Three Decades in Paradise

When Sony first came to town in 1968, Hawaii was a different place. Color television was still a relatively new medium. Baseball was America's #1 sport, and you could watch the Hawaii Islanders play in the old Honolulu Stadium on Isenberg Street. It cost 20 cents to catch a bus ride on the Honolulu Rapid Transit. A pound of freshly cooked char siu pork set you back 50 cents in Chinatown, and you ate guilt-free because cholesterol was a relatively unknown medical term.

A youthful Mr. Kenji Tamiya had been with Sony for about one year. Sent from Tokyo headquarters by president Akio Morita, he set up shop together with a few employees on the third floor of City Bank in downtown Honolulu. Filled with energy and youthful enthusiasm, Mr. Tamiya set up the basic foundation that led to Sony's success in Hawaii, which continues until today under the guidance of Mr. Don Kim, the seventh of Sony Hawaii's presidents.

Through the years, Hawaii and Sony have mutually benefited from the long relationship forged several decades ago. From the introduction of consumer favorites such as the Walkman, the compact disc, and the Trinitron color television, to innovative products such as the video camcorder and the PlayStation, Sony products have become the favorite choice of Hawaii's consumers. Broadcast media have also made Sony their product of preference, and though the Jumbotron at Aloha Stadium or the video scoreboard at the University's Stan Sheriff arena may come to mind, many people unknowingly enjoy media broadcasts made possible through the studio use of Sony equipment.

In return, Sony Hawaii has aspired to be a positive and contributing corporate member of Hawaii's community, sponsoring civic and charitable causes such as the Aloha United Way, the Kuakini Foundation, and the Sony Open.

Today, Sony Hawaii employs over sixty local employees in a facility in Mapunapuna that houses executive, sales and marketing, accounting, service and parts, and warehouse and distribution functions. Overseas, Sony Hawaii employs an additional twenty personnel, and is responsible for sales and service to the U.S. military stationed in East Asia and Europe. A special Sony Disc Manufacturing division offers one-stop CD production and fulfillment to Hawaii's music community.

Now, on the edge of a new technological era, Sony has set goals to evolve into a digital broadband entertainment company. The four gateways into the network era will be digital televisions, personal computers, the PlayStation 2 game console, and mobile terminals like cellular phones. Sony Hawaii will commit the resources of this website to inform, entertain, and interact with all who choose to know more about Sony products, dealers, and the exciting technological changes to come.

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