The Life and Legacy of Guy Toyama: Remembering a Green Power Hero and Friend

By Susan Cox

The first time I met Guy Toyama was about nine years ago. A mutual friend arranged a business meeting between us. I didn’t live on Hawai‘i Island yet, even though I dreamed about finding a way to move here so I could be closer to my aunty and 95-year-old grandma. I was doing Green Power Girl (GPG) energy and climate change awareness presentations in mainland schools, and I wondered if there would be room and resources on island for a small time hero like myself.

Meeting Guy Toyama for the first time at his office at the Gateway Center, I was immediately struck by how tall he was for a Japanese guy. I am half Japanese myself and had never seen such tallness in my race before. His huge contagious smile and warm demeanor immediately drew me in. I shared with him all about GPG and the Green Power Heroes and he got very excited. We discussed ways we could collaborate and he assured me there would be exciting possibilities for the Green Power Girl on Hawai‘i Island!

Then I noticed on his desk his business card “2075.” When I asked him what this meant he said, “Oh, it’s a business I am starting. We received a Navy research grant to study how sound can make hydrogen.”

“How exciting!” I replied. “How did you come across that idea?”

“Well, we work with a scientist who can channel this technology from the future so it can be utilized today.” He said it so matter of factly that I am sure my look of astonishment seemed out of place. After all, I am the Green Power Girl who writes about such things in my animated universe, but in a business meeting?

So I asked him the most relevant question I could think of, “How is it in the future?”

Guy looked at me right in the eye and in a most serious tone, responded, ”VERY BEAUTIFUL!”

I was speechless. I don’t think anyone had ever said such a thing to me with such conviction before. Here I was devoting my life’s energy to saving the planet from the evils of fossil fuels, fully loaded with all my climate change and scientific reports painting the gloomiest of forecasts. Then I land at the Natural Energy Lab on Hawai‘i Island where my beloved Grams and Aunty live and a tall smiley Japanese Guy is telling me that we humans have a chance to create something beautiful!

That day and that conversation shifted something inside of me. Suddenly another possibility was available. The space that had been occupied by the heavy environmental gloom and doom had bloomed into a love fest of all that could and WOULD be, if we worked hard enough. This auspicious meeting opened the doors of possibility and soon I moved with my two children in tow to live with Grandma and Aunty and to start my Hawai‘i Island Green Power Girl Adventure.

Today, I am proud to say that the Green Power Hero program has been inspiring the next generation to be heroes for our planet in almost every school on-island. Guy and I gave presentations to the outer islands schools when they came to visit the exciting technologies at the Gateway Energy Center.

I remember the naming ceremony where Guy proudly announced that he would now be known as the BLUE REVOLUTION MAN. We officiated his identity as the Blu-Revo into the Universe. His oh-so-shiny Blu-Revo suit gave him infinite powers to use the ocean as a source of healing, food, energy, and beauty.

“Guy’s legacy might well be Blue Revolution Hawai‘i (BRH) and the Pacific International Ocean Station (PIOS),” says Dr. Tetsuzan Benny Ron, an Aquaculture Specialist at University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Guy created the first presentation for PIOS, which later was presented at the Seasteading Institute’s conference in San Francisco led by Dr. Pat Takahashi, Director Emeritus with the Hawai‘i Natural Energy Institute of the University of Hawai‘i. Dr. Takahashi and Guy, along with Dr. Ron and a few others, birthed BRH after Guy and Benny ran the Honolulu Marathon in 2010.

“Blue Revolution envisions developing oceans as the ultimate sustainable resource with promising potential for renewable energy generation, integrated marine habitats, production of marine biomass for bio-fuels, bio-resource materials and supplying mariculture seafood,” says Dr. Ron.

Dr. Ron concluded, “There is so much to Guy beyond any facts that I feel sort of uneasy. How can we sum up someone’s rich and amazing life and do it ‘right’?!”

I agree.

Guy was an impassioned advocate for renewable energy and entrepreneurship. He was always brainstorming about new and impressive inventions and devices, many around building a hydrogen economy here on-island and beyond. As the Executive Director of Friends of NELHA (FON) (Natural Energy Lab of Hawai‘i) he was exposed to new breaking energy technologies at the Gateway Education center managed by FON to do education and outreach on NELHA ventures. He founded H2 Technologies and prototyped a hydrogen motor scooter he liked to call “Hydra Jenny” which was slated to be a H2 pizza delivery vehicle!

He even did a TedxHonolulu talk about his vision of transportation where he described a future commute that could serve a better use of time and a way to enjoy friends and his favorite tasty beverage—beer. Along with creating a sea salt spray, Guy has many more inventions that could not all be explained in such a condensed time frame.

Guy was chair of Mayor Kenoi’s Energy Advisory Commission and sat on various boards around the island including; Kanu Hawai‘i, Kona Kohala Chamber of Commerce, Kona Japanese Civic Association, Kona Kohala Chefs Association, and Kona Palisades Homeowners Association. Guy was instrumental in launching the Kuleana Green Business Program of the Chamber and cocreated events such as the Kona Earth Festival and Tech Con Kona. He built international relationships with Japan, Korea, and Taiwan on everything from sister city ventures in Hiroshima and Kanagawa, Japan to student educational exchanges on sustainability.

