(Photo by Vasilisa Nesterenko)

By Vasilisa Nesterenko | Staff Writer

Joseph Tomishima is a 19-year-old student at KCC majoring in Liberal Arts. He started school in Spring 2025 and is taking economics and Japanese classes this semester. He enjoys his studies and especially values the small classrooms at KCC.

“I like that it’s cozy,” Tomishima said.

This semester, his economics class became his favorite. The professor, Vicky Chiu-Irion, makes the lessons “very to the point” and dedicates herself to her students. As Tomishima said, he would consider getting a degree in economics, inspired by his professor.

Outside of academics, Tomishima’s background also shapes his perspective. His family has Japanese origins, although he grew up in Wai‘anae and graduated from UH Lab High School. Coming from a small family, he loves the lifestyle of Hawai‘i for the most part.

“The community, the weather, they’re nice most of the time,” he said. “That’s great.”

But the island’s specifics cause some issues for him.

“When you’ve been here for 19 years, you start running out of things to do,” he said.

In the future, Tomishima would consider moving to Japan to be closer to his family.