Our Story
The H.T. Hayashi Foundation was founded in 2005, in honor of Herbert Takami “H.T.” Hayashi after he passed in November of that year. He was a developer and hotelier here in Hawaii and Hawaii’s first Japanese American hotel developer.
He believed strongly that education was the way to a better life, that working hard was important in anything we do, and that spending time to counsel and mentor youth and young adults was important. He raised his children to believe in a set of core family values which had at its center, humility and the importance of a humble life no matter your wealth or status.
In 2018 the Foundation began the journey of solidifying its Mission, Guiding Principles, and its Action Strategy. In 2019 it took a second big step in that direction, by bringing on its first employee, a new Executive Director, Jan Harada. The Hayashi family and Ms. Harada are excited about the future of its effort to create lasting change and positive impact with and for the communities it cares about throughout the State of Hawaii.
The Foundation strives to support Hawaii based organizations in a manner consistent with their core family values of Love, Respect, Compassion, Humility, Courage, Perseverance, and Accountability.