His funeral was likened to a rock star tribute with more than 500 people coming from every corner of the islands. Many people flew in from the mainland and Japan to pay final respects. One was Tadashi Hosokawa, head of the chamber in Hatsukaichi Hiroshima. Guy established sister city chamber relationships with Kumejima Island in Okinawa and Hatsukaichi Hiroshima. Tadashi-san was Guy’s counterpart for the Kona Kohala Chamber of Commerce. Guy was the ultimate Ambassador of Aloha and touched many across the world!

Tadashi-san gave a beautiful speech at Guy’s funeral service and even wrote the lyrics for a song entitled, “Big Smile.” A famous Japanese composer Kyotaro made Tadashi’s words into a song and released it on a CD!

Big Smile

“It’s a mistake. It’s a mistake.
You’ve overcome such a lot of troubles with your smile,
but sometimes you face problems that can’t be solved.
Countless tries you did, each failure you apologize,
Again, you have, you have a gift of smile
that will make anyone forgive what you do
That final speeding ticket you couldn’t escape
Ah I’ll never forget your big smile
Ah I wanna send my smile back to you.
I’ll never forget… Never I forget…

His lovely wife Rika shares, “Guy always said you can live happily ever if you have ‘gratitude and joy’ and that’s how he lived. He was also an expert of ‘forgive and forget’ and taught me through his example while we were together for 23 years.”

Guy’s longtime friend Tei Gorden, remembers, “Guy was [the] ultimate Duck-fan. Only goes to reason, my best memory of Guy was him calling me up in Tokyo and yelling in my ear: “Teiiii-man! Ready for the [Oregon Ducks] game this Saturday!”

Another dear friend, Jeff Craft, watched every Ohio State and Oregon Duck college football game with Guy for the past 11 years. A few years back, Guy told him that he thought the Oregon Ducks were going to win the Pac-10 Championship. They placed a bet at the beginning of the season when the odds were phenomenal and they won. That led to the ritual of placing bets together every college football season. “One year, Guy bet $10 on every college bowl game based on who he thought would win a fight between the two teams mascots. He didn’t do very good.”

Jeff remembers another entrepreneurial idea they had to create a website called, “Big Island Pau Hana.” It would list all of the Happy Hour specials/entertainment for all of the restaurants and bars on Hawai‘i Island. “Needless to say we planned on doing the ‘on-site’ research ourselves. Our goal was to become so well-known that eventually we would have websites for all of the Hawaiian Islands!”

Michael Kramer remembers, “Guy and I spent a lot of time discussing how to help people embrace sustainability. Once, when I was expressing my frustration about the resistance I was experiencing, he poignantly suggested, ‘Don’t come at them strong or head on. Think of the dynamic like aikido: bring people close to you and support their way of thinking and interests in order to move them where you’d like them to go without them realizing what’s happening.’ That insight forever changed me and clarified why Guy was so effective in his collaborative efforts.”

Guy and his vision, enthusiasm, smile, humor, wisdom, and unwavering support is missed by many.

I often remember him advising me to “Follow your heart Green Power Girl” when a complex challenge would arise. Guy’s friendship with all his friends was loyal and true. He had a rare gift of really listening and finding ways to support one’s highest aspirations.

Dr. Rod Hinman, a close friend and associate says, “Guy had a significant impact on the direction that my life has taken since I met him. He introduced me to many people and motivated me to share my knowledge with the wider community. It is important to help continue that practice.”

Rod and a group of loyal friends started The Guy Toyama Memorial Fund, a sustainability fund dedicated to honoring Guy’s legacy to support sustainability, entrepreneurship, and foster relationships that further peace and collaboration as an Ambassador of Aloha. The successful launch event on April 26, 2013 was a great start to keeping this beautiful legacy of Guy Toyama alive through scholarships to support budding visionaries.

The last real conversation I remembering having with Guy went like this:

Guy: “Don’t get angry GPG.”

Me: “C’mon Guy, you never get angry?”

Guy: “Nah, it’s a waste of precious energy. We need to conserve power. Right, Green Power Girl?”

Me: “Yea, I guess you’re right Blu-Revo.”

Guy is survived by his wife, Rika; his mother, Harriet; his father, Douglas; his brother, Wade, and countless friends.

I miss him. Sometimes his energy will come to me. I look up to the sky and feel his great big joyful contagious smile and know he has truly entered into the realm of Green-Power-Super-Hero-Dom! I also know its true that love (energy) never dies. It just changes form.

Guy’s legacy will continue to inspire all of us for a long time.

“Mahalo for all you have been in our world and in our hearts Guy Toyama, our beloved Green Power Hero!” ❖

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View Guy’s TEDx talk: YouTube.com/watch?v=9IqNo5fUTs0
View ‘Big Smile’ song: YouTube.com/watch?v=G7PsD1ckk50

To honor Guy Toyama and continue his legacy: GuyToyamaFund.org

Photos courtesy of: Aki Kumejima, Susan Cox and Rika Horikiri

Contact writer Susan Cox: GreenPowerGirl.com