HAWAIIAN OUTPOST BLOG

Hawaii is sometimes called the "melting pot of the Pacific". There is no majority ethnicity in Hawaii and Hawaii's "culture" has evolved as a mix of cultures from around the world, including Hawaii's own indigenous culture. As a result, people of all races participate and celebrate different traditions from around the world. One such tradition is the blowing up of firecrackers on New Year's Eve. Hawaii people love fireworks! Actually, people bust firecrackers for New Year's Eve, Chinese New Years, and 4th of July, even if they don't have proper permits.

Anyways, my friend did have the proper permits and so he built a firecracker tower and tied it to his mailbox. Version 1 was too tall and unstable so we decided to shorten it by 3 feet. What you see here is the shorter version as the firecrackers begin blowing up.

As you can see, there is a lot of red firecracker paper all over the street. It took a team of 6 of us about 30 minutes to clean it up completely.

The best part of the firecracker chain is the end when a ball of densley packed firecrackers explode in such rapid succession that it sounds like one continuous tearing explosion.

I think the point of all of this is to scare away the bad demons and bring in good luck for the year. I am not exactly sure, but it sure was fun! Ahhh...culture!

Posted by sushimonster at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here in Hawaii it is easy to take Hawaiian things for granted. It is almost impossible to go through a day without seeing many Hawaiian dresses or shirts in the tourist areas, in the shopping malls, in the office, in the schools, and even at the beach. Even things like hula, Hawaiian foods, and Hawaiian music are so commonplace in Hawaii that most residents don't really spend much time thinking about it.

On a recent trip to Japan, I got to see first hand how popular these things are in that country. I had always heard that the Japanese love all things Hawaii. But until you see it, it is hard to appreciate it. It turns out that hula is hugely popular with Japanese women. There are over 300,000 hula clubs/schools in Japan, far more than in Hawaii, and probably the rest of the United States. One day at a mall in the city of Fukuoka, a delegation from Hawaii put on a hula and music show. I watched from the balcony and took a picture of a crowd that had gathered to learn hula from two instructors from Hawaii. What is not shown in the picture are the hundreds of people on the second and third floor balconies practicing hula as they follow the instructors on the ground floor.

I have to admit that I was impressed by the treatment we received everywhere we went in Japan. Another American sport that is very popular in Japan is baseball. The city of Hiroshima is home to the Hiroshima Carp baseball team, whose general manager is an American. The Carp have several American players, as do many of the teams in Japan's "Major League". Our hosts, the Hiroshima Chamber of Commerce and Industry, got us prime seats in the 2nd and 3rd rows right behind home plate. In the middle of the fourth inning they turned the stadium cameras on us and showed us on the jumbo scoreboard. In this picture you can see two members of our group wearing the red Hiroshima Carp baseball caps, which look a lot like the Cincinnati Reds.

It was kinda cool to see people wearing Hawaiian shirts or being so into things like hula and Hawaiian music. It seems like most people have either been to Hawaii or want to go to Hawaii someday. I had interesting conversations with cab drivers, tour guides, business people, and even Japanese cops about Hawaii. Most Hawaii residents probably don't realize that so many people in a country so far away love the clothing, food, music, and culture that we sometimes take for granted. At the same time, the Japanese seemed flattered that I was just as interested in their culture, education system, and foods, especially sushi. It sure was a fun eye-opening trip.  

Posted by sushimonster at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)