Puapua

As promised in the last post, this blog will start looking at the Hawaiian connection for ukuleles.

As may be expected, a lot of Japanese ukulele enthusiasts having the dough would like a Hawaiian-made, Hawaiian koa ukulele. Of course, buying one in Japan often implies selling off the house or an offspring on the black market. Prices are roughly twice what you might pay in North America for the same instrument. Kamakas in particular demand a human sacrifice at the rim of an active volcano.

In steps Puapua. A fellow from Japan, Nishimoto Ken, set up an ukulele shop in an upscale (at least for me) Waikiki hotel. While his shop, Puapua, caters mostly to Japanese tourist in Waikiki, it also sells Hawaiian ukuleles over the internet at slightly higher prices than perhaps Elderly Music, but considerably cheaper than what you are likely to find in Japan.As far as I can make out, it is really this business that keeps the cash flowing in. My visits to his shop have always been punctuated by stacks of wrapped ukes heading for the airport on courier trolleys.

Like Ukulele House (the subject planned for the next posting), staff will give newbies a free 30 lesson on playing some simple song. Even if the staff is not Japanese, they can usually handle enough Japanese to get through the lesson. Puapua also has lessons taught by Bruce Shimabukuro (Jake's brother), Jody Kamasato, and Hawaiian style ukulele lessons by Tyler. These are popular with Japanese tourists.

Although I have no proof or direct evidence whatsoever, I would be inclined to speculate that Puapua and Ukulele House might be partially responsible for lengthened waiting lists for Kamakas, Koaholas, G Strings, and other well-known ukuleles. These have helped linguistically challenged Japanese to buy ukuleles directly from the source in their own language, an avenue long closed to many.