Glenn S. Wakai (born May 14, 1967) is an American politician and a Democratic member of the

Hawaii Senate The Hawaii Senate is the upper house of the Hawaii State Legislature. It consists of twenty-five members elected from an equal number of constituent districts across the islands and is led by the President of the Senate, elected from the membe ...

since January 2011 representing District 15. Wakai consecutively served in the

Hawaii State Legislature The Hawaii State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state legislature is a bicameral body consisting of a lower house, the Hawaii State House of Representatives, with 51 representatives, and an upper house, the ...

where he served from 2003 until 2011 in the

Hawaii House of Representatives The Hawaii House of Representatives is the lower house of the Hawaii State Legislature. Pursuant to Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution of Hawaii, amended during the 1978 constitutional convention, the House of Representatives consis ...

District 31 seat.

Childhood

Glenn Wakai was given up by his teenage birth mother for adoption 47 years ago. Wakai was adopted by a

Japanese-American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asia ...

couple in Hawaii when he was about 18 months old. While he later learned that he had been adopted, he never sought to find his birth mother out of consideration for his adoptive parents. Two years ago, when his adopted mother died of illness, Wakai's father gave him a passport. It was made out to Mitsuru Shimabukuro and had a photo of Wakai as an infant. When his father died, Wakai decided to seek out his birth mother. He was helped by his wife, Miki, who is originally from

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. That was one of the important factors that got the wheels turning for last year's reunion. Not only was his wife a Japanese who could help locate the organization in Japan that handled the adoption, but his birth mother had also married an American, which meant there would be no language barrier when they met. Wakai's birth mother, Yoko Boughton, and her American husband were living in

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

, but flew to Hawaii for the special reunion last year. Yoko had gone to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

to become a beautician when she gave birth when she was 16. She initially planned to raise the child herself, but her relatives strongly opposed the decision. Bitterly disappointed, she returned to Okinawa without the baby. She gave birth to a boy she named "Mitsuru," with the hope that he would have a "fulfilling" life as his name means.

Education

Wakai earned his

BAs Bas may refer to: People * Bas (name), a given name and a surname * Bas (rapper) (born 1987) Chemistry * Boron arsenide (BAs), a chemical compound * Barium sulfide (BAs), a chemical compound Other uses * ''bas'' (French for "low"), as in bas ...

broadcast journalism Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

and

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

Elections

* 2012 Wakai was unopposed for both the August 11, 2012 Democratic Primary, winning with 5,478 votes, and the November 6, 2012 General election. * 2002 When Democratic Representative

Nathan Suzuki Nathan or Natan may refer to: People *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name *Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible * Nathan (son of David), biblical figure, son of King David an ...

retired and left the House District 31 seat open, Wakai won the September 21, 2002 Democratic Primary with 1,975 votes (49.8%), and won the November 5, 2002 General election with 4,393 votes (58.2%) against Republican nominee Brad Sakamoto. who had been redistricted from District 6. * 2004 Wakai was unopposed for the September 18, 2004 Democratic Primary, winning with 3,056 votes, and won the November 2, 2004 General election with 4,841 votes (59.7%) against Republican nominee Kaipo Duncan. * 2006 Wakai was unopposed for the September 26, 2006 Democratic Primary, winning with 3,986 votes, and won the November 7, 2006 General election with 5,024 votes (76.7%) against Yvonne Perry. * 2008 Wakai was unopposed for both the September 20, 2008 Democratic Primary, winning with 3,141 votes, and the November 4, 2008 General election. * 2010 When Democratic Senator Norman Sakamoto ran for

Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii The lieutenant governor of Hawaii ( haw, Hope kiaʻāina o Hawaiʻi) is the assistant chief executive of the U.S. state of Hawaii and its various agencies and departments, as provided in the Article V, Sections 2 though 6 of the Constitution of H ...

and left the Senate District 15 seat open, Wakai was unopposed for the September 18, 2010 Democratic Primary, winning with 5,848 votes, and won the November 2, 2010 General election with 7,753 votes (62.4%) against Republican nominee Ben Pascua.

Social Activities

Glenn Wakai is President of non government organizatio
Reach Out Pacific

State microbe legislation

In 2014, Wakai proposed SB3124 which attempted to establish ''

Aliivibrio fischeri ''Aliivibrio fischeri'' (also called ''Vibrio fischeri'') is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium found globally in marine environments. This species has bioluminescent properties, and is found predominantly in symbiosis with various marine an ...

'' as the

state microbe A state microbe is a microorganism used as an official state symbol. Several U.S. states have honored microorganisms by nominating them to become official state symbols. The first state to declare an Official State Microbe is Oregon which chose ' ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. This was opposing state representative

James Tokioka James "Jimmy" Kunane Tokioka is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Hawaii House of Representatives since January 2007 representing District 15. Career Before entering politics Tokioka owned a restaurant. He entered politi ...

's bill from the previous year, HB 293 HD1, to establish ''

Flavobacterium akiainvivens ''Flavobacterium akiainvivens'', or koohonua ili akia, (literally "ākia bark bacteria") is a species of gram-negative bacteria in the Flavobacteriaceae family. The specific epithet ''akiainvivens'' is Latin (') and literally means "living on or ...

'' as the state microbe. Neither one succeeded. In 2017, legislation similar to the original 2013 ''F. akiainvivens'' bill was submitted in the Hawaii House of Representatives by

Isaac Choy Isaac W. Choy is an American politician and a former Democratic member of the Hawaii House of Representatives representing District 23 from January 2013 to January 2019. Choy consecutively served from 2009 until 2013 in the District 24 seat. I ...

and in the

Brian Taniguchi Brian T. Taniguchi (born November 7, 1951 in Honolulu, Hawaii) is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Hawaii Senate since January 16, 2013 representing District 10. Taniguchi served consecutively from 1995 until 2013 in the Dis ...

References

External links

Official page
at the

Campaign site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wakai, Glenn Place of birth missing (living people) 1967 births Living people American adoptees American people of Japanese descent American politicians of Japanese descent Japanese adoptees Japanese emigrants to the United States Democratic Party Hawaii state senators Democratic Party members of the Hawaii House of Representatives People from Hawaii (island) USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism alumni 21st-century American politicians Hawaii politicians of Japanese descent