Hālau Nā Mamo O Pu‘uanahulu

Miki Aoki, of Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, is a housewife and president of a jewelry company. She says, “I always wanted to feel like I was in some way still in Hawai‘i or connected to Hawai‘i, and so learning hula seemed to be a great way of accomplishing that, because hula is the traditional dance of Hawai‘i.” Miki started to take hula lessons from a Japanese hula teacher in 1999. However, she really wanted to learn from a true Hawaiian Kumu Hula.

Miki was familiar with Hālau Nā Mamo O Pu‘uanahulu through their Merrie Monarch appearances, workshops and concert in Japan. It was in 2005 at Merrie Monarch that Miki thought, “I really want to join this hālau!” She was very happy when HNMOP opened the Japan Branch. When Miki joined HNMOP in 2006, she felt it was a perfect fit for her because, she said, “I love Hawai‘i very much. I wanted to learn Hawaiian culture, Hawaiian music, nature of Hawai‘i and history of the native people of Hawai‘i from Hawaiians themselves.”

Hula became the most important thing in her life and by studying and dancing hula, she came to love Hawai‘i more and more. Hula taught her to be humble. It also taught her about love and “pilina.” Through hula, she has built a strong connection to Hawai‘i and has travelled to Hawai‘i over 80 times. Currently, “Aloha No, Ke Aloha” is her favorite song to dance to. When she dances she says, “I feel love and a deep feeling of happiness.”