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ABOUT AKIKO'S BNB
aloha and welcome
Thank you very much for visiting with us. Akiko’s Buddhist Bed & Breakfast is located along the lush and tropical Hamakua Coast, 15 miles north of Hilo.
Akiko Masuda, host and owner, is a 3rd generation Japanese woman, born in Honolulu in the 40’s, long before freeways, shopping malls, email, cell phones and hand held devices. She is a writer of children's books, student of tai chi, yoga and zen meditation. She is storyteller, housekeeper, and loves using her weed whacker and leaf blower to maintain the grounds, citrus orchard and breadfruit grove in the backyard.
Akiko has been living in Wailea Village since' 91, the first person to buy in this quiet, peaceful country village in 35 years. Wailea is a wee, still-intact, plantation village, with about 12 households which have seen very little change, a fleeting flashback in time. The last resident elder, Mrs. Mildred Ouye, a former 3rd grade teacher at Hakalau School, “crossed-over” in 2012. She was 105 years old.
The drive to Akiko’s on Highway 19, is a colorful panorama of small plantation communities with small rusted tin roof houses, mom and pop stores, sweeping ocean vistas, farmlands, pastures, increasing newer homes, rushing streams and breathtaking waterfalls, all that make our Hamakua Coast so extraordinary : a Special Place, whose spirit, cultural history, values, land, and peoples are honored and perpetuated through the work of the WAILEA VILLAGE HISTORIC PRSERVATION COMMUNITY.
Akiko’s B&B is another time, another place, the very best of old Hawaii with its own rhythm and pace.
There is high-speed internet. Many guests work online. High-speed WiFi provides texting & calling capabilities. Please confirm that your phone and carrier support texting & calling over WiFi.
There is a fine assortment of books and magazines on subjects ranging from back road journeys to Buddhism. Akiko’s is a place to rest and restore, a place to pause, to meditate, to walk down a once busy main street, where very little has changed except the people, the animals, the plants and trees and the rusting metal roof tops. Akiko’s is a portal into history, inviting you to step back into Hawaii’s past, into a former plantation village : an opportunity to explore a profound inner landscape and to discover the spirit of old Hawaii.
Hakalau Beach Park, where the old Hakalau Sugar Mill was, is just a 30 minute walk from Akiko’s. The road down to the Park is closed off to cars; visitors walk around the barricade to visit the beach and the stone ruins of the old mill. Great place to swim, watch surfers and waves, and feel the ocean breeze. Drive north along Highway 19 and see the countless waterfalls, especially when there have been big waves. Take side roads and see rolling hills, lush rainforests, old classic plantation houses with rusty tin roofs. Spectacular! Laupahoehoe Beach Park is a 20 minute drive from Akiko’s. Drive further north and visit Honoka’a, about 45 minutes from Akiko’s. Go to the end of the road to Waipio Valley. There is a lookout with an expansive view of the ocean or you can hike down to the valley. The rolling hills of Waimea, the green and windy coast of Kohala and sunny Kona round out a day long trip with time to explore along the way. In the southerly direction from Akiko’s, Akaka Falls in Honomu is about 5 minutes away.
Hilo’s Tsunami Museum, Saturday Farmers’ Market, Lyman Museum, Hilo Public Library (so quaint) and “Sally”s (Salvation Army) are wonderful treasure troves of old downtown Hilo. About a 20 minute drive.
Akiko’s B&B is very centrally located. Pahoa and Volcano are about an hour’s drive.
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