ハワイ旅行･ホテル･ショッピング･グルメ･求人

Of the many allures of the Hawaiian Islands, the biggest are definitely the pristine ocean, and shopping.
However, there's is one thing that attracts probably just as many people to the islands – Hawaii's unique culture.

Native Hawaiians have long been a people of great tradition, and have their own distinct culture and language. Fortunately, this is something that we all can still see and touch, even today.

There's the hula dance and flower leis, Hawaiian food like poi – there's just so many, it would take forever to list them all. And they are all things that we can actively participate in today.

Hawaiian is a culture without a formal writing language. Therefore, in the old days, Hawaiians used to pass on their history and legends through hula dances and stories. However, this rich culture and history has largely been exploited – sold cheaply in the tourist industry, causing many to discuss whether the Hawaiian culture has been afforded its due amount of respect throughout the years.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority released its “Style and Resource Guide” a few days ago, aiming to clear up some misconceptions about Hawaiian culture. For example, those Hawaiian wood carvings that everyone seems to call “tiki”, is very sacred in Hawaiian culture, and should be called “ki'i” instead. What about those stones and small rocks we see piled on the side of the road or at parks? Not a Hawaiian practice, sorry. So everyone can stop piling up those rocks now. Oh, and “mahi mahi” should be spelled in one word, so it should be “mahimahi”.

It is very unusual for the HTA to be focusing on clearing up these misconceptions, because in previous issues of the Resource Guide, none of these points about Hawaiian history were brought up at all.

The HTA's marketing director, Frank Haas, was the driving force behind these efforts to clear up common misconceptions, because he felt that the travel industry in the islands were largely being insensitive to the issue for some time. If we are able to put forth a better understanding of our own history and culture starting with ourselves, the experience would become that much more rich for visitors to the islands. Hopefully everyone will truly begin to understand the real Hawaii in the near future.