JON RIKI KARAMATSU

To all my friends going through hard times,

We always come back. Even death won’t stop us. Our work will live on.

Always, Jon

June 24, 2015

Hi Everyone!

Thanks for stopping by. It’s amazing how fast time goes by. I’ve been writing in this journal since December 2002, just after my entrance into State politics. In that year, I also started my first business, an Internet retail store selling Hawaiian or island-themed products. I created this journal so I could share my political journey, as well as my experience in business and life in general. I’ve enjoyed not just sharing legislation and business projects, but also my interest in the arts and popular culture.

Now that I’m taking a break from public service – elected and appointed office, I’m going to put all my efforts, ideas, and passion into my business projects. I’m working on a few with my friends right now. I will also advocate hard on behalf of businesses that need help with transactions, legislation, grants, and other issues.

As far as my journal, I’ll continue to write about public policy every so often, but my main focus will be about positive living. I will highlight services or products that can help us to achieve a more happy and fulfilling life. Of course positive living is a practice and it starts with each of us, but if we can better ourselves by learning from others or utilizing products to help us stay on course, then its worth the try. I will also post music, art, and writings that can lift your spirit. Basically, I will do my best to showcase things that can be of value to your life. Take care, stay positive, and make the most of every moment.

With Warmest Aloha,

Jon Riki Karamatsu

Love stories are what keeps me living for more, and someday I want to share them with you.

Dear Friends,

On April 8, 2015, I officially stepped down as Deputy Prosecuting Attorney and Legislative Liaison of the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu. Prosecuting Attorney Keith M. Kaneshiro and I met while I was serving as Judiciary Chair in the Hawaii State House of Representatives. He has been a great mentor and friend to me. I will always cherish my time in his administration for it had allowed me to finish a number of my goals to reduce violence, especially in the areas of assault and rape.

I’m taking a break from public service, a passion I’ve had since my days as a Boy Scout and student government leader. Instead, I’m focusing on several business projects that can play a role in bringing joy in people’s lives in addition to generating revenue for our State and nation. Further, I will advocate for companies who need help with contracts, commercial leases, grants, bonds, tax credits, or changes in the laws/rules. Lastly, I’ll consider some legal defense work. I’m currently working with an events company, agriculture company, and bar. Through the private sector, I’ll work as hard as I can to play a small role in making our world happier and our economy as vibrant as it can be. Thank you for your kind words and thoughts.

Below is my letter of April 7, 2015 to Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith M. Kaneshiro, requesting to step down as Deputy Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu:

April 7, 2015

Dear Prosecuting Attorney Kaneshiro,

At this time, I am submitting my letter of resignation as Deputy Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu. With the intense media coverage on my pending OVUII case, I do not want to be a distraction to the work of the department.

I thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve as a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney. While here, I was able to achieve 736 convictions (715 plea convictions and 21 trial convictions) and fulfill some personal goals through my work on criminal cases and legislation dealing with domestic violence, sexual assault, and other violent crimes. Over the years, there have been many people who have confided in me about their experiences with violence. When I was a young college student, a female friend told me about how she was raped as a teenager, though she never reported it to law enforcement. I was emotionally impacted by her plight, and told her that, someday, I would fight against violence by working in law and politics. I have now fulfilled my promise, and dedicate my work to her and the many other survivors of violence.

I have really enjoyed working with you, your administrative team, and our legislative team: Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tricia Nakamatsu, Victim Witness Advocate Division Director Dennis Dunn, Clerk Julia Kaneshiro, former Clerk Maria Stevens, and former Clerk Paul Lacuesta. Together, in the past four-and-a-half years, we worked to introduce and pass 18 bills on behalf of this department, and helped to reestablish state-funding, in the amount of over $2 million, that allowed continued participation in the many state-mandated programs that this department has had to shoulder. We were not only great team members, but also great friends.

