{"id":693,"date":"2026-06-21T11:36:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T11:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=693"},"modified":"2026-06-21T11:36:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T11:36:57","slug":"hilo-chef-and-restaurauteur-miyo-harumi-dies-at-82","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=693","title":{"rendered":"Hilo chef and restaurauteur Miyo Harumi dies at 82"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>Miyo Harumi, a retired chef and restaurateur whose first name is synonymous with Japanese food in Hilo, died June 3 at Pohai Malama Care Home in Hilo. She was 82.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=691\">Wyndham Clark up by 6 at US Open as Scottie Scheffler leads chasing pack<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Miyo Harumi, a retired chef and restaurateur whose first name is synonymous with Japanese food in Hilo, died June 3 at Pohai Malama Care Home in Hilo. She was 82.<\/p>\n<p>Born in Tokyo, Harumi opened Miyo\u2019s in the Waiakea Villas in 1987, serving simple, authentic, accessible Japanese home-style cooking. After a quarter-century of successful operation despite infrastructure issues, the restaurant moved in 2012 to its current location in the Manono Marketplace.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Harumi retired in 2019 and sold the restaurant \u2014 which still bears her name \u2014 to chef Louis Pauole, her longtime right hand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe liked to cook. My mother really liked cooking, and she was influenced by that,\u201d said younger brother Sango Harumi, who lives in Auburn, Calif., a Bay Area suburb. \u201cI was always amazed at the scale of the restaurant, Miyo\u2019s, and how she could manage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said his older sister, who originally came to the U.S. in 1964 to study at San Jose State University in California, started informally in the hospitality industry by cooking for her American host family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe entertained with Japanese food, and people liked it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Describing his sister as \u201ca pioneer,\u201d Sango Harumi said he, a sister, a niece and a nephew came to the U.S. \u201cafter Miyo\u2019s path.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd a lot of people, including myself, were influenced by her and her experience,\u201d he said. \u201cShe used to take me to a lot of movies \u2014 musicals like \u2018West Side Story\u2019 and American westerns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She also exposed her brother to \u201cmusic before the Beatles, like Elvis Presley and other American pop stars like Ricky Nelson. She had a lot of records.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And while arts and entertainment were always a part of her life, Miyo\u2019s passion and talents ran to the culinary arts.<\/p>\n<p>Sango Harumi said his sister returned to Japan temporarily and opened a Mexican restaurant. Upon her return, she opened two Japanese restaurants in San Francisco, the first in the Mission District, the second near Chinatown.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=689\">Draft bill in Congress calls for negotiation on Army land leases in Hawaii<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoth restaurants were called \u2018Globos,\u2019 which means balloons in Spanish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Miyo Harumi moved to Hawaii in the 1980s, first to Honolulu and then to Hilo, where her impact was immediate and lasting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMiyo was like a second mother to me and was an important role model,\u201d said Suzanne Wang, a potter and ceramicist. \u201cI lived with Miyo for a time during my teenage years. Midway through my freshman semester of high school, I discovered an art center where I could work with clay. It was on a weekday, so she let me cut class once a week to go, knowing how important it was for me to be creative. I\u2019ll never forget that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring my teenage years especially, I looked up to her as an example of how to live with kindness, humility and integrity. She never preached or sought attention for herself. She simply led by example.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wang described dinner parties at Harumi\u2019s house as a gustatory theater-in-the-round.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe would set an electric griddle in the middle of her round dining table and, while everyone sat around sharing pupus and conversation, she would cook miniature okonomiyaki \u2014 savory Japanese pancakes with an array of toppings \u2014 right there for her guests. The atmosphere was always warm and relaxed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Harumi and her food were also present beyond the restaurant\u2019s walls, at events such as the annual New Year\u2019s mochi pounding celebration at Akiko\u2019s Buddhist Bed-and-Breakfast in Hakalau. The innkeeper, Akiko Masuda, pointed out in 2019 on Facebook that Harumi, prior to retirement, made meals for the weekly senior luncheons at the Hakalau Jodo Mission.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are grateful for all the thousands of meals Miyo\u2019s has prepared for us over the years,\u201d Masuda wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Sango Harumi, survivors include sister Yuri Koyama and brother Jiro Harumi, both in Japan. She was predeceased by her life partner, Fred Stover.<\/p>\n<p>A celebration of life is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Saturday, July 25, at Hilo Meishoin Buddhist Temple, 97 Olona St. Those planning to attend are asked to RSVP at MiyoMemorial@gmail.com.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/movingtohawaiiguide.com\/?p=687\">Netherlands rout Sweden 5-1; Japan blanks Tunisia 4-0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Email John Burnett at john.burnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hilo chef and restaurauteur Miyo Harumi dies at 82 &#8211; Hawaii News | Hawaii Tribune-Herald<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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