ABOVE: Wendi Nakanishi of KK Poultry with a tray of high-quality "TKG" eggs, meant to be eaten over rice in tamago kake gohan, a popular Japanese breakfast dish.
The day before Halloween, a gray-haired woman named Sharyn Miyashiro, wearing a black-and-white mariniere and red sequin devil ears, shuffles back and forth between a cash register and walk-in cooler, pulling on its long metal latch to reveal a refrigerated room stacked with white Leghorn eggs. "Jumbos are all sold out," she announces to a line of ten people. "And there are Big Island Candies cookies. Everyone, please enjoy."
Miyashiro is one of many family and friends who volunteer at KK Poultry, a family-owned poultry farm in Waimanalo, Oahu. "They just come out," says co-owner Wendi Nakanishi. "They're retired, and they come out and help pick and process eggs."
The farmhouse is open from 7:30 a.m. to noon on Wednesdays and Saturdays to sell its famous "TKG" eggs—the orange-yolked eggs revered in Japan for their namesake dish, tamago kake gohan. This popular Japanese breakfast is made by cracking a high-quality egg over hot rice with a dash of shoyu. The rice gently cooks the egg, creating a rich coating and comforting, porridge-like consistency. (The farm discourages customers from eating undercooked eggs, and diligently sticks the USDA recommended disclaimer on its cartons, but Wendi knows her customers are likely to chance it anyway.) While the eggs aren't pasteurized, they are much fresher than imported eggs, which spend weeks in transit, and the hens eat a special diet (the chicken-feed recipe is a family secret) that gives the yolks their enticing hue. Some of Oahu's best restaurants, such as Over Easy in Kailua and MW in Honolulu, use KK Poultry's TKG eggs.
Wendi's grandfather Kishun Kaneshiro opened KK Poultry (for his initials) in Kahala in 1947. When an opportunity arose to purchase a six-acre plot in 1957, he moved to Waimanalo. The farmhouse's peeling white paint, duct-taped windows and worn, wooden front porch strewn with antique chairs show its age. Inside, there are more relics from the past: a dusty collection of kettles and cash registers, a jukebox and a Primo Beer sign.
The TKG eggs usually sell out before noon—over four thousand per day. Locals know to show up early and bring cash. While there's a two-flat limit (sixty eggs) at the farm, customers can also purchase eggs at Nijiya Market, Marukai and Don Quijote.
Wendi's grandfather passed away in 2009. In 2015 her father, Roy Kaneshiro, who'd worked on the farm his whole life, leased it to a Japanese company, which renamed it OK Poultry. Roy stayed on as a consultant. Then in 2022 the company didn't renew the lease and Roy came out of retirement, changed the name back to KK Poultry and returned to working the farm with his kids: Wendi and her brother, Chad Kaneshiro. Wendi, a case manager for the Hawaii Department of Health, plans to retire in four years so that she can focus on KK Poultry. "I would love to keep the farm going," she says, "and not just do eggs, but expand and do other agricultural adventures."
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