HONOLULU (KHON2) — Spirits were high for the University of Hawaii Night outside of Honolulu Hale on Thursday, Dec. 18.

A special member of the UH football team was honored by the mayor. Even though it is called University of Hawaii Night, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi had one team in particular that he wanted to give praise to.

“We’re here tonight especially for the football team, given the great winning season they’ve had. But I really want to include the coaches in that, coaches never get enough credit,” Blangiardi said.

The star of the show was UH’s kicker, who is commonly known as the “Tokyo Toe,” who was honored with a proclamation that declared Dec. 18 as Kansei Matsuzawa Day.

“Consensus all-American, first in the school’s history, all of this deserves celebration,” Blangiardi said. “Kickers have always been my favorite guys, but this guy here is off the charts. You got to give him credit where credit is due, you know?”

The all-American kicker stayed humble despite the accolades and said he could never have done it without the local community.

“Because of the coaches, because of my teammates, that’s the biggest reason why I am here right now, so I want to appreciate everybody supporting me throughout my journey,” Matsuzawa said.

Hawaii’s athletic director had some good news in terms of the Rainbow Warriors being televised in the islands for fans who prefer to watch the games at home.

“Pay per view is a thing of the past, we’re not going to have that any longer, I’m committed to that, and we’re certain about that,” UH athletics director Matt Elliott said. “We are in the process of working on what is the next phase of our media rights deal, so, waiting for the Mountain West to finish their job, which is to figure out the national rights and partners, and then we’ll turn our focus on the local rights.”

Matsuzawa will take the field as a Warrior one last time against the University of California on Christmas Eve in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.

Often described as Hawaii’s “least touristy” island, Molokai hosted around 30,000 visitors in 2024, a minuscule percentage of the millions of tourists who came to our state.

Home to about 7,400 residents, much of the island’s land remains dedicated to agriculture, cultural preservation, and rural areas.

The island has no big-box resorts, not much nightlife, no permanent traffic lights, and limited visitor infrastructure. The tight-knit community has historically resisted large-scale tourism to protect its slower pace of life.

Until 2016, travelers could reach Molokai by ferry from my hometown of Lahaina, but the service was discontinued due to competition from commuter air travel and declining ridership, Maui News reported.

Today, small commuter planes are the only way to access the island.

I paid $190 for my round-trip ticket from Maui, and the turbulent 20-minute flight quickly made it clear to me why this trip isn’t for everyone.