I have also enjoyed working with all of the other attorneys and staff who have served in our department. I am grateful for the wonderful memories that I have shared with many of them.

Lastly, I wanted to express my appreciation for your mentorship and encouragement over the past four-and-a-half years, which allowed me to do my best work in litigation and lobbying the legislature. Your support has always meant a great deal to me, especially when I had a challenging time at court or at the legislature. Thank you again, for giving me the opportunity to work in your administration.

With Warmest Aloha,

Jon Riki Karamatsu

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney
City and County of Honolulu

After attending a meeting for a facility for an event, I went to the National Eagle Scout Association Summer Bash 2015 mixer at Longhi’s restaurant in Ala Moana Shopping Center.  It’s a social where Eagle Scouts can talk and network.  I won a portable cooler for a drawing.

On June 16, 2015, the U.S. Women’s Soccer team defeated Nigeria 1 – 0 in the Women’s World Cup to advance out of their bracket.

I dedicate this song to my two wonderful nieces: 2 year-old Elyse and 3 month-old Sophie.  They inspire me so much.  I want to make this world more peaceful for them.  In March 2015, my mom, dad, younger sister Lara, and I visited the Bay Area, California to be with my younger sister Mia, brother-in-law Mike, and niece Elyse to await the arrival of Sophie.  Several times I played with Elyse as she pushed her wooden animals in a wooden truck on the floor of the living room.  She called the animals “aminals” just like the title of this song “Aminals” by Baths.  I just happened to listen to this song this afternoon as I worked on the edits of my first novel, a paranormal romance that takes place in Hawaii and a spiritual realm where spirits are trapped.  The song made me think of my two nieces who I wish I could see more often even though I Skype with them almost weekly with my mom, dad, and baby sister Lara. It’s just not the same as seeing them in person.

Jon holding his newborn niece Sophie on March 7, 2015 at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.

Jon and his 2-year old niece Elyse watching an animated movie on March 15, 2015 in San Mateo, California.

Jon playing with his 2-year old niece Elyse with her “aminals” as she called them on March 25, 2015 in San Mateo, California.

The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team did a good job against Sweden despite getting a tie of 0 – 0 on Friday, June 12, 2015 at Winnipeg Stadium in Winnipeg, Canada.

The U.S. Women’s Soccer team did well against Australia in the Women’s World Cup at Winnipeg Stadium in Winnipeg, Canada, winning 3 – 1 on Monday, June 8, 2015. I got to see the game on television as my business partners and I conducted our meeting for event planning.

I dream of stories that move the hearts of people to live with love and compassion rather than with anger, enough so that they make the world more peaceful.

I envision music events that bring people together, putting smiles on faces and giving them joy even if it’s for just a moment.

I believe in agricultural products that are enjoyed around the world and every time people take a bite, they know it’s from Hawaii.

After a 6 hour meeting from noon, followed by a dinner at Akasaka on June 8, 2015, G, James, and I ending the day at The Dragon Upstairs. G is spinning old school hip hop.

My selfie with Brandon doing a selfie with the fire at a beach house on the North Shore on Saturday, May 23, 2015.

Brandon and I at a beach house on the North Shore on May 23, 2015.

Like many, I was disciplined mentally and physically to be strong.  But honestly, I’ve always had a soft side, and as I grew older, I’ve learned that it’s also strong to express love and compassion.  My mother has been my mentor on this and is my first teacher on being positive.  She has always supported everything I’ve done from school, sports, music, martial arts, community organizations, acting, law, politics, and business.  Since I was a kid, I always shared my goals and dreams with her.  I would often tell her, “Hey mom, hey mom, here’s the plan.  I’m going to . . .”  She would always tell me to give it a try.  My mom is my number one supporter and without her, I wouldn’t be who I am.  I dedicate to my mom the song below called “Mama” by LunchMoney Lewis.

