Local Vibe

Creative entrepreneurs Jake Mizuno ’86 and Asia Leong ’89 bring a world of experience home to Hawai‘i

Creative entrepreneurs Jake Mizuno ’86 and Asia Leong ’89

Over the last 200-odd years, the Kaka‘ako district of Honolulu has gone from a mecca of natural salt ponds and fishing villages to an area of industrial production dotted with small communities, to a commercial business zone. Now, it’s been newly rejuvenated into a thriving arts district. Old warehouses reborn as artists’ studios and other creative spaces share the streets with locally-owned shops and services.

Among them is Milo, a travel and lifestyle boutique with a dash of surfer edge which opened two years ago in the SALT at Our Kaka‘ako development, winner of the 2018 Shopping Center of the Year Award. Owned by Jake Mizuno ’86, Milo shares space with Paiko, a botanical boutique that deals in local flora and also hosts community lei making and native flower arrangement workshops. It’s Mizuno’s 28th store, and the personal nature of the shop, which stocks mostly independent brands that focus on sustainability, is something special for him. “Before Milo, I did a lot of broad, bigger audience retail,” he explains. “What I experienced back then was no mercy for local business. That was a very, very clear awakening. Kaka‘ako is all small scale and very local, and SALT is owned by a local foundation.”

Mizuno also owns Stoke House, another modern surf shop and boutique, and Arvo, an Australian cafe which introduced Aussie style avocado toast to Hawai’i in SALT at Our Kaka‘ako. But Milo has a unique extra: the input of Mizuno’s partner, Asia Leong ’89. The pair met in passing while they were students at HPA, but later got to know each other better as part of the alumni ‘ohana. Leong had gone off to art school in Paris and became a sought-after jewelry designer based there and in Biarritz and New York City. Her elegant, nature-inspired pieces were featured in magazines like Vogue and Marie-Claire and worn by celebrities like Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow. Mizuno, meanwhile, was busy opening golf courses, hotels, and retail outlets in Hawai‘i, on the mainland, and in Japan (where he grew up in part), while never losing sight of his love for paddling and surfing. Among other things, he was responsible for bringing Roxy to Hawai‘i.

Creative entrepreneurs Jake Mizuno ’86 and Asia Leong ’89
Mizuno and Leong blend surfing and sustainability, fashion and family within the walls of Milo.

Through it all, the pair stayed in touch, and about a decade ago they reconnected in what Leong calls, “a really sweet love story. Later in life, we got our lives back together and blended our family. After years of travel and working in fashion, it was the most wonderful thing ever to come home and raise a family and work in Hawai‘i.” Like their parents, Mizuno and Leong’s kids are all pursuing their passions. Malia, 22, recently graduated from UCSD with a BS in psychology and a minor in film studies. Noa, 20, is a professional surfer sponsored by Vissla, Volkswagen, and others. Danaë Rose, 16, just completed a year abroad, training and competing in equestrian jumping, and returned to Hawai‘i last summer.

Milo is a deep expression of Leong and Mizuno’s partnership on all levels. “Jake really wanted to create Milo with our family, my art and design, and his surfing background in mind,” Leong explains. “He loves working with all of the makers and the surfers. I’m giving Milo my touch, my vision, and some of my experience of working in fashion and my travels.” Mizuno adds, “Asia’s connection with rural life and the forests of the Big Island is her inspiration. Her jewelry and design career is something no one could do without that beautiful childhood.” Both of their backgrounds also fit perfectly with the community ethos of Kaka‘ako, which revolves largely around the artists collective Lana Lane Studios—which founded “Pow Wow World Wide” street art festivals all around the globe—that Mizuno calls “our heart and soul.”

Kaka‘ako is “a place of coming together,” Leong says. “It all just kind of happens naturally. It’s not commercial or slick. It’s got some grit and some edges and quite a bit of energy and this wonderful vibe.” Together, Mizuno and Leong are contributing to the creation of a space devoted to living and working with the people of their community and their island home. For them, Milo is a manifestation of their unique perspectives as keiki o ka ‘āina and citizens of the world, a place where their passions have become their work.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the fall 2019 edition of Ma Ke Kula.