There are a lot of ways to carry culture forward. We usually think first about language, music, dance, food, history, or traditional arts. All of those matter. But after talking with Ryan Arakaki, one of the founders of Hawaiʻi streetwear brand In4mation, I kept thinking about another possibility: What if one of the most effective ways to carry culture forward is simply to make younger people want to be part of it? That might happen through a festival. It might happen through a T-shirt. It might happen through skateboarding, art, music—or even Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Ryan’s life touches all of those worlds. Why I Wanted to Have This Conversation I first really noticed In4mation through its work with the Hawaiʻi United Okinawa Association and the Okinawan Festival. When Loochoo Nation had a booth at the festival in 2023, I saw the In4mation collaborations—jerseys, hats, and Okinawan-inspired designs—and thought: this is cool. It didn’t feel like cultural merchandise people were expected to buy simply because they were Okinawan. It looked like something people would actually want to wear. Then, through a little Okinawan synchronicity, I came across an interview with Ryan and realized that In4mation’s relationship with the Okinawan community went much deeper than I had understood. Ryan explained that the company has worked repeatedly with the Okinawan Festival on special projects, fundraising, and merchandise, and that several of In4mation’s partners themselves have Okinawan roots. And then I discovered something else. Ryan trains jiu-jitsu. Not my version of jiu-jitsu—show up a couple of times a week, try to stay reasonably healthy, and hopefully go home without injuring anything. Ryan is serious. When we recorded the interview, he was a brown belt training four or five days a week and actively competing. That was enough for me. I wanted to talk story. Ryan Arakaki with one of In4mation’s collaborations with the Hawaiʻi United Okinawa Association. “You’re Not Japanese. You’re Okinawan.” One of Ryan’s childhood stories stayed with me. Like many Okinawans growing up in Hawaiʻi, he initially thought of himself simply as Japanese. His mother corrected him. “You’re not Japanese. You’re Okinawan.” At first, he didn’t completely understand the distinction. As he got older, it began to mean more. Ryan is fourth-generation Uchinānchu in Hawaiʻi. He remembers village picnics filled with grandparents, aunties, uncles, kids, food, rice-sack races, egg-and-spoon games—and the very Okinawan childhood prizes of pencils, paper towels, and toilet paper. I remember those kinds of gatherings too. We laughed about them during the interview, but those ordinary memories were doing something important. They were creating community. Nobody had to give the children a lecture about cultural preservation. We were simply surrounded by it. That may be an important lesson for those of us thinking about the future of Okinawan culture. Sometimes culture survives because people are formally taught it. Sometimes it survives because people have good memories of belonging to it. Culture You Can Wear That brings us back to In4mation. For its collaborations with HUOA and the Okinawan Festival, In4mation’s designers have drawn from Okinawan visual traditions—including bingata-inspired patterns—while adding elements of their own design language. What interested me most was that Ryan said the design process caused them to learn more about Okinawan history too. It wasn’t simply: We know the culture, so let’s put it on a shirt. It was closer to: Let’s learn the story—and then figure out how the clothing can help tell it. Ryan described how historical references and traditional patterns sometimes appear very subtly in the designs, allowing the apparel itself to carry part of the story. That is very close to what we’re trying to do with Loochoo Nation. Culture does not have to remain frozen in the form in which our grandparents received it. We can understand the tradition, respect it, and then create something contemporary from it. “We try to connect that Okinawan story and heritage with the apparel and then kind of connect it to the youth.” That may be the central idea of this conversation. The Jiu-Jitsu Connection Ryan started Brazilian jiu-jitsu relatively late—at 42. He had grown up skateboarding and had been a sponsored skater. As he got older, jiu-jitsu began filling some of the space skateboarding had occupied: endless things to learn, the satisfaction of figuring something out, and a community built around doing something difficult together. What interested me most, though, was what Ryan said jiu-jitsu changed outside the academy. Running a business inevitably creates stressful