Freelance cartoonist Jon J. Murakami, 54, he stay like how us Hawai‘i Local people like our gravy. He stay ALL OVA!
Before time, almost every Local print publication I open up would get one comic strip by Jon J. Murakami inside. I go bookstore and I spahk [see] all his Gecko children’s books. I go Longs Drugs and dea he stay again, his art stay on all da Local Kine Cards. Even when I just walking around da mall people stay wearing his various shirts cuz so many organizations wen commission him ova da years. Da two most recent ones I wen spot is his designs for Waimalu Elementary School and Lanakila Meals on Wheels.
Cuz dis ‘88 Pearl City grad’s artwork stay so ubiquitous, I feel like his style has come for be synonymous with Hawai‘i Local culture. Braddah Jon attributes it all to hard work, “I feel very fortunate that I’ve been able to do it this long and people like my style. I knew early on that I had to work hard and try to do as much as I could to get my work out there.”
Dis guy stay so prolific that nomono denying he works hard. But he such one work magnet that I found his life story for be kinda ironicals cuz even when he just drawing for fun it eventually leads to more work finding its way to him. Lol.
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Lee Tonouchi (LT): I know you part Japanese, but what else you?
Jon J. Murakami (JJM): I’m half Japanese, quarter Filipino, and quarter Korean.
LT: How you identify as? Hapa? Local? Asian American? Nikkei?
JJM: Local Japanese, I would say because I was raised that way. Like food wise, growing up we really didn’t get a lot of the Filipino food or Korean food. I mean, we had kimchi and once in a while adobo, but primarily we were raised Japanese.
LT: I miss your comic strips. I first came one fan of your art when you did da comic strip at UH [The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa] called University of Diverse City. Ova da years you had comic strips in planny Hawai‘i newspapers and magazines. Generation Gap in The Hawai‘i Herald. Calabash in The Honolulu Star-Advertiser. You even had one strip that taught Japanese culture inside Wasabi magazine. I used to read ‘em all, but budgets got cut and lotta those publications folded. You tink you eva going get one opportunity for do one regular strip again o‘wot?
JJM: I think I was fortunate with all those because they pretty much kind of sought me out. I didn’t really actively have to apply or anything. Do I miss doing comic strips? To an extent. I have a lot of ideas that I still want to share and everything. But at the same time, I don’t miss the deadlines, you know. But recently I was thinking about approaching some publications to see if they actually needed somebody. Because even though it’s stressful, I would love to do it again.
LT: Try wait. So even da Ka Leo newspapah in college found you? Cuz at that time nobody knew who you wuz, right?
JJM: Yeah. Funny story. I don’t know if you know the artist Deb Aoki. So Deb’s a few years older than me and at that time I didn't know her, but we had a lot of mutual friends. And it just so happened she was going to UH the same time I was. And so I was sitting outside the art building one day, I was doing some sketching for fun and she looked over my shoulder and she said, “Oh, I heard of you.” And so she literally just dragged me down to the student newspaper building. She said to the editor, “This guy would be a good candidate to do a comic strip.” And so that’s how it all began. So I really have to thank Deb for getting me started.
LT: Das funny, When you had da first inkling that you might wanna be one artist one day?
JJM: I think when I was like four years old and I realized I just liked drawing. I was lucky that my parents Roy and Joycelyn Murakami always supported that interest. They’ve always encouraged me to take art classes and they bought me art supplies. And because they worked at a school bus company, kids would often leave their comics on the bus, so my parents would bring home those comics for me to read. I loved those comics.
I think my sisters really did a lot to shape me too. I was inspired by my older sister Laura who used to doodle. I was more of an indoor kid so I used to do a lot of drawing like her. But Lynn, who is the middle child, four years older than me, we hung out more together because we’re closer in age. We both shared the same sense of humor. We used to laugh at the same cartoons and things like that. It’s between the both of them that really helped me develop my style of drawing and humor.
LT: Who you grateful to in your journey to coming such one successful freelance cartoonist?
JJM: That would be my mentor Dave Thorne. Dave Thorne was like the guru to all cartoonists here in Hawai‘i. He taught a lot of non-credit courses about cartooning at UH. The first time I actually met him though, I was 11 years old and there was a meet and greet at the mall. I remember it was really thrilling to me to meet a real cartoonist. Then I re-met Dave later on in college to take his class. I learned so much.
