One of the few first-person accounts of the Japanese internment experience in Hawai'i, Yasutaro Soga's "Life Behind Barbed Wire: The World War II Memoirs of a Hawai'i Issei" has been published in an English-language version by University of Hawai'i Press. The memoir was first published in Japanese in 1948.

The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i is hosting a release party from 10 a.m. to noon tomorrow to mark the occasion. The book was translated by Kihei Hirai, a center volunteer.

Soga was publisher of the Nippu Jiji newspaper, one of the most widely read Japanese-language newspapers in Hawai'i before World War II. He was 68 years old when he was arrested and interned in Hawai'i, and he kept a meticulous journal of his experiences.

— Mike Gordon

GOT A SPARE 10 INCHES OF HAIR?

Here's a win-win proposition: Donate your hair, 10 inches or longer, to the Locks of Love program to help provide wigs for children who've lost their hair, and you'll get a free haircut from the Paul Brown Institute of Beauty and Wellness Technologies. The first 50 donors will also receive a gift, and there will be prizes awarded for those with the longest hair. Head down to 1132 Bishop St., Suite 550, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, for the festivities, or call 587-8448 for an appointment, year-round.

— Advertiser Staff

FINAL WORD

"I love everyone's response to the music. I'm inspired. I'm in a good place. ... Finding myself as a women, finding my strength and the life I want to live."

Alicia Keys | on her latest CD, "As I Am," in Entertainment Weekly