OUR HISTORY

The Chapter: JCI Honolulu

JCI Honolulu traces its roots to 2014, when JCI Senator Tyler Hiranaka founded the Asian American Jaycees to create a new home for young professionals seeking opportunities for leadership development, community service, fellowship, and civic engagement in Honolulu. Though one of the younger chapters in Hawaiʻi’s long Jaycee tradition, the organization quickly developed an identity of its own and a commitment to bringing together members from across the diverse communities that make up modern Hawaiʻi.

In 2019, the chapter entered a new era. Seeking a name that better reflected its increasingly diverse membership and its service to the broader Honolulu community, the Asian American Jaycees became JCI Honolulu. With the blessing of retired members of the historic Honolulu Jaycees, the chapter proudly took up the mantle of that venerable organization—connecting a new generation of young leaders with a Jaycee tradition in Honolulu stretching back nearly a century.

In just over a decade, JCI Honolulu has grown to more than 100 members, becoming one of Hawaiʻi’s most active young professional and community service organizations. Its members organize service projects, professional and leadership development programs, cultural events, social activities, and collaborations with organizations throughout the community.

Since 2023, the chapter has perhaps become best known for the Honolulu Megabon, Hawaiʻi’s largest bon dance and summer festival. What began as an ambitious new chapter project has grown into a major celebration of community and culture, bringing together thousands of people through music, dance, food, and fellowship. JCI Honolulu also works with respected community partners such as the Japan-America Society of Hawaii and Kokusai Sake Kai, reflecting the chapter’s commitment to building relationships beyond the Jaycee organization itself.

The chapter’s impact can also be measured by the leaders it has developed. In its short history, JCI Honolulu has already produced four JCI Senators, recipients of the highest individual recognition bestowed by Junior Chamber International; three Presidents of JCI Hawaii; and one JCI International Vice President. JCI describes the Senatorship as its highest individual recognition, honoring exceptional members for extraordinary dedication, leadership, and service to the organization.

In 2025, JCI Honolulu reached a historic national milestone when it received the Harold A. Marks Memorial Award, recognizing JCI Honolulu as the Most Outstanding Chapter in the United States. The Harold A. Marks Memorial Award is the highest achievement a local chapter can attain within the United States Jaycees and has recognized the nation’s most outstanding Junior Chamber chapter for generations.

From its beginnings as the Asian American Jaycees to its place today as JCI Honolulu, the chapter continues a tradition that has defined the Jaycee movement for generations: developing young leaders by giving them the opportunity to lead, serve, learn, and create meaningful change in their community.

The Jaycees in Hawaiʻi

JCI Honolulu is a member of JCI Hawaii, a statewide organization whose history reaches back to the Territorial era and whose influence can be found throughout Hawaiʻi’s civic, cultural, business, and political life.

The Junior Chamber movement first arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1930 with the establishment of the Honolulu Junior Chamber of Commerce. As the movement grew, additional chapters were established in Hilo in 1939, Wahiawa in 1939, Maui in 1941, and Kauaʻi in 1944. In 1943, these growing local organizations came together under the Hawaii Junior Chamber of Commerce, with former Honolulu Junior Chamber President R. Allen Watkins serving as its first state president. At its height, the Junior Chamber movement in Hawaiʻi included dozens of chapters across the islands.

The decades that followed saw the Jaycees become deeply woven into Hawaiʻi’s civic and cultural life. Jaycee members did not simply volunteer at community events—they helped create programs and institutions that became enduring parts of life in Hawaiʻi.

Among the projects, traditions, and institutions launched or developed through Hawaiʻi’s Jaycee movement are:

  • the 50th State Fair

  • the Hawaii County Fair in Hilo

  • the Cherry Blossom Festival and Pageant

  • Miss Chinatown Hawaii

  • the Narcissus Queen Pageant

  • early Aloha Week festivities

  • the Honolulu Youth Symphony, predecessor to today’s Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony

  • Adopt-A-School Day, a statewide effort mobilizing businesses, organizations, families, and volunteers in service to Hawaiʻi’s public schools

The movement also reflects Hawaiʻi’s unique multicultural history. In 1949, the Honolulu Japanese Junior Chamber of Commerce was established by young Nisei leaders in postwar Hawaiʻi, creating opportunities for a new generation of Japanese Americans to develop citizenship, leadership skills, professional relationships, and experience in community service. Over the decades, numerous Jaycee chapters emerged from Hawaiʻi’s diverse communities while gradually evolving into organizations welcoming members of every background.

As society changed, so did the Jaycees. The state organization adopted the name Hawaii Jaycees in 1976, and the Hawaii Jayceettes were established in 1979. Following the landmark 1984 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roberts v. United States Jaycees, women became eligible for full membership throughout the U.S. organization. In 1987, Brenda Yee became the first woman elected President of the Hawaii Jaycees.

In 2018, the Hawaii Jaycees officially became JCI Hawaii, aligning its identity with Junior Chamber International while preserving the Jaycee traditions built over generations.

Thousands of young people have passed through Hawaiʻi’s Jaycee chapters, and many went on to become prominent leaders in business, government, and civic life. JCI Hawaii specifically identifies Walter A. Dods Jr. (former Chairman of Hawaiian Telcom, Alexander & Baldwin, Bank of Hawaii, Matson, etc.), Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris, U.S. Representative Ed Case,the late Hawaiʻi State Representative Mark Nakashima, and the late U.S. Representative Mark Takai among its notable former members.

Their careers illustrate one of the central ideas behind the Junior Chamber movement: the Jaycees are not simply a service organization, but a training ground where young people gain the practical experience to become the leaders of tomorrow.

