LABOR DAY 2017

Eight years ago I indicated:

Labor Day is a holiday celebrated by all 50 states, created by Congress in 1894 as a reconciliation measure after the Pullman Strike, which led to a number of deaths, becoming law only six days after the incident. This was the first national strike, and paralyzed train traffic. While the event served notice about the power of unions, management won round one.

I went on to say:

Nearly 16 million U.S. workers are labor union members, about 12 percent of the work force. Hawaii has the second highest percentage of union workers with 24.4% and New York is #1 with 24.9%.

This percentage has dropped to 10.7% and was 20.3% in 1983.  New York is the only state above 20% with 23.6%.  Hawaii dropped to 19.9% and South Carolina is the state with the lowest union membership at 1.6%.

Without unions, the life of workers in industry would today have been dismal.  They were absolutely necessary to get our country up to our current lifestyle.  However:

While unions were critical in the early days of the nation, and, maybe more so for Hawaii, my sense is that many of them have outlived their usefullness and now are part of the problem. I especially wonder if unions might be counterproductive in an academic setting. My blog of August 6 delves into this matter. No one seems to care much as there was not one comment to that posting.

My 2011 Labor Day Posting was entitled:  

     QUIRKY THINGS ON LABOR DAY

Among the tidbits included a report that Singapore has developed silkworms producing colored silk.

Then my 2012 LDPosting went weird:

• Indicating the viral video of Maru (a Japanese cat).  I wondered why 170 million had visited this site on You Tube.
• Also touched on the Dyson Ball, Vegan Egg Yolk, Tide Pods and barbecued centipedes in a Phuket market.

So, finally, some historic quotes:

• Confucius:  Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.
• Sophocles:  Without labor nothing prospers.
• Garfield:  Eat, drink and sleep.  That's the plan.  Have a fun Labor Day weekend!

-

Hurricane Irma is now at 120 MPH and strengthening.

The current projected path shows the eye just north of Puerto Rico and Cuba, heading for Florida.  

-

FOUR VIEWS OF MOUNT FUJI

I woke up this morning after nine hours of sleep to a sparkling Honolulu Sunday.  I had no idea what I wanted to post on as I sat at my computer, but had this view:

Then I remembered that the 15 Craigside Photo Club would meet today, plus, we just began a display of the best four photos we each particularly liked.  So on the way to taking a photo of this exhibit I noticed by the elevators our Mauka view:

Beautiful Nuuanu Valley if you don't mind being surrounded by graveyards.  There are rainbows all the time.  Our photo show:

On this side you see two of my Mount Fuji photos, and on the other, two more:

The first one is a Mount Fuji sunset from my Tokyo Westin room:

I've now stayed at this hotel at least 50 times, the first in week one of their opening in 1994.  They always give me a high floor view of this majestic mountain.  The problem is that Tokyo is almost always overcast, and the spectacular scene mostly occurs only during a crisp winter day or just after a typhoon passes.

Here to the left is a photo of my hotel, with the adjacent Robuchon's, during a beer festival at Ebesu Garden Place, a large mall that also opened in 1994.  On the other side of this shopping complex from the Tokyo Westin is the Ebesu Station, making it convenient for me to use the hotel as a storage room when I take a small roller on my Japan Rail Pass trips around Japan, something I will do again next month for the Fall colors.

Next is a photo from my Shinkansen ride from Tokyo to Kyoto:

Finally, a shot of Mount Fuji from my recent ANA flight from Haneda to Kansai:

I thought, wouldn't it be interesting if I ran this photo through the Style app to see how Hokusai would paint this scene:

The photo club's assignment this week was to do something in the unfocused mode.  I had great difficulty, and ended up submitting two of these three photos about sea life:

This final one of a koi occurred during the Japanese Garden photo session of the gathering I attended at the East West Center posted yesterday (just scroll down to the next article).  I don't think I captured the essence of the subject matter, but  these photos seemed somewhat creative to me.

-

Hurricane Irma, now at 115 MPH, is looking ominous and heading in the general direction of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, although an earlier turn to the north is expected:

-

OKINAWA AND HAWAII: The Ideal Partnership

Okinawa and Hawaii are alike in so many ways that I've long wondered why we have not in the past had a closer relationship.  We:

• are the only island states (Japan refers to them as prefectures) far separated from the national capital
• have a similar population (1.3 million for Okinawa, 1.4 million for Hawaii)
• are located along the same general latitude, meaning our climate is similar
• support the same industries:  tourism, agriculture, military presence
• live the longest, with Ryukyuan people at 34 centenarians/100,000 three times higher than mainland Japan

Interestingly enough, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor initiated World War II, while the Battle of Okinawa, where 95,000 Imperial Japanese Army troops and 12,510 Americans--plus 149,193 persons of Okinawa origin, one-fourth the island population at that time--were killed or committed suicide, was the final major ground action before the two atomic bombs.  After WWII, there was an actual move to make Okinawa a U.S. Territory, like Hawaii.

There are differences, of course:

• Size:  Okinawa = 466 square miles, Hawaii = 10,931 square miles (Oahu alone = 597 square miles)
• Maximum Elevation:  Okinