James Aiona was born in
Pearl City, Hawaiʻi. He is of
Hawaiian and
Portuguese descent on his father's side and
Chinese descent on his mother's side. His mother worked as an elementary school teacher and his father worked as a life insurance agent. He attended
Saint Louis School, a local academy of the
Diocese of Honolulu. Upon graduating high school, Aiona played basketball at
University of the Pacific in
Stockton, California and pursued a bachelor of arts degree in political science, which he received from there in 1977. Aiona returned to Hawaiʻi and graduated from the
William S. Richardson School of Law at the
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 1981. He began his legal career at the
City and County of Honolulu as a deputy prosecutor, and was appointed to the Hawaiʻi State Judiciary in 1990 as a Family Court judge. In 1996, while serving as Circuit Court judge, Aiona became the first administrative judge and primary architect of the Drug Court Program in Hawaiʻi. The program gives non-violent offenders a chance to stay out of prison through active and effective drug rehabilitation. In 1977, while attending law school, he met Vivian Welsh at a dance in Waikīkī. They married in 1981. They have two sons, Kulia and Makana; and two daughters, Ohulani and Kaimilani. ==Electoral history==