Today, JCI Hawaii connects local chapters—including JCI Honolulu—to leadership, training, fellowship, competition, and service opportunities at the state, national, and international levels. Though chapter names and programs have evolved over more than eight decades, the underlying philosophy remains remarkably consistent: young people learn leadership best when they are given real responsibility and the opportunity to put their ideas into action.

The Jaycee Movement: From the United States to the World

The story of JCI Honolulu is ultimately part of a movement more than a century old.

Its origins can be traced to St. Louis, Missouri, and a young civic leader named Henry Giessenbier Jr. Giessenbier believed young people needed opportunities to develop leadership skills long before reaching the traditional positions of authority available later in life.

On October 13, 1915, 32 young men came together in St. Louis to form the Young Men’s Progressive Association, beginning the movement that would eventually become Junior Chamber International. The organization evolved into the Junior Citizens and subsequently the Junior Chamber of Commerce.

The idea spread rapidly. In 1920, representatives from 41 cities gathered in St. Louis for the first national convention of the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce, adopting a constitution and electing Giessenbier as its first national president.

From the beginning, the Jaycees combined leadership development with action in the community. Early national efforts promoted civic participation, aviation, conservation, public health, and locally driven community projects. In 1926, the organization began its national Get Out the Vote campaign and worked with Jaycee member and aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh to promote the development of aviation and air-mail infrastructure across the country.

The movement soon crossed national borders. On December 11, 1944, representatives from eight countries met in Mexico City and formally established Junior Chamber International. The first JCI World Congress followed in Panama City in 1946.

The JCI Creed, written by C. William Brownfield and formally adopted in 1948, gave lasting expression to the values of the movement. Its principles of faith, human brotherhood, economic justice, government under law, the value of human personality, and service continue to unite members across cultures and national boundaries.

JCI also developed a longstanding relationship with the international community. In 1954, the United Nations Economic and Social Council granted JCI Special Consultative Status, formalizing a relationship that has since included humanitarian relief, global health, youth development, peace initiatives, and work connected with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Today, JCI connects young leaders in more than 5,000 communities across more than 100 countries, giving a member of a local chapter access to a truly worldwide network.

Notable Jaycees in the United States

The impact of the movement is perhaps most visible in the extraordinary range of people who began developing their leadership skills as young Jaycees.

JCI USA’s own national history highlights several especially prominent members, including three Presidents of the United States, a pioneering aviator, a major entrepreneur, and one of the greatest players in basketball history. Other JCI-affiliated historical records identify additional national political, judicial, business, and civic leaders.

Notable American Jaycees have included:

  • John F. Kennedy — 35th President of the United States

  • Gerald R. Ford — 38th President of the United States

  • Bill Clinton — 42nd President of the United States

  • Richard Nixon — 37th President of the United States and a JCI Senator

  • Hubert H. Humphrey — 38th Vice President of the United States and former President of the Minneapolis Jaycees

  • Al Gore — 45th Vice President of the United States

  • Warren E. Burger — Chief Justice of the United States and former President of the St. Paul Jaycees

  • Charles Lindbergh — pioneering aviator whose work with the Jaycees helped promote American aviation

  • Tom Monaghan — entrepreneur and founder of Domino’s Pizza

  • Larry Bird — Basketball Hall of Famer and Boston Celtics legend

Notable JCI Members Around the World

The same story has played out internationally. JCI organizations around the world have produced leaders who went on to serve as heads of state, prime ministers, diplomats, business executives, parliamentarians, and leaders of international institutions. JCI Hong Kong notes that JCI has compiled a worldwide roster of prominent members and alumni—including six former Prime Ministers of Japan alone.

Among internationally prominent JCI members and alumni are:

  • Kofi Annan — Ghana — Seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations and co-recipient with the UN of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize; a former member of the Macalester College Jaycees in Minnesota.

  • Taro Aso — Japan — Former Prime Minister of Japan, former President of the Japan Junior Chamber, and a member of the Iizuka Jaycees.

  • Yasuhiro Nakasone — Japan — Former Prime Minister of Japan and member of the Takasaki Jaycees Senior Club.

  • Keizo Obuchi — Japan — Former Prime Minister of Japan and member of the Tokyo Jaycees.

  • Yoshiro Mori — Japan — Former Prime Minister of Japan and member of the Komatsu Jaycees.

  • Jacques Chirac — France — Former President of France, Prime Minister, and Mayor of Paris.

  • Chen Shui-bian — Taiwan — Former President of Taiwan and former President of the Taipei Junior Chamber.

  • Poul Schlüter — Denmark — Former Prime Minister of Denmark, member of the Copenhagen Jaycees, and former JCI Vice President and General Legal Counsel.

  • Prince Albert II — Monaco — Sovereign Prince of Monaco and JCI Senator #58661.

  • Joseph Estrada — Philippines — Former President of the Philippines.

The prominence of these alumni is not the purpose of JCI, but it demonstrates the reach of an organization built around giving young adults meaningful leadership experience before they reach the highest levels of their professions or communities.

That opportunity remains available to every member today.

A member who joins JCI Honolulu is simultaneously part of JCI Hawaii, JCI USA, and Junior Chamber International. A project that begins around a committee table in Honolulu can lead to opportunities to serve at the state level, attend national conventions, work alongside Jaycees from other countries, participate in international conferences, build lifelong friendships around the world, or ultimately serve in international office.

More than a century after Henry Giessenbier first gathered a group of young people in St. Louis, the fundamental idea remains the same:

Leadership is not simply something that is taught—it is something developed through experience.

In Honolulu, that century-old idea continues every time a young member takes responsibility for a project, speaks before a room for the first time, organizes volunteers, builds a community partnership, leads a committee, or accepts the challenge of elected office.

JCI Honolulu is one of the newest chapters in a very long story—and the next chapter is still being written.