It Takes a Village to Host a Tourist

6:30 a.m.

Frank Llamelo’s day started three hours ago in Waipahu. By 4:30 a.m., he and his wife were on a bus to downtown Honolulu, where they transferred to a Waikiki bus. Frank Llamelo got off close to Hatsuhana, an independently operated Japanese restaurant in the Hilton Hawaiian Village where he’s washed dishes for eight years, while his wife continued along Kalakaua Avenue to the shop where she works. When his shift ends at 2 p.m., he heads off to meet his wife, who is off by 4 p.m., and they begin their long journey home, getting there by 7 p.m.

When asked how many dishes he washes in a day, Llamelo responds, “I never count. I just wash, wash, wash.”