Sunday, May 27, 2007

Japan and Hawaii

Coconut trees on Hawaiian beachThe population of tropical Hawaii is diverse, with a large proportion of people of Asian ancestry, including Japanese. Many of them are descendants from those waves of early foreign immigrants came to the islands in the nineteenth century, beginning in the 1850's, to work on the sugar plantations. On June 19, 1868, the first 153 Japanese immigrants arrived in Hawaii. They were brought in by a broker and the Tokugawa shogunatenot. Kalakaua, the last reigning King of the Kingdom of Hawaii, visited Japan in 1881 and petitioned Emperor Meiji, resulting in the first government-approved immigrants who arrived in Hawaii on February 9, 1885.

Japanese is the third-most spoken language in Hawaii. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 4.96% of Hawaii residents age 5 and older speak Japanese at home. Hawaii has an active sister state program, which includes ties to Ehime, Japan (2003), Fukuoka (1981) and Hiroshima, (1997). Japanese can also be proud of Eric Shinseki, the first Japanese American and Asian American member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Japan can be cold in autumn and winter, and Japanese wishing for warmer weather should visit tropical Hawaii for a nice holiday. Ecotourism is responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being and provide financial benefits and empowerment for local people. Well, when you visit Hawaii, you are doing exactly that. The only thing is, travel from Japan to Hawaii involves air travel and that means CO2 emission. Fortunately there are ways to offset that and sites like Carbon Emissions Offset Directory have a list of sites that helps you with that.

If you plan to visit Hawaii, it would be advisable to book accommodation in advance, and this can be done online via Hawaiian Beach Rentals.

Hawaii comprises six main islands - Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, Maui and Hawaii's Big Island. Kauai is the oldest of Hawaii's main islands and has a wide variety of plant, marine and animal life, including some rare endangered species like the Nene Goose (the official state bird). It also has Hawaii's only freshwater fish, the oopu. Japanese are fond of golf and Kauai have some of Hawaii's best golf courses.

For accommodation, you have a choice of Kauai Vacation Rentals (currently 226 to chose from), Kauai Condominiums (267 of them) and Kauai Hotels (105 to chose from).

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