Born in Kealia, Kauai, the son of Otomatsu and Tamano Yoshida, Yoshiichi “Big Mice” Yoshida (1904-2001) was educated at Kauai High School and was the owner of Y. Yoshida Service Station and Bus Co., which for nearly 50 years, was a Kapaa landmark located where the ABC Store stands today.
Born in Kealia, Kauai, the son of Otomatsu and Tamano Yoshida, Yoshiichi “Big Mice” Yoshida (1904-2001) was educated at Kauai High School and was the owner of Y. Yoshida Service Station and Bus Co., which for nearly 50 years, was a Kapaa landmark located where the ABC Store stands today.
As a member of the Republican Party, he was first elected to the Territorial House of Representatives in 1956 after running unsuccessfully in two previous campaigns.
Yoshida won re-election in 1958, but lost in the first state general election in 1959, the year Hawaii became the 50th state of the union.
William “Billy” Fernandes (1923-2011), also a territorial legislator during the 1950s, recalled at Yoshida’s passing in 2001: “When he got elected, I don’t remember people addressing him as ‘Representative Yoshida.’ They addressed him as ‘Big Mice.’ And his younger brother, who helped him at the service station, was greeted as ‘Small Mice.’”
Funny thing is that nowadays none of “Big Mice’s” family members and others know how Yoshida and his brother acquired the nicknames “Big Mice” and “Small Mice.”
Fernandes also noted, “He was not a professional politician, but a committed one. His main thing was to make sure Kauai got its fair share. Most of the money he got was for schools, education, and for maintenance of road systems. And, Yoshida never let the power of his office go to his head.
“Yoshida appealed to Republicans and Democrats. The Democrats in the 1950s supported him even though he was a Republican, because he was community-minded, and because he cared about Kauai’s young people. He didn’t let party affiliations get in the way and lobbied for funds for projects that would benefit the entire island.”
Yoshida’s son, former University of Hawaii Athletic Director Hugh Yoshida, reminisced, “He lived a good life. He was one of those kind of guys, an individual who was very much involved in the community. He always helped people but never talked about it. He just did it.”
“Big Mice” Yoshida and his wife, Namiko Yoshida, had two sons, Reuben and Hugh Yoshida.
