hawaii Local Fishing”, left a taste of the sea in the 20th century, with his television show that helped create awareness of the importance of the recipes of Hawaii's recent past. He was known for his local personality and etiquette as he taught several generations of viewers how to fish, cut, and cook, as he was usually wearing shorts on set with his wavy hair that was most likely salted from the sea. 

He was multitalented and would be playing mean Ukulele while covering a Kaau Crater Boys song or sometimes his harmonica he would pull out from his pocket. He taught people what the Local Boy model was as well as how to Love what you do. He had a sense of Friendliness and Informality, yet if things needed to be strict in learning things he would not hesitate. Harry graduated from Farrington High School (1962) and at that time lived on Halona Street in Kalihi.  

Vietnam War
Military Service, Harry Kojima signed up third-year High School ROTC and in the 1960’s it was required to complete two years, but Harry completed OCS (Officers Candidate School) to be eligible as a ranking officer after he when grad in 1962. Harry would end up being Captain Harry Kojima and be the Platoon Commander for those from his highschool Ferrington, and then he would be serving in the US Army in the Vietnam War.

Local Etiquette
He would keep up local etiquette even when dining out as one hostess remembers when he came into Sizzlers. He came in, one time, with the hostess asking, " would you like to try our fish of the day? " He smiled at her and said, " I would like the biggest steak you have. I can eat fish, anytime!" He then gave her a hug in thanks for her service. When he worked at the fish market people would watch him cut up monsta ahis, salmon, all kine fish, and go on to explain how to cut the buggahs up.

Fishmongers Eye at the Fish Markets
He was also known at the different Fish Markets around the world as they interacted with people and heard some common names and one of those industry names was Harry Kojima. Those from the old Seattle Pikes Place Fish Market would tell people that Harry shopped there when he was looking for some of the best fish and some people would come into the market. There was an active Hilo auction and Oahu auction at the time with people contacting markets to ship fresh catches from places like: San Pedro, California, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Thailand, Singapore, and Hawaii. Back then Hawaii wasn’t consistent with quality with all the fish, so it took a skilled fishmonger that often came from a fishmongering family to spot the nuanced differences amongst different grade fish. Harry being a fishmonger himself had an eye for different grades of fish. 

The reason this skill was important to identify fish and to properly grade them was because you wanted good quality fish. In the olden days the Hawaii Fishermen filled their ships with fish in a dedicated area where they would quickly sell the top half of the catch to hotels, local restaurants, and luxury dining establishments. The bottom of the fishing vessel would be shipped out to the mainland and it would be difficult to meet the mainland fish market requests for top quality seafood. Back then they would be out about a week, two weeks, and the fish at the bottom would get older and beat up, but this was the case for many other places as well including Canadian fishing vessels. 

Kojima Ohana
He was part of the Kojima Ohana being the son of Thomas Kojima (nisei) and…. He had a brother Roy H Kojima, older brother Kenneth M Kojima, and another brother Paul S Kojima. There were also the Kojima Sisters: Evelyn S Kojima and Carol E Kojima. The Kojimas would have a house in Kapalama where there was a fishing boat in the driveway and as they would drive home into the neighborhood the family would wave at other neighbors as they drove by to spread the aloha. Harry and his brothers would grow up six years of their lives developing love, knowledge, and understanding of the outdoors on Molokai before moving to Oahu through fishing and camping.

Harry’s Father and Tamashiro Market
Thomas Kojima (Father) worked as a salesman at City Mill and would help advise the Tamashiro Ohana of Tamashiro Market in the renovations of the North King Street location in the 1970s. Tamashiro Market, the fishermen would be in the parking lot unloading the fish with the cases of ice that were keeping them cold and delivering their catches to Tamashiro’s and the person behind the counter talking story all the time would be Harry Kojima and a few of his co-workers: Danny, Pat Pettypool, Mose Tanuvasa (1980s). Harry would be the head of the seafood section of Tamashiro Market and taught Guy Tamashiro how to cut fish as a Master Fish Filleter. Back then there were quite a lot of fish and people would learn to eat more locally with understanding the fish from front to back as a way to just make the most of what you would have. 

“The first Samoan crab I ever caught I took it to Tamashiro fish market and sold it to Harry. He taught me how tie the pinchers!” -Jeff Gebhard

Harry’s Mother
The moms back then were experts in the kitchen and really played it down back then, but really some of the best recipes were the ones the moms making. Harry’s mom was no exception with many of his best recipes were the ones his Mom gave him. It would be things that would start out simple that you could do in a home kitchen and get more complicated from there. 

“Sometimes 7,000. ,8,000 or more Self Addressed Stamped Envelopes a week sent in to the station requesting a copy of that weeks recipe. If Harry only got 2,000 or 3,000 requests for a recipe he would say Junk, we no going use dat one again.” -Stan Wright

Later on when his career took off he would remember his roots and always be telling people to go to Tamashiro market and promote their stuff. When Poke was in its modern form, when Baked Fish needed sausage and mayonnaise, and people needed to know the information on cleaning market fish Harry was the guy. The Show really brought several local dishes from obscurity to household recipes and those were a few of them, so it helped the businesses that sold seafood a lot, even more so when he had “Hari’s Kitchen” (1996-1998). 

