Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

Photographer Aaron Yoshino was familiar with the work of Hyphen's latest cover model, ukulele sensation Jake Shimabukuro, from growing up in Hawaii, but Yoshino had lost track of Shimabukuro’s career over the past decade and a half, during which the musician had become an internationally renowned phenom.

"Shooting him was a process of reconciling the sort of geeky, glasses-wearing, locally born Japanese guy who was really good at playing the ukulele, and who I heard on the radio in high school, with the 2010 version of Jake," Yoshino said. "That is, the nicely dressed and styled local boy who is really good at playing the ukulele."

As it turns out, Yoshino found Shimabukuro to still be very much a local boy at heart. "He was one of the more patient subjects I've had to shoot, and after three hours in front of studio lights, Jake was cheerful as ever, jamming [on] his ukulele and trying not to smile for every photo -- his natural reflex."

Get your copy or subscribe to see our interview with Jake and lots of other features in The New Legacy Issue.