After a bumpy ride in the market in April, especially with investments in biotech and China, May is looking pretty good for these sectors.  For biotech, BLUE did very well in the last 2 weeks.  Pharmaceutical company EGRX rose higher recently.  China stocks moving as well, like ASHR, an ETF.  Semiconductor stocks SWKS and AVGO doing well.  Conservative large cap companies AAPL and DIS are steadily gaining – I’m emotionally attached to these two companies because I love their products and services.  Good luck everyone and happy trading in the final week of May 2015.

While Vice President of the Associated Students of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, I introduced Senate Bill No. 20-98 during the Fall of 1997 that appropriated funds to extend the library hours at the UH law library during final exams. I also had bills extending the hours at UH Manoa’s 2 undergraduate libararies. This was during the time when budget cuts caused UH’s libraries to close early.

My poster for Vice President for the student government of the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the Spring of 1996.

My print ad that was inserted in the University of Hawaii at Manoa newspaper when I was running for student government Vice President in the Spring of 1996. Back then I had my 2002 State House campaign strategy ready in a binder, and I was already working on my 2010 Lt. Governor plan.

Entourage: Your most loyal friends.

Entourage: Your most loyal friends.

I’m very happy and proud to see William Domingo become judge.  I had the privilege to meet Mr. Domingo a number of years ago when I was in elected office.  I also got to work with him when he was my opposing counsel in court for criminal cases while I was a Honolulu Deputy Prosecuting Attorney.  He’s always a gentleman and his soul is in the right place.  He will bring balance to the often stressful and temperamental Judiciary branch.

A gift of Peppermint Herbal Tea from my friend and former partner in law/lobbying at the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to help me as I work on the next chapter in my life. I made her my partner/editor on a couple of my creative writing projects.

Trader Joe’s Peppermint Herbal Tea.

I just saw this song advertised in a TV commercial some minutes ago and it inspired me to write a couple more scenes in my writing project #2 based in Iraq during the U.S. occupation. Two very romantic scenes between the boy and girl.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. The facts will be revealed. For now, I’m focusing on all my private sector projects.

House Bill 210 – Appropriates moneys to the department of the prosecuting attorney of the city and county of Honolulu for the career criminal prosecution unit and victim witness assistance program.

House Bill 211 – Appropriates moneys to the department of the prosecuting attorney of the city and county of Honolulu for the Honolulu Family Justice Center.

House Bill 1198 – Appropriates funds to the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu for the Honolulu Family Justice Center; provided that the City and County of Honolulu provides matching funds on a 1:1 basis.

House Bill 1461 – Appropriates funds to the department of education for the development of an alternative school program that provides ongoing education to juveniles involved in the justice system, and other youth.

Senate Bill 423 – Appropriates moneys to the department of the prosecuting attorney of the city and county of Honolulu for the career criminal prosecution unit and victim witness assistance program.

Senate Bill 424 – Appropriates moneys to the department of the prosecuting attorney of the city and county of Honolulu for the Honolulu Family Justice Center.

Senate Bill 1235 – Appropriates funds to the DOE for two alternative schools to provide ongoing education to juveniles in the justice system.

On Thursday, January 22, 2015, Brandon Mitsuda and I attended the Wahiawa Community & Business Association meeting and dinner at Dot’s restaurant as guests of Honolulu City Council Chair Ernie Martin.

I really like it that TD Ameritrade has a calendar marking the dates of all the earning reports for the companies you’re investing or tracking. Super convenient since I usually calendar in each company’s earning report in my Google Calendar and Google Tasks.

“Emptiness” is all around us, yet we make it something and we attach ourselves to it. We have attachments to things, which cause us an emotional suffering when we have a hard time paying for the debt it caused, or when the item is damaged or lost. We also have attachments to events and people that causes us sadness or worse, anger. Is it something or is it nothing? What we think is something is actually nothing. Our attachment to a thing, event, or person that causes us suffering is something only if we think it is something. Through detachment, we realize that “something” is actually “nothing.” Through this practice, we can alleviate our suffering and in turn, help others. – Jon Riki Karamatsu –

I currently have a total of 736 convictions (715 plea convictions and 21 trial convictions). In the afternoon of 12/16/2014, I finished my last case for 2014 by getting an unreasonable noise infraction in a plea deal with a private defense attorney in Honolulu District Court.

