Yesterday, The Hawaii Herald launched an online edition.

The debut issue is focused on the state’s Aug. 9 primary election, with a story on the “David vs. Goliath” gubernatorial race between incumbent Gov. Neil Abercrombie and veteran state senator David Ige.

There is also a Q&A forum on the issues from candidates for major offices.

“This is an historic moment for The Hawaii Herald, the only Hawaii­based newspaper dedicated to covering the local Japanese-American community,” Keiichi Tagata, president of parent company Hawaii Hochi, said in a press release. “After 34 years of sharing stories in print with loyal readers, mostly in Hawaii, we look forward to sharing the Herald with a wider audience of readers around the world.”

Editor Karleen Chinen added, “We’ve gotten so many inquiries about whether we’re online or not, so I’m glad to finally be able to tell everyone, ‘Yes!’ I’m excited about the many opportunities taking the Herald online will afford us ­­ from new story ideas and new writers to, of course, new readers, with whom we would never have been able to connect with just a print edition.”

The Herald is working with Hawaii Information Service on its online edition.

All content from the print edition of The Herald, which publishes twice a month, will be available online for now. The plan is for the online version to be available after publication of the print edition.

According to the paper, The Hawaii Herald name dates back to 1942 when Hawaii Hochi founder Fred Kinzaburo Makino changed the name of the Japanese­-language newspaper he founded in 1912 from Hawaii Hochi to a more “American” name in order to deflect anti­-Japanese sentiment in the community.

Read Civil Beat’s latest reporting on the Hawaii governor’s race:

In Comparing Campaigns, It’s David Ige Vs. Goliath Abercrombie