Please join us for a special glimpse of Japanese Hawaiian culture as Hawai’i author Myra Sachiko Ikeda talks about her new book “A Harvest of Hawai’i Plantation Pidgin: The Japanese Way.” Born and raised in Hilo, Ikeda grew up speaking pidgin at the height of Hawai’i’s sugar era. In her book, she looks back at Hawai’i plantation life, and particularly the effects of the multicultural plantation camp living on language. A reference lexicon and lifestyle book, it describes the mixing of Japanese with other plantation languages, the borrowing and lending of words and phrases, defining words and their pronunciations and spellings, remembering children’s games, and provides a context for the changes in languages. Ikeda is a graduate of the University of Hawai’i, Hilo in Japanese studies and Speech-English. She also has experience living and working in Japan. At the demise of sugar as a Hawai’i crop and towards the end of the plantation days Ikeda felt the need to preserve the language used and recognize its role in the history and culture of Hawai’i. Ikeda’s book will be available for purchase at the program and the author will be available for book signing and answering questions. The evening will include a taiko demonstration and a display of Japanese Hawaiian cultural life compliments of the Kauai Soto Zen Temple in Hanapepe.