 This is State Tech Hawaii, Community Matters here. Aloha, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Pauline Schuckmachin, your host for Outside In. Last Wednesday, like every third Wednesday in January, was opening day at the Hawaiian State Legislature. However, last Wednesday was doubly special because it was also the 125th anniversary of the overthrow of Hawaii's last monarch, Queen Liliuokalani. Here to discuss this with me today, as well as other intrigues at the palace, is Kipin de Alva Chou, Executive Director of Iolani Palace. Aloha, Kipin. Aloha. Nice to see you again after such a while. Yes. Good to see you too, Pauline. Brilliant. So, unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to be on the palace grounds the opening day because I was busy preparing for a show here, but you happen to be there as being Director of Iolani Palace, so what was it like? What was the atmosphere like during this Onipa a Kako? The atmosphere, it was very palpable. I want to use that word, first of all, because it was both tense, but yet at the same time passionate, so there were a lot of competing emotions, but overall everyone knew why we had gathered and they were respectful of Iolani Palace, even though the commemoration of this anniversary is not something that's, like say, for the faint of heart. Let's put it that way. There was also a very light blessing from the sky. It was perfect how it began to drizzle right about the time of the flag raising. Oh, okay. That's very nice. And this happened exactly at 10.45. 10.45. Exactly. And this isn't the first time this event has taken place, right? The first time was in 1993 during the 100th anniversary of the same event. That's correct. And just like the 100th anniversary, the 125th had no incidents, no arrests, it was very peaceful. Yes. And I heard John Osorio was present to make his speech, but you didn't catch any of the speech that he made, right? Yeah, you were there. Because at the flag raising, it was actually the Royal Order of Kamehameha actually spoke from the front steps. And then I believe Walter really followed them. And the actual march for the commemoration started at the Royal Mausoleum. Is that right? And then it terminates at Iolani Palace, which is, is it considered a sort of a sacred place for the native Hawaiians or just a memory of the overthrow? Iolani Palace? Yes. It is considered sacred, and there is a burial site on the grounds. Right. I took the Royal History course, I didn't know that, because we visited the grounds as well to learn about the various plants and trees and the barracks, obviously. But where is the burial site located exactly? There is a burial mound. It's in the Diamond Head Makai Quadrant, so in front of the Kana'ina building. So from the palace, if you're looking towards Kauaihau Church, you'll see there are tea leaves in an enclosure and there's a mound there. That represents where the first mausoleum was built for Kamehameha II and his queen when they died in London. That's right. Oh, yes. London's always very important. There are very close connections between British royalty and Hawaiian monarchy. So Iolani Palace is the only working Royal Palace or used to be the only working Royal Palace in all of the United States. So Honolulu is quite special in, has that distinction as being the only U.S. city with a working Royal Palace in the past, because it wasn't all only the seat of the Hawaiian monarchs. For a little while, it was also the legislature. That's where the legislature is met temporarily before the capital building was built. Actually, it was the legislative building for a long time. Oh, right. Not a short time. Yeah. So what we tell people, because there are Royal Palaces in other cities in the U.S. that are called Royal Palaces. But Iolani Palace is the only one that served as an official Royal residence similar to the White House. Okay. So that's the difference. And they even had, it's a telephone was working before the White House. Is that right? I don't know about telephone, but electricity for sure, four years before the White House. Okay. So advanced in many respects at that time. Oh, yes. Maybe not so much now. So, yeah, so that's good that you were able to suck up the atmosphere there. It's a very rare event. But just because it's not a major anniversary like the 125th, that means next year they will do a similar commemoration or it's only on the big anniversaries such as the next one coming up, which might be the 150th. Right. Correct. Okay. Yeah, it's usually on the big anniversary dates. I see. Okay. So they make the biggest event possible out of it. So, and then they carry the portraits of Liliuol Kalani, is that correct? Yes. A lot of flower arrangements and lays at the base of her statue. Yes. And Ho'okupu. Yeah. A lot of times you'll see that. Yeah. Because there's always something left for her there, but even more so. Correct. So, okay, let's just get into a little bit about the other happenings of the palace. Sure. Not necessarily intrigue, but other happenings of the palace because one of the reasons I wanted to have you on the show is because even locals, people who live here, they haven't visited the palace, which I find a little bit odd because as I was speaking with you earlier, what I do, I love to travel and the first thing I do because I love history, I think it's the