DEPARTMENT:

The Ukulele Man

by Tamara Moan

Wander through the lobby of the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani Hotel on a Thursday between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. and you’ll likely find 76-year-old Jimmy Kojiro there, smiling broadly from behind a table filled with ukuleles.

Kojiro lights up when he talks about ukes. His aloha shirt, you might notice, is covered with them. “I’ve always liked ukuleles,” he says, “but it was my friend Heeday Kimura who got me really interested in them.”

Kimura, a retired public school principal, is the author of 10 ukulele instructional books, including How to Play Slack Key Ukulele, How to Play Marching Music with Your Ukulele, and three editions of How to Pick & Strum the Ukulele. With Kimura’s guidance and encouragement, Kojiro started collecting ukes in the late 1970s.

“I enjoyed collecting, but I never really did much else with them,” he recalls. “Then one day I said to Heeday, ‘I’m going to retire soon. What should I do?’ Heeday said, ‘Sell ukuleles!’”

Kojiro retired in 1986 as a reha-bilitation counselor at Leahi Hospital. When his wife Frances retired from teaching in 1995, they found they had a lot of free time on their hands so they took Kimura’s advice and began selling ukuleles at the annual Hawaii All-Collectors Show and several hotels, including the Sheraton Waikiki, Pacific Beach Hotel, Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach, Prince Kuhio (now the Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio) and the Hawaiian Regent (now the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa).

Today, they’re only at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani once a week. Kojiro laughs and says, “We don’t want to work too hard!”

He obtains his ukuleles from many sources, including swap meets, pawnshops, eBay and word of mouth. Martin, Gibson, Kamaka, KoAloha, Tangi, Todaro—he sells many different brands of ukuleles ranging in age from 80 years old to contemporary models. Kojiro knows enough to be a savvy shopper; the most important criterion, he asserts, is the way an instrument sounds. He picks up an eight-string uke from his display table and strums a few chords. “This one really sings,” he says, smiling.

Kojiro learned to play the uku-lele after he started selling it. He realized customers would appreciate a demonstration so he taught himself by watching others. He plays a wide variety of melodies, matching them to his audience—“Celito Lindo” for a Spanish speaker, for example, or “Yuyake Koyake” for a potential customer from Japan. He plays about an hour each day for his own pleasure. “I don’t read music,” he says. “I play strictly by ear.”

Opposite page: Jimmy Kojiro taught himself how to play the ukulele after he began selling it. Photo by Judy Bacon. Some of the ukuleles in his collection display beautiful designs. Photos by Raymond Wong.

The ukulele traces its roots back to the 1870s. Three Portuguese immigrants—Manuel Nunes, Augusto Dias and Jose do Espirito Santo—are credited with adapting the four-stringed braguinha into the smaller ukulele. Its name translates as “jumping flea,” referring to the rapid movements of a musician’s fingers on the frets and strings.

So popular did the ukulele become over the ensuing years, more than a dozen manufacturers had sprung up in Honolulu by the early 1900s. One of them was Kumalae, the first company to mass-produce the instrument and the most common vintage brand on the market today.

Kojiro owns over 1,000 ukuleles, many of which date back to the 1920s and ’30s. He owns two older instruments made by Santo, each worth more than $10,000. Each week, he brings about two dozen ukuleles to the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, ranging in price from $150 to $800. A perennially popular brand is Kamaka, which, founded in 1916, is the largest and oldest ukulele manufacturer still operating in Hawaii. Its instruments are made of prized koa, although other companies have used mango, mahogany, teak and ebony wood for their creations.

Many of Kojiro’s instruments flaunt fanciful designs or intricate inlaid patterns. One Todaro ukulele was carved from a single piece of Bolivian hardwood similar to mahogany, and has a back that’s shaped and painted like a pineapple.

During their weekly exhibit, Kojiro and Frances meet people from around the world. One of their regular customers, Japanese comedian Boo Takagi, is a serious ukulele collector who always stops by the Kojiros’ display during his annual Hawaii visit.

“He’s been wonderful,” Frances says. “When he’s at our table, Japanese tourists flock over to have their picture taken with him. He even plugs us in Japan.”

They have local customers, too. Five years ago, Kojiro recalls meeting ukulele virtuoso Taimane Gardner, who’s now 18 and appearing in Don Ho’s twice-weekly Waikiki show. “She was just a little tyke when she came to our table the first time,” he says. “She picked up one of the ukuleles and played a piece she had composed herself! She was amazing!”

Another time a small boy came up to admire Kojiro’s miniature ukes, which measure just 10 inches in length. “I told him if he could play two songs on one of those ukes, he could have it,” Kojiro recalls. “He played it, he really did! The boy took the uke and said, ‘You know, I was going to buy it anyway.’”

Kojiro laughs about it, but Frances says, “He doesn’t make those promises anymore.”

Frances Kojiro helps a customer who’s interested in buying a miniature ukulele. Photo by Judy Bacon.

When Kojiro is not displaying and selling his ukuleles, he’s going to sales, checking eBay for deals and talking to other collectors. “It’s good therapy,” he says. “There’s no stress and it’s fun. The people I meet are nice and interesting. And I really enjoy playing the uke. What else can I say?”
And with that, Kojiro smiles, picks up an ukulele from his table and starts strumming again.

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