The Day After

So, I didn't want to risk going on that incredibly long journey today because I had so much food I don't usually have last night.  The result? I'm perfectly fine, but it was better safe than sorry I think as the last place I need to be is in a Japanese hospital.  Because I was home alone today however, I had to find something to do.  Well, naturally, I called back to Hawai'i and everyone was busy so then I decided to go look for Hawai'i.

Basically, I Google'd Hawai'i and Matsuyama City and I thought I would just go find the places that came up.  Most of them however, I was unable to find and the easiest one to find was a hair salon called Mahalo; but that I one I had seen earlier so that's kind of a cheat.  As a bonus however, I found a salon called Hair Aloha or something, and it was really cute!  One place had nothing to do with Hawai'i and when I came back home I looked it up again and the only reason it came up in the search was because the buildings website has a link to Hawai'i tourism somehow.

Now, I'm sure that some people are reading this and are ready to start protesting the Japanese peoples use of the Hawaiian culture because that's usually the reaction, isn't it?  "OMG they named a hair salon mahalo? That takes away all the pono."  I just want to say that while I was playing this game I was reflecting on this subject because I thought it should be addressed. Here are my thoughts.

I love Hawai'i and so do they.  If it were an insult to the culture (and I don't really think it is) that they pick and choose small portions and re-share them again in their own country with their own twist then I'm sure they meant no offense by it.  It's not like they are trying to bring an end to all Hawaiian culture in Hawai'i, in fact they are celebrating it.

I think the question might be, how do we explain these feelings to them in a way that would make them understand?  Don't hate, educate.

I think that's part of the reason why I'm here.

(^o^)