best way to understand the local area or a new place, is to go to the local palace or the castle. It's kind of the base. Right. Because a lot of cultures were feudal. They did have kings and queens. They did have monarchs. And Hawaii is a very good example. In fact, the only true example of that in the American states. So, the first thing I'd personally like to do is go to the local palace or the castle and the attached museum. But I'm really surprised and shocked when people here haven't done that. And they have families here. And I said, you know, there's something called Kamaina Sunday that people can go to at the Yolani Palace. And it's very people-friendly. People can bring their children. Yeah. And there are various ways people can visit Yolani Palace, whether they're visitors or their locals. Sure. Okay. So, speaking about locals first, because you're exactly right. We are trying to bring more locals in because so many of our residents have never been there. And it's shocking and sad. It's sad at the same time. So, what we tell people is Kamaina Sunday. We have it, it's usually the second Sunday of the month, free for all of the residents, local residents, as well as military. And we also do special events throughout the year. So, in September, we have this birthday celebration for Queen Lili Okalani called Onipa'a. And so, the palace is open free even to tourists during that time. We just open the palace up. It's like an open house. You can go to our website and we have the calendar in there. It shows when the Kamaina Sundays are and when these other special events occur. Yeah. And you also have these quilting classes. Is that correct? Are you still running those? Those are run separately, but they are on the grounds of the palace. And I mentioned this in one of the other shows on Outside In was I took the Royal History course. And I think people are under the misconception that this is solely for people who want to become docents or volunteer guides for the palace. And I was just interested in the information because I love history. People can take that course with Zeta and they don't necessarily have to become a docent or that doesn't necessarily have to be their ultimate aim or objective. But if they do want to become docents, how can they do that at the palace with Zeta? We actually have a docent training course. And that's actually just starting up. It's a seven-week process. And so, they're going to go through and learn actually what it is like to lead a tour for people. And then after that, they're going to take the Royal History course. Okay, so it's developed since I've taken it. Okay, yes. Because I took it several years ago and it was literally just the four sessions with Zeta. And it was a lovely group of people. It was a mixture of people who just moved to Hawaii. Their husband was posted there. So it was a large, by and large, a group of ladies. And people who are just interested in some place they've lived for so long and didn't really know the intrigue of the history of such a beautiful building. And how would you, because you're the executive director of the structure, so there are different descriptions of the architectural style of Iolani Palace. Some people say it's Florentine or American Florentine or Italianate. What is the proper architectural term for it? Because I've seen a few of them listed. Okay. I think in the Wikipedia it says Italianate. But I think it's more appropriate to say American Florentine. Well, the thing is American Florentine, nobody really knows what that means. Yes. That's true. That was invented. I don't think most people know what Italianate means. Well, they're thinking Italian, yeah. It's actually, the best description is French Second Empire. Okay, that's a new one. Okay. Yes. And why is that? What features distinguish it as French Second Empire? Because that style is also known as the Monsard style. And Monsard is the term for attic in French and Italian. And it's the use of the attic as a living or working space. And so if you're looking at the palace, you can clearly see in our towers, the roof, there's a window that comes out. So we have spaces built in and that's one of the features. Another one is the veranda. Yes. That the door to the entrance of the palace is clearly marked. Yes. You can see that's another feature of it. This style of architecture is very common in Washington, D.C. Yeah. And the building that's the best example is the old executive office building, where the majority of the White House staff work. Oh, okay. Yeah. So Il Line Palace is very similar in style. Oh, okay. Okay. A seat of power. Yes. So when I took the course a few years ago, you had, obviously Onipa Akako did not have any incidents. Nothing violent happened. But I think it was in February a few years ago, and we did have one very serious incident with two individuals who broke one of the doors to the palace. Oh, it was just one individual. It was one individual. Okay. I thought they had an accomplice, but it was just one person who broke the door. It was just one person. Okay. And I think it's been repaired by now. It was repaired quite quickly, wasn't it? Yes. Well, we had plywood up, and then plywood looks pretty ugly. And so we've now replaced that with plexiglass. Okay. Which actually mimics the glass with the design. Oh, okay. Thank heavens, because otherwise it