Muggle memories

"Our little Jim, 5, read his first Harry Potter book aloud when he was a kindergartener and won the Halloween costume contest at Keelepulu Elementary in Kailua that year! As he completed Kailua Intermediate School with academic awards, we celebrated with Jim, now 14, and his younger sister Emily, 12, for great schoolwork by traveling to see (the Wizarding World of Harry Potter) in Orlando, Fla.

"J.K. Rowling has inspired our kids as early readers and as achievers!" — Jan and Leo Woitas, Kaneohe

(See Thursday’s Today section for more muggle memories and other "Harry Potter" features, and in the meantime, get the latest Potter news, photos and a review of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" at hono­lulupulse.com.) 

Quake shakes journey

Lehua Kalima of Na Leo Pilimehana, who is on an 11-day tour of Okinawa, Osaka and Tokyo, reports she was in the airport on Okinawa when Sunday’s earthquake struck Japan.

“By the time we got to Tokyo, all was fine and back to normal,” she says.

Find more of her travel adventures, photos and videos in her blog “From the Land of the Rising Sun,” at hono-lulupulse.com.

Na Leo Pilimehana is the isles’ top-selling female vocal group.

They have released 19 albums and garnered more 20 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards.

Kalima also is working on a solo album due out later this year.