'Justice crusaders' win tunnel name fight
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Transportation Writer
Kongo Kimura and Yoshie Tanabe never knew Tetsuo Harano before his name was removed from the H-3 Freeway tunnels. They just knew he was wronged.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
So when Gov. Linda Lingle officially renames the tunnels in honor of Harano this morning at Washington Place, Kimura and Tanabe will be there, too, to join in the celebration.
Yoshie Tanabe, left, and Kongo Kimura fought government "the old-fashioned" way to restore Tetsuo Harano's name above the entrances to the tunnels on H-3 Freeway.
In the 1990s, the tunnels were named for Harano, a former state Highways Division chief during the time the tunnels and freeway were being built. In 2001, however, then-Gov. Ben Cayetano ordered the tunnels renamed to honor one of his political mentors, former Gov. John Burns.
That didn't sit right with Kimura, 83 and Tanabe, 72.
"It seemed like a great injustice for one person to be given an honor, then have it unilaterally taken away, especially when he didn't do anything wrong," Tanabe said.
So she and Kimura set about fighting the government the old-fashioned way, with letters and petitions.
Kimura, a retired school teacher on the Big Island, wrote dozens of letters protesting Cayetano's action. He wrote to the governor, lieutenant governor, congressmen, the Senate president, all the legislators, everyone he could think of.
No one answered, except for the late Rep. Patsy Mink, who promised to forward Kimura's concerns to Cayetano.
"I really got upset. I was very disappointed with Cayetano. I figured he was a lost cause," said Kimura, a lifelong Democrat. "That's when I thought there's another way to skin the cat."
Kimura turned his letter writing skills elsewhere. He wrote to all his friends and to newspapers, urging all Democrats to vote for Lingle.
Tanabe, a retired nurse, started a petition drive asking Cayetano to reconsider his decision.
She got the attention of hundreds of people, including Kimura, and the group ended up gathering 8,000 signatures, all of which were delivered to Cayetano, who still refused to change his mind.
Lingle, though, agreed that if she became governor, the name would be changed back.
That's all Kimura and Tanabe wanted. They felt all along that the issue was bigger than just a name change; it was a matter of principle. "This isn't about two people," said Tanabe. "The bottom line is that Gov. Burns would never have accepted such a tainted honor attained by erasing someone else's name."
Lingle agreed. "This issue speaks more broadly to restoring trust in government," she said.
Kimura and Tanabe are longtime crusaders for justice. Kimura spent years in Big Island politics, winning improvements for the Puna area where he lived and working to help people who lost their land to several lava flows. Tanabe was a frequent participant in civil-rights battles in Chicago, where she lived for 25 years. "She's just got a real kinship and empathy for the underdog," said her husband Jim.
Lingle's response to a comparatively small concern has helped restore their faith in the political system.
"I really, really believe in the power of people," said Tanabe. "It's frightening to imagine what you can accomplish. It shows what you can accomplish when you participate and persevere."