would be really expensive. Okay. No, but we are going to replace, we're getting glass. The glass is going to come from Germany. We have an artist in California. He's going to do the acid etching. But that takes a long time. I see. Yeah. So you'll have to keep us informed. I will. I will. That's done. Now, some of the other special events in terms of entrance or viewing the palace occurs in December. Yes. And that has to do with Queen Kapiolani's birthday. Correct. So her birthday was December 31st, 1834. Yes. And you have two exclusive, very special evenings where individuals can tour the palace in the evening and actually walk up that beautiful Koa staircase. Yes. Right? Yes. So did you have a lot of people this past December? We had the most ever. We actually added a third night. Oh, good. Okay. It's the first time. Things are improving, Kippet. The third night. Okay. We're getting there. Yes. The demand is just outstripping our ability to have it open. Yeah. Is that for security reasons? Because it's dark and or is it more logistics to get people to stay, staff to stay on later? It's hard for the staff to work at night because we're also open during the day. Yes. And we don't take on additional staff during this period. So people are going through overtime. Also for the entertainment because we do have entertainment on those evenings and to book entertainment for three successive nights is not easy. And this is very special entertainment, isn't it? Oh, yes. Somebody dresses up like Queen Kapiolani and there's the opera, there's music and a lot of that kind of festivity. Correct. So it's not the normal tour. Oh, no. Where they sort of take you around and tend to visit the shop. It's gear tour. It's the history of Queen Kapiolani. Yes. In particular. Okay. So are one of the docents dressed up like her? Is it a special person who's trained to sort of mimic her style or something like that? Well, we have a policy where we don't imitate anyone of the monarchy. I see. Is that considered rude or inappropriate? It could be taken as inappropriate. So we don't. But we did have Debbie Nakandalu or Richards wear the replica gown. Oh, okay. And so this year she wore the peacock gown. Yes. That's very pretty. Yes. It was beautiful. And these are gowns done by Iris Via Cruces, designer in Hilo. And they're just beautiful, beautiful pieces. The reason I was asking that, it's obviously different in Hawaiian culture because I spent a lot of time in Kyoto as a Visicoto ambassador. And they have many Matsuri to commemorate historical events in the city of Kyoto because it was the capital of Japan for over a thousand years. And the local residents all dress up like famous characters in Japanese history. So you'll have the local very famous merchant who has a kimono shop and he'll dress up like one of the famous shogun. That's why I was asking about that. But it's obviously very different here. It's a more solemn. It's taken very seriously. Yes. And it's not considered a thing to be trifled with. Right, right. So these are called Moonlight Tours of Iolani Palace. Evening. Oh, evening. Okay. I thought I saw the emails of Moonlight Tours. Well, there is Moonlight too. Yes. Moonlight if the moon happens to be out that evening. And it's only now three nights. You're going to continue the third night this year? We hope to do three nights again next year. Yes. And who are the people who seem to know about these? Are they more local residents or are they the visitors that catch on to these exclusive, more special nights? Here's the thing we found out. It is primarily locals who book for these tours. Because they've already probably on a school trip have seen the normal palace tour. Yes, yes. Okay. I noticed in your email, because people can sign up for a newsletter from the palace. Is that correct? To receive communication on special events. Now, I was abroad at the time and you had a fashion show during the autumn. Is that correct? There was a fashion show? Oh, yes. Yes, you forgot about that. We have so many things going on. Yes. So I noted that there was a fashion show. So I said, oh, I wish I could go see that. Yes. And can you tell us a little bit about that? Sure. The designer was Kinie Zamora. Oh, yes. He's been on Think Tech, I think, yes. And it was very serendipitous how this came about. Our director of development happened to be in New York City the same time he was. And they shared a taxi ride from the airport. Oh, okay. And in that taxi ride, there was a discussion where he said, you know, I've always had an idea of doing a fashion show or launching my line at the palace grounds. Oh. And of course, she's like, you know, we've been thinking about something like this. And from that, that's how it happened. Always accidents and serendipity of coincidence. Yeah. And was it open to the public or the people had to purchase tickets for this kind of like a VIP event, right? Yes, of course. Okay. And what kind of fashion was on display? Was it more traditional monarchical style clothes or was it his own designs, his kind of own avant-garde? It was his own designs based off of the Palakka design. Oh, I see. Okay. That was something. And there are photos of this on the palace website. Perhaps people can take a look at. There is, yeah, as well as on Akimi Zamora's website as well. Okay, brilliant. And also, in addition to the course and the special events, you also have some other little projects going on in terms of the museum. So what's going on with the museum? Because this is kind of the last part of the tour. As people, after they finish viewing the kitchens, I think, then they get sent to the museum area where the beautiful jewelry is kept, the famous butterfly brooch and all that. Right, yeah. So we're working on restoring the rest of the basement galleries. So it's only about half done since 2001. And we've never been able to do the rest until now where we have the designs in place. So these are going to be new exhibits. We're going to be expanding the story of the monarchy. So the king, King Kalakau, went around the world, the first monarch to do so. There's going to be a gallery about that, Hawaii and the world and our relationships with other countries. Okay. That's one of them. We'll get into a little bit more of the ed tech things going on in the palace, but we're just going to take this really quick break and we'll be right back. Okay. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. For every game day, a sign a designated driver. Aloha, everyone. Welcome back. We're here speaking with Kippen to Alva Chu, who's executive director of Eolani Palace. And Kippen, we were just before the break, talking about the activities that people can engage in in the museum section of the palace. So what else do you have a plan for the future in terms of educational technology for children to play with in the museum and things like that? Sure. Okay. So part of this, the gallery renovation, is going to include interactive displays. I'm not sure exactly how that's going to come about, but some of the things we've talked about is, okay, if Kalakau went around the world, how do you educate a child in that sense of how long it took? So either it's a globe or even a touch screen. How many days did it take to get from one place to another? And how did the king do this? And who did he visit? So that's one of the things we want to look at. There are also going to be touch tables to introduce people to Hawaiian language. Great. So especially for the monitors that we get, they can type up a word on a big table screen and it'll come up in Hawaiian and it'll pronounce it for them as well. And you're going to continue to have that, the initial start of the tour seats everybody in a gallery with a video. Is that right? It's kind of across the gift shop. Are you going to keep that? We are not sure, yeah, because we will most likely move the ticketing to the palace itself rather than at the barracks. Oh, yes. Because people keep getting lost. Oh, really? Yes. I did hear some people walking around. There was one, they were from Oceania, and one of the friends was telling her friend, oh, that's the palace, but they were pointing at the barracks and it's more the beautiful building behind the barracks than the actual palace. So I think there's a confusion there and then there's the bandstand, which is also very important for ceremonial purposes. And also, is it difficult for people to park in the area? Do you think that's why people avoid going to the palace? Possibly, yes, for local residents. There's only a limited amount of parking and a lot of times the legislature is using it. Oh, right. Because it's in session right now. Don't they have their own sort of underground parking? Yes, but they've been taken away in the public parking slowly. Oh, I see. Okay, so that's rather unfortunate. So maybe that's something that puts people off. It's really worth it to see if people have a chance to visit it. The other thing we were discussing was we have the monarchical crowns, because as a king and queen, you can't be a king and queen without a crown. So you have, it's David Kalakaua's and Queen Kapiolani's crowns. Correct. And you have this plan to perhaps restore the crowns to their form of glory. Is that because there are stones missing in them or do you just want to do them to make it as perfect as possible? I don't know how they look now. You just sent me a few photographs of it. So what's the issue with the crowns? How do they look now and how do you want them to look in terms of restoring them? Okay, so right now, to an untrained eye, they look fine and also equal. The thing is the king's crown, it was stolen shortly after the overthrow and so the stones in it, it's basically glass. It's not the actual stones, original gemstones, opals, diamonds. Queen Kapiolani's crown is original and it's intact. So that's the difference. So we would want to restore Kalakaua's crown and then perhaps do some conservation treatment, basically clean Kapiolani's crown. Okay, so that's a project that's, it's not a priority and is that largely because perhaps you need financial assistance to do that? It's a major undertaking, isn't it? Yes, it is. So if people want to help out out there, please contact the palace because I think it's worth having a proper set of monarchical crowns to bring full glory to the royal residence. And once, if and when that is completed, where would you display these crowns? They're currently displayed in the throne room in a case. Okay, and you would keep them there. Okay, brilliant. Now, Kippen, you're interesting because you're in the past and the future because not only are you executive director of Iolani Palace, but you're also involved with First Robotics. And the reason I'm bringing this up is that my guest for tomorrow show and we like the 1%, we're going to discuss robotics with Michael. And you work on First Robotics together but in different capacities. So we're going to dive into it in great detail tomorrow morning. But can you just talk about your activities with robotics because you remind me of Japan, the old and the new. Nothing really in the present. You're sort of in the past with the monarchy in the royal residence in Iolani Palace. But then you're interested in the future in robotics. So why are you interested in robotics? I was actually recruited to join the board of the Friends of Hawaii Robotics. And since joining, I've learned a lot more about robotics. And I just, I find it fascinating because I thought during my time in high school I would have never been interested in programming a robot. But the fact is that they can do it now and maybe going back in time that might have changed perhaps my career trajectory. Oh, it definitely would have changed mine. Because at the time we were going to university or college there was no computer, I mean not as much computer related or technology related. Things like AI or robotics. Oh no, I was looking at punch cards. I know definitely I'd be making robots now because I'd rather employ those than certain people have to deal with. No, and they're doing an autonomous portion at the competition and then the one where they're actually manipulating the robot. But it's just fascinating to see this happening at this level and it's also going into the elementary school level as well. It's very exciting. And I just want to, I'm curious because of your involvement with robotics is there an interest in once they're kind of more humanoid looking maybe replicate, is it still considered inappropriate to the Hawaiians if you were to make a robotic version a mannequin of the king and queen would that still cross the line a bit that cultural decency or would it be a compliment because then you can have almost life like you can bring them back to life in a way. I'm going to say that there would be people who would take offense to it. There would also be others who would say that there's no way you could actually replicate them and so doing something like this only cheapens their memory. Because what I found interesting I went to several conferences related to technology and robotics and what they observed which it's not the case with me people actually quite like the robots that kind of have the dots and dashes as a face as opposed to a full life like human looking person or a realistic person. That seems to disturb humans more where I actually like it if it mimics a person properly so it's an aesthetic thing because I find the ones that kind of look cartoonish to be ugly but the ones that kind of are as polished as possible I think Sophia or something she's the honorary robotic citizen of Saudi Arabian which is interesting because the regime there but anyway so I just thought and thought of such an idea because it would enhance the beauty of the displays in the palace I think not necessarily to have them walking and talking or do that I think that might be disturbing but to have a sort of a life like version in the palace I don't know if that would be offensive in your opinion or do you have a group of people who think about these things at the palace board of advisors board of directors it's like wax figures we could do wax figures but will we? I can tell you no we would not do that it's a very sensitive issue because having the overthrow anniversary last week the issue of Hawaii is still unresolved in many ways legally it is it's not as though the kingdom is over it was just sort of annexed even that with the annexation there's issues on whether that was done according to international law I don't know if you know this but the international commission of inquiry was supposed to have met last week on the palace grounds for two days in its fact finding regarding the Larson versus Hawaiian Kingdom case that was filed in 2000 they postponed for procedural reasons but they at some point are going to come to Hawaii can you tell us a little bit more about the details of this case because not many people are aware of such things outside of Hawaii actually one of our board members did a program like this law across the sea regarding this case basically it's a big island resident got the number of parking tickets and he said that the county was not the legal government that he was still a subject of the Hawaiian Kingdom and he didn't pay and he didn't abide by the county rules so he was placed in jail so he sued the Hawaiian Kingdom for not protecting his rights that sounds really fascinating so we'll have to follow this case and one way we can do is give updates of things like this if people sign up to the Iolani Palace newsletter or is it something they have to follow independently they would have to follow with the international court but everything else regarding the palace and the museum so is it Iolani Palace.org IolaniPalace.org and we want as many people whether you're a visitor or a local to visit this beautiful structure amazing feat of architecture and thank you again so much for being my guest today Kevin oh my pleasure and I'll see you next Wednesday at 2pm for Outside In thank you very much Aloha