Sunday Afternoon Fishing with Bruce Carter
Hawaii Goes Fishing traces its historical roots to a series called “Fishing With Bruce Carter” where it showcased local fishing trips, narration with his friends and with being the only show of its kind it became a staple of local television watchers. The series started with Bruce Carter who had lots of great fishing techniques and tips for fishing. Harry Kojima got discovered as a fish cutter and fish monger at Tamashiro Market where he worked there for his day job. But, he was given the opportunity by Bruce Carter who brought him in for a televised cooking demonstration of fish cutting on a humongous ahi in his local-style of speaking and explanations where it spotted him to be a regular on the show along with photographer Stan Wright. At the end of each show all the fish were laid out on a blue tarp.

Bruce Carter Hands Over Show to Harry & Stan
Bruce lived in a little white house on Kahala Ave and was known to be an avid drinker, he was quite the vodka drinker, with people trying to guess how much he drank before filming a show. Bruce was always toasted, which gave a great sense of authenticity that was really ahead of its time, because while there was a large audience for professionalism and picture perfect things, there was also a growing audience for authentic shows as well. 

Olympia Beer was a sponsor, so of course many would make it their Sunday tradition to watch the show and drink or as Don Ho made famous the saying “Suck em’ up”, meanwhile the children would be drinking their Passion Orange Juice or Pog. 

When Bruce left for a long deserved retirement Harry became the host and Stan Wright joined the show to give more fishing tips. Hari really helped the show come to life with his smiles, subtle local style joking, and fish cutting experience as “da fish cuttah from tamashiro’s”. 

Let’s Go Fishing Television Program

It later was renamed “Let's Go Fishing” and there was a song with a little jingle “Let's go fishing, come along with me. Let's go fishing, feeling fancy free. No matter if you're young or if you're old, just grab some bait and your fishing pole and let's go fishing today". 

Some of his jokes would be fishing references like knowing that Tilapia ate just about anything including garbage and would be plentiful in the Ala Wai that was heavily polluted back then. He would go and say 

“This week , we going fishing for tilapia in the Ala Wai using cigarette butts”. -Harry Kojima

Harry had a sidekick named Stan, who said that he did like eat, did not eat raw fish. In one episode, after Harry prepared a bowl of ono-looking poke, he said to Stan, "Here Stan, have a taste". Stan then replied to Harry, ....."Harry, it's raw".

Harry was replaced by the network as they saw the show in a way that was in a different direction than it had been for years. The show seemed to really change as one of his fans remembered him saying that he got more than he expected and emotionally from that experience. 

Hawaii Goes Fishing Television Program

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Eventually Bruce would later on pass on the reigns as he retired and let Harry be the host of the show.  Harry would be part of peoples Sunday night dinner line up in the 1980s: Let’s Go Fishing, Sumo Wrestling, and then Kikaida. Stan became the co-host and was quite knowledgeable about fresh water fish and cooked recipes, but he was remembered as the guy who didn't like eating raw fish. When Hari offered him some poke to Stan he said "Here, Stan, have a taste" and Stan had replied "Hari! it's raw".

Local icon, as a local icon there were many adults who fished and kids who were fans of his show that would swarm his table as he used to frequent Shiro’s Saimin. He made several books: Cooking with Hari & Muriel, Hair Kojima’s Local Style Favorites, and. Hari Kojima’s Favorite Seafood Recipes. He enjoyed spending time on the west side and would be waving with aloha as he would see fans at Times Waipahu or at the Gem’s store as he carried on with getting his family's supplies and food. If he wasn’t always cooking or putting food on the table for his family with side gigs the man would be into one of his favorites sports, golf, where those who played at Ted Makalena Golf Course fondly remember him inviting people to play with him and have a good time and good company. He would also attend many University of Hawaii sports games and be a part of one of many “Tailgating Crews”.

Harry in the Kitchen

Harry would be working with with paper towels and man he used plenty paper towels every single time when he was in da kitchen. It would remind those who experience those moments they would look at the paper towels and end up laughing cause they thinking of Harry. 

Cooking Legacy, he would be cooking at home for the family and cooking on the television and he would be showing the youth how to cook at the schools. He would be heading to do cooking demonstrations in the mid-1970s at the University of Hawaii campus as he thought it was important that everyone know how to cook raw fish, cook the raw clams, and make sure all kinds of food would be eaten for a diverse diet. He would be easily recognized all over Hawaii and move on to be in charge of marketing and business development for “Fresh Island Fish” (Wholesaler). He would always be looking for ways to fatten up things with a sauce as he would enjoy seafood stews and exploring with fats and have his famous saying that many who served him when he went out “put some meat with fat on!” as implying a hearty stew. Many Hawaiian families would also go on to watch his stories to see him as a few viewers called him “Fish Sensei” or “Kumu of Fish”.

Materials
The residents of the island would inherit printed books like "Hari Kojima's Favorite Seafood Recipes" (1982) and "Cooking with Hari & Muriel" (1994). It was a collection of Hawaii recipes that were enjoyed, developed, and arranged in a way that people could easily replicate the recipes no matter what island they were from. Hawaii foodies who are interested in the unique taste of Hawaii seafood see it as a part of the guidelines of the 1980's of Hawaii Cuisine with a speciality of Seafood. 

Fresh Island Fish Inc in Sales and Business Development
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