When I took his class, I sat in the front row and I did all his assignments and I think he saw something in me. He must’ve thought, “Oh, this guy has a lot of potential,” because he took me under his wing. So after classes we would talk story and we would just hang out. Dave is the one who taught me to think like a cartoonist, how to work on my humor, and how I should sell my work, the business side of being an artist.
LT: What wuz da greatest lesson he taught you?
JJM:This is something that I always remember. He taught me to draw for yourself. So in other words, it’s like when you’re drawing something, you have to enjoy it. You have to appreciate what it is you’re doing and hopefully that will make other people appreciate it as well. Because, there will be a lot of times if you’re drawing and you don’t want to do it, it will show in your work. You’re just straining. But if you have a passion for doing it, the joy really shows in your artwork. And I think you see this in my cartoons. In my cartoons, there’s a lot of energy. There’s a lot of insanity and craziness. And that’s because I love doing it.
LT: I like know about your artistic influences AND I also like know about your comedic influences.
JJM: Growing up, I read a lot of the Sunday funnies.
So Sunday comic strips were always really important to me. Like, you know, Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, Beetle Bailey, Family Circus and all that. But I also love animation. I love Looney Tunes. I loved all the physical humor and them blowing each other up and everything.
I also watched a lot of anime growing up. And being in Hawai‘i, we were fortunate that we had the Japanese influence so we could watch shows like Kikaida, Getter Robo G, Ikkyū-san, Then later on we got to see stuff like Crayon Shin-chan. So all these things just kind of meshed into my art style.
And for me, I just loved watching comedy, whether it’s TV or the movies, I just love comedy. I just love how comedy makes people laugh and forget about all their worries. I think everybody needs to laugh more.
LT: You know how you had Dave Thorne as your mentor, do you feel like you gotta be one mentor too now since you stay clocking in at ova half one century old?
JJM: (Laughing) I've tried to, but it seems like the young artists are finding their own way, which is fine. If anyone wants advice, I'll give it to them. But for the most part, they pretty much want to go their own way. The few times I did try to have an apprentice and all that, I got a little bit burned because I felt like they just wanted all my contacts and they didn’t want to apply anything I told to them.
LT: O wow, lau lau [how rude]! Wassup with dat yeah? Eh, I curious. You funny in real life too or only when you draw?
JJM: (Laughing) It’s hit or miss. It depends how much beer is involved. No, no, no. I’m just kidding.
LT: Whenevah I see one social media post from you, you ALWAYS drawing. During your downtime at conventions, you draw. When you at Pearlridge Shopping Center with your friends you drawing. Even when you having dinner at one restaurant you stay drawing sketches for da servers. Is that how you came so good? Cuz you doing all that extra training?
JJM: (Laughing) Drawing is just fun for me, but I guess it could be considered training. I mean, it’s just like anything else. It’s just like playing a musical instrument or playing a sport, the only way you get better is you practice. So even for me, there’s still a lot of things I don’t like drawing like backgrounds or machinery or bicycles or stuff like that. So I guess by practicing my hope is that I get better.
LT: You create a lotta fan art. I know you one big fan of Kikaida, Street Fighter, Pokemon, Ghostbusters, Dungeons & Dragons, and all da Marvel and DC superheroes. Did any of your drawings you did for fun eva lead to any kinda unexpected opportunity?
JJM: I’ve got a great story. We have an organization called Comic Jam Hawai‘i here. And it’s just a casual group of Local artists. We meet at the malls on every first and third Sunday and we just draw. During the pandemic, we were isolated in our houses but every Wednesday, we started to do this thing online called the drink and draw. And every Wednesday, we would have a different topic. And so one of the topics was Dungeons & Dragons.
I remember I was kind of having an off day so for kicks I started drawing an Elf, but instead of a regular Elf I drew one that looked like Elvis. And then I was like, okay, Elf-vis, that’s kind of funny. Then I started to do more and I would eventually call them Pun-geons & Dragons and I would post them online. I got a lot of positive feedback with people saying they really liked it. And then a friend of a friend, it turns out he knew Heidi Gygax, who is the daughter of Gary Gygax, the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons and he shared my work with her. And she responded back to me! And we started corresponding since.
Dungeons & Dragons is now owned by another company, but Heidi had started her own gaming company called Gaxland so this led to their upcoming game called Dragon Derby, which I got to do all of the art for. It’s a game that’s kind of like the Kentucky Derby, but with dragons and there’s magic. This was such a thrill to be working with Heidi. And it all started with me just being a little punny.
© 2025 Lee A. Tonouchi