This evening of 11/15/2014, I finished the 12th draft of my Writing Project #1, a paranormal romance with 79,716 words at a coffee shop in the State of Hawaii, my third office.

Attached is a poster I got from a motivational website to inspire us to strive for our dreams by exuding positivity!

Chaired my board meeting for Jodo Shu Hawaii today, 11/9/2014. Thank you everyone for supporting and/or attending our bazaar that was held on 10/19/14, which was a success despite of the hurricane warnings during that time.

There are 2 ways to live and succeed, the negative way or the positive way. I sincerely appreciate all of you for your positive way of living and for spreading love and compassion to every person you interact with. You’re truly playing a role in world peace because you’re helping so many people attain peace within, and in time when a majority of the human race are at peace within, a majority of the world will be at peace. I dedicate this song, “I Lived” by One Republic to all of you!

I was saddened to learn of the passing of Mr. Jason Tomoyasu (2/16/1952 – 10/2/2014) who was one of my Boy Scout Masters at Troop 75/Team 75 in Pearl City, Hawaii where I attained my Eagle Scout rank in December of 1992 while I was attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa.  His leadership style was very positive and I remember him as always smiling.  As an EMT, he saved many lives and as a soccer coach and Scoutmaster he left a lasting imprint on many of us.  My thoughts are with his wife Mrs. Tomoyasu who I had the pleasure of working with when I was a politician and she represented the teachers in Hawaii, son Cory Tomoyasu who I served with in Boy Scouts Team 75, daughter Tara Tomoyasu, and entire family.  I was very touched by the service at the Mililani Mortuary Mauka Chapel on the evening of 11/7/2014.  I especially liked the Japanese poem placed in the pamphlet by his Goddaughter Bobbie who he helped to save her mother’s life some years ago and she became his Goddaughter the next day:

On a journey, ill

my dream goes wandering

over withered fields.

Dear Friends,

I’m taking down the amount of convictions I achieved on my public website because of anonymous complaints to my office that I shouldn’t show them.  From now on, I will only share the amount of plea and trial convictions I attain with my family and friends in my private and secured social media network.  If you are interested in my conviction statistics, please feel free to contact me by email.

I apologize to the anonymous persons who were offended by the amount of convictions I have been achieving as a trial attorney. Nonetheless, I will continue to work hard to make Hawaii safe.  I wish all of you happiness and good health.

Sincerely,

Jon Riki Karamatsu

Dear Friends,

In January of 2014, I was asked by an entertainment events company to help them with one of their events called The Love Festival Hawaii on its 16th annual concert.  They told me that they’ve been able to run the event without any major incident but since I have a legal, government, and law enforcement background, they wanted me to help them to better their event in any way possible by working on their security and safety plan, security detail, and permitting process, among other things.  The organization went above and beyond the requirements of various agencies’ policies by increasing the amount of Honolulu Police Department and private security, providing a good amount of free water to customers to avoid dehydration, increasing the amount of ambulances, implementing bag and ID screening, and deploying plain clothes staff throughout the event to check on the well-being of customers and escort government officials to inspect the event.

As many of you know, former Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Peter Carlisle and his supporters criticized my involvement with the safety, security, and review of permits for music events like The Love Festival Hawaii on television news, the lead story for Hawaii News Now on Thursday, November 4, 2014.  As a result of his press release, I will no longer work on the safety, security, and permits for any major music events besides a couple nights of bon dances in August of each year. After what happened to me, I’m afraid other attorneys with law enforcement backgrounds may no longer be involved with large music events, especially electronic dance music and rock and roll concerts.