situations. Ryan said jiu-jitsu taught him to slow his thinking when he finds himself in a bad position. What are my options? If this doesn’t work, what’s the next option? Can I improve the position before trying to solve everything at once? He realized the same process applies in business. Jiu-jitsu taught him to remain calmer, organize the problem in front of him, and look for the next workable move rather than panicking. My takeaway was simple: Stay calm. Understand where you are. Work the problem in front of you. Shortly after our interview, Ryan took second place at the 2025 IBJJF World Master Championship as a brown belt and was promoted to black belt soon afterward. So apparently he was even more serious than I realized. Ryan receiving his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt shortly after our conversation. One Thing I’ll Keep Thinking About Near the end of our conversation, we returned to a question that keeps surfacing in these Loochoo Nation discussions: How do we bring younger people into Okinawan culture? Ryan talked about creating stronger connections between Hawaiʻi and Okinawa, building events and exchanges, and giving younger generations meaningful ways to participate. But one phrase stood out: “You need to have a fresh set of eyes.” Ryan was talking partly about In4mation. As the founders get older, they deliberately ask younger employees what they think. What looks good? What are we missing? What could be done differently? Ryan doesn’t want the company to become trapped by the tastes of the generation that created it. Then he applied exactly the same principle to Okinawan culture. Younger generations understand different technologies, aesthetics, and ways of building community. They will see possibilities we don’t see. Ryan argues that they aren’t merely recipients of Okinawan culture. They need to become participants in shaping what comes next. That stayed with me. If our goal is simply to convince young people to preserve everything exactly as we received it, perhaps we’re asking the wrong question. Maybe the better question is: What can we give them that they will want to make their own? Looking Ahead Ryan spoke about watching the older generation at Okinawan gatherings and recognizing that those numbers are shrinking. His response was not nostalgia. It was responsibility. He described carrying on the culture as part of our heritage—and specifically emphasized involving youth so that language, tradition, and community continue beyond our own generation. I think that’s why In4mation’s work matters. Our cultural future will certainly depend on language teachers, musicians, historians, dancers, artists, and cultural practitioners. But it may also depend on people who make clothing. People who organize events. People who make videos. People who design a hat or jersey that makes someone curious about the symbols printed on it. People who can take something old, understand why it matters, and help it speak to people living now. Maybe that is part of the renaissance we’ve been talking about: Not simply preserving Okinawan culture—but making it alive enough that another generation wants to carry it forward. About Ryan Arakaki Ryan Arakaki is a Hawaiʻi entrepreneur, former sponsored skateboarder, Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, and one of the founders of In4mation, a Hawaiʻi streetwear brand rooted in skate, surf, art, music, and local culture. Ryan is a fourth-generation Uchinānchu whose family has longstanding ties to Hawaiʻi’s Okinawan community. Through In4mation, he and his partners have collaborated with the Hawaiʻi United Okinawa Association and Okinawan Festival on merchandise, fundraising, and culturally inspired projects intended in part to connect younger generations with their heritage. He began Brazilian jiu-jitsu at age 42 and has since become an accomplished master-division competitor and black belt. Instagram: @in4mryanIn4mation: @in4mation_ Soundtrack Special thanks to Harikuyamaku of Uchinā (Okinawa Island) for sharing his music with us. Featured Tracks: Anigama: https://buff.ly/46SHy3g Nachijin-myahkunii: https://buff.ly/3AtfLdU Instagram: https://buff.ly/46ThVzq Mystic Islands Dub Album: https://buff.ly/4e9irMn Music shapes the tone of these conversations. Please support Indigenous artists. Continue the Conversation What helps younger people feel that a culture belongs to them—not simply to their parents or grandparents? And how much room should each generation have to reinterpret that culture in its own way? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Shimānchu — carry the islands forward. Chimugukuru,Grant Nāgushiku (Miyashiro) Get full access to Loochoo Nation at loochoonation.substack.com/subscribe
