Our Honolulu
Akebono's fame now an industry
By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist
The Sumo Connection, a budding industry in Waimanalo, is better known in Japan than in Our Honolulu.
Japanese visitors sign up for a stop on their around-the-island-tour before they ever set foot on an airplane. The attraction is Jan Rowan, mother of yokozuna (grand sumo champion) Akebono, who grew up as Chad Rowan in Waimanalo.
Vans, stretch limos and tour buses pull in at the hole-in-the-wall shopping center; tourists line up to have their picture taken with Akebono's mother in her little shop.
"Wherever we go in Japan we are surrounded by skebitos, bodyguards," Rowan explained from her table beside the door. "Nobody can get close enough to take a picture."
A 10-foot-high, golden statue of Akebono in his muwashi (girdle), powerful arms thrusting at an invisible opponent, stands outside.
But this is not a carnival attraction. Visitors bow to Akebono's mother upon entering, and respectfully request to take a photograph. The mother answers in Japanese. There is no fee for this courtesy, merely a small, hand-lettered sign explaining that donations are accepted as at a shrine.
One day a woman put a $100 bill into the fishbowl. Rowan sent the driver back with the bill because visitors are often are confused by American money. The woman said, "Oh no, I meant to put in $100."
The questions most asked by Japanese sumo fans upon meeting Akebono's mother are, "Is your son bigger than you?" and, "Are you his sister?"
Grand champion Akebono weighs something like 460 pounds. The first question, and a casual glance, indicate that his mother is also of sumo proportions. This is not surprising, since her other two sons weigh 300 and 380 pounds respectively.
How much does the mother of Akebono weigh? That's between her and her doctor, but it's not as much as Akebono.
The second question comes naturally because 55-year-old Jan Rowan looks more like 35 although she has cared for 29 foster children in addition to her own, as well as 25 grandchildren. Recently, she added a four-month-old boy.
"Before he came along, I had given up foster children because I'm too old," she confessed. "It started when I was working at Castle High School. A nun brought in a pregnant teenager and I took her in."
Rowan said she learned Japanese from watching sumo on television. She opened the store first on Kapahulu Avenue, but moved to Waimanalo because it's on the around-the-island tour.
She lives two blocks from the shop. If a van full of tourists arrives when she's not there, the clerk calls her immediately. She autographs Akebono T-shirts and sumo coffee mugs, an industry that clerk Lora Lorenzo is convinced has "put Waimanalo on the map."
Rowan added, "We came from food stamps and public housing to where Chad is. I'm proud that we set an example of being the best you can be."
Reach Bob Krauss at 525-8073 or bkrauss@honoluluadvertiser.com.