I want to thank the promoters, Hawaii Community Development Authority, Honolulu Police Department Special Duty Division, Emergency Medical Services, Honolulu Fire Department, Hawaii Department of Accounting and General Services Risk Management Division, Hawaii Tourism Authority, Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, elected officials, private security, Hawaii Stage and Lighting, Events International, our cleaning crews, our performing artists and dancers, and all of our in-house staff and volunteers for all your work and/or advice to help make this year’s event a success.  To all the fans of electronic dance music and rock and roll, thank you for your support and please help us to promote awareness on the dangers of illegal drugs so that everyone can continue to enjoy the exciting music and the beautiful light show and computer graphic displays.  Finally, on a side note, please don’t forget to vote in 2016 and beyond as they are attacking not just me, but Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith M. Kaneshiro, one of the most honest and straightforward elected officials I know.  Your thousands of votes for my boss and my other elected official friends can and will make a difference.  Take care and I’ll see you in the future.

With Warmest Aloha,

Jon Riki Karamatsu

Picture of the high technology and special effects stage at the 16th Annual Love Festival Hawaii on 9/27/2014.

I strongly support Lt. Governor Shan Tsutsui for the Democratic ticket with David Ige as Governor because he is such a good person, and I can work with him no matter if we agree or disagree on an issue. It’s very hard to find genuinely caring people like Shan in positions of power. I believe he will continue to do well for us in public office.

I have also served with David Ige in the Hawaii State Legislature. He’s always composed and professional, and does more listening than talking, which are his strengths. I believe David will be a good Governor. Thank you!

I strongly support Lt. Governor Shan Tsutsui for the Democratic ticket with David Ige as Governor because he is such a good person, and I can work with him no matter if we agree or disagree on an issue. It’s very hard to find genuinely caring people like Shan in positions of power. I believe he will continue to do well for us in public office.

I have also served with David Ige in the Hawaii State Legislature.  He’s always composed and professional, and does more listening than talking, which are his strengths.  I believe David will be a good Governor.

Thank you!

I currently have a total of 735 convictions (714 plea convictions and 21 trial convictions).  I got 24 convictions from pleas in Honolulu District Court for criminal misdemeanor cases on 10/6/2014, 10/8/2014, 10/9/2014, 10/10/14, and 10/15/14.  I added another trial conviction on 10/15/14.

I won a harassment trial in Honolulu District Court on October 10, 2014 where a middle-aged lady (Defendant) pushed another lady (State’s witness) a couple of times for no reason and yelled and swore at her at Don Quijote in Honolulu.  Our witness who was with her 5-year-old son and 80-year-old father, pulled out her cell phone to call the police.  The Defendant then hit our witness on the head three times with her two filled shopping bags.  The Defendant was sentenced to three days of jail, six months of probation, anger management, mental health treatment, $75 probation fee, and $30 Crime Injury Compensation Fund fee.  I have one more pending trial that I hope to finish in 2014.

I currently have a total of 710 convictions (690 plea convictions and 20 trial convictions). I got 15 convictions from pleas in Honolulu District Court for criminal misdemeanor cases on Wednesday 10/1/2014, Thursday 10/2/2014, and Friday 10/3/2014.

The 16th Annual Love Festival Hawaii

On stage at the 16th Annual Love Festival Hawaii on Saturday, September 27, 2014.

I currently have a total of 695 convictions (20 trial convictions and 675 plea convictions). I got 13 convictions from pleas in Honolulu District Court for criminal misdemeanor cases on Monday 9/15/2014, Wednesday 9/17/2014, and Thursday 9/18/2014.

I currently have a total of 682 convictions (20 trial convictions and 662 plea convictions).  I got 14 convictions from pleas in Honolulu District Court for criminal misdemeanor cases on Monday 9/8/2014, Wednesday 9/10/14, and Friday 9/12/14.