The
Hawaii Hochi was founded in 1912 to serve
Hawaii's Japanese diaspora community. It was originally headquartered in a commercial building on Maunakea and Pauahi streets, and moved to another building near the
Port of Honolulu in 1921. The newspaper was acquired by
Shizuoka Shimbun in 1962, and the Hochi's new owner, Konosuke Oishi, commissioned Kenzo Tange to build the paper a new headquarters in 1972. The new building combined
brutalist and
tropical modernist styles. It is one of two completed Tange commissions in the US, the other one being an expansion to the
Minneapolis Institute of Art. The Hochi building is sited in an industrial area, and its facade faces Kokea Street and the Kapālama Drainage Canal. It has two stories, and the main concrete office block is separated from the adjoining printing plant and parking garage by a planted courtyard. Following years of declining circulation, the Hochi moved out of the building in 2022. It released its last issue on December 8, 2023. Since then, the building has been unused. Several proposals have been made for its
adaptive reuse, including for use as workforce housing or by
Kamehameha Schools within a redeveloped Kapālama Kai district. == References ==