Posted on: Friday, July 30, 2004
Yoshiko Masuoka, lunch spot co-founder
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| • | Obituaries |
By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer
Yoshiko Masuoka, co-founder of Masu's Massive Plate Lunch in Liliha, died July 28 at Maluhia Hospital. She was 91.
Masuoka was born in Honolulu and was raised in Japan until she was 16, then returned to Hawai'i.
She worked as a professional seamstress most of her life. Then, at age 60, she opened Masu's Massive Plate Lunch.
The lunch spot first opened in Kaka'ako in 1974. Around 1980 it moved to the superblock where Wal-mart is building its store. Masu's eventually moved to Liliha around 1990. The walls at Masu's are decorated with pictures of entertainers and other celebrities.
Masuoka was a diminutive woman driven by a strong work ethic and sense of fairness, said her son Paul, who opened the business with her. She worked at the restaurant into her 80s.
"I remember when we used to do catering and we had to make 4,000 meatballs, and it's by hand, yeah?" Paul said. "And I said, 'Oh, Mom, look at all the hamburger.' And she said, 'You don't look at that side. You look at this side, the part that's finished. If you look at that side, naturally you're going to get tired. But,' she said, 'look at what you finished.' "
She would never tolerate swearing, even from customers. "But for some reason they loved her for that," Paul said.
One customer likes to recall how, when he was 13 years old, he would come to Masu's with his friends after surfing, Paul said.
"They would come as a bunch and everybody would eat but this one guy," Paul said. "And she would say, 'Aren't you going to eat something?' And he says, 'No, I'm not hungry.' But after surfing, you're hungry. And so my mother knew that he didn't have money. So she always made him rice and gravy."
The business ran into financial problems after the Gulf War, when layoffs at Pearl Harbor and a slowdown in construction hurt businesses on Liliha Street. The company filed for bankruptcy but managed to emerge successfully three years later.
"She had a good life," Paul said. "She touched so many lives."
Masuoka was preceded in death by her husband and is survived by her children, Edwin, Paul and Maizie Okimoto; six grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 5 p.m. Aug. 8 at Hosoi Garden Mortuary. No flowers; casual aloha attire.
Reach Kelly Yamanouchi at kyamanouchi@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2470.
