With a Little Help from Japan: Stone Beaches Rebuilt in Lili‘uokalani Park
By Kelsey Walling, Hawaii Tribune-Herald | June 8, 2022 (republished with permission) After over two years of planning, four gardeners from Japan traveled to Hilo and built two suhama, or stone beaches, at Lili‘uokalani Park and Gardens. K.T. Cannon-Eger has been working with multiple county administrations to help restore the park to what it looked like nearly 100 years ago. Years ago, Hilo resident Roanne Nip shared a photo of her grandmother on the social media page, Big Island History in Photos, to see if someone recognized the location of a stone beach she was sitting on. Cannon-Eger immediately recognized Lili‘uokalani Park and realized there were stone beaches when the photo was taken in the 1930s, before the 1946 tsunami that destroyed much of the area. Rev. Sohko Kuki performs a blessing in front of the Japanese landscaping team and other attendees for the new suhama, or stone beaches, at Liliuokalani Park and Gardens in Hilo on Tuesday. Kelsey Walling/Tribune-Herald “When I saw the photo, I knew I wanted to work to restore this part of the park with help from expert Japanese gardeners,” Cannon-Eger said. “I started talking about this project when Billy Kenoi was mayor, and now with Mitch Roth as mayor and Maurice Messina in the parks department it was finally able to happen.” Cannon-Eger received the first grant from the Japan government’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, or MLIT, in March 2020. MLIT has been supporting the restoration of Japanese gardens around the world since 2009. The grant was gifted just before the parks closed during the first COVID-19 stay-at-home order. While the pandemic raged, Friends of Lili‘uokalani Park continued to apply for grants and raise funds [...]