WAILUKU - After decades of planning, fundraising and dealing with the permitting process, the last segment of the Nisei Veterans Memorial Center is scheduled to be completed by early next year.
Construction has already begun on the Education Center, described by center board members as the "crowning piece" of the "living memorial" that sits on a 6-acre parcel along Kahului Beach Road. It will join two other buildings, which house a preschool and an adult day care program.
As construction continues, board members, center officials and volunteers are making a last push to raise about $470,000 for the project. According to Brian Moto, general campaign chairman and one of the center's board members, about $1.43 million has already been secured for the nearly $1.9 million project.
He stressed the importance of the campaign and the completion of the center.
"The Education Center is in all likelihood going to be the last major facility dedicated to the World War II Japanese-American veterans that would have been built and designed during their lifetime. We are not aware of any other. We are calling the campaign 'Marching Home for a Living Legacy.' ''
Moto's father, the late Kaoru Moto, served as a private first class in the 100th Infantry Battalion and earned the United States' highest military award, the Medal of Honor, along with a Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his heroism. Moto said many of the nisei (second-generation Japanese-Americans) veterans are now in their late 80s and 90s.
One of those veterans is 91-year-old center board President Hiroshi Arisumi. He was part of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 232nd Combat Engineers.
He said he is grateful the project is nearing completion.
"Today, it's on my bucket list to see the NVMC completed," Arisumi said. "All we want to do is be of service - the ones who came home. And for the ones who couldn't come home with us, we want to always remember them. What better way to do both than with this facility? And our sons and daughters who are working to make this happen - this is a work of devotion, and we are grateful."
The 4,200-square-foot Education Center will house the organization's collection of memorabilia primarily from Japanese-American soldiers and their families, historic information, library, oral history items and education classrooms.
The building will have temperature and humidity controls to protect the memorabilia from mold and mildew.
The facility is dedicated to recounting the history of nisei veterans in World War II through its collections and the presentation of educational programs in collaboration with community groups to facilitate the passing down of generational values, according to center officials.
Anticipated programs include cultural, social, educational and arts-related activities and classes. Community, government, and groups focused on veterans and youth activities also are anticipated.
Moto, the county's former corporation counsel and current special assistant to the chancellor at the University of Hawaii Maui College, said the Education Center will be a resource for the entire community and is not an ethnic center.
"The story . . . of the nisei soldier is an American story. It is about our country's history and heritage and so therefore it's a story that we hope will inspire and transform all people everywhere," he said.
Alexander & Baldwin Inc. has donated the land for the center, which has received numerous grants including those from individuals, corporations and foundations along with money from the government.
The center held a grand opening for the first phase of the project in 2006. The initial phase included the preschool and adult day care buildings.
Kansha Preschool operates at the center and so does one of Maui Adult Day Care Centers' programs.
When asked what his father would have thought about the center nearing completion, Moto said: "I think he would be happy to know that the primary purpose of the Education Center is not simply to remember but to inspire and to transform these future generations, to create future hero citizens by passing on those values of courage and hard work and sacrifice that were demonstrated by our World War II veterans."
Arisumi Brothers Inc. is constructing the Education Center. Hiroshi Arisumi is the chairman of the company's board, said Sanae Tokumura, campaign spokesperson, but added that Arisumi Brothers had gone through a formal bidding process to get the job.
For more information on the project, contact Tokumura at (808) 722-0425.
* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@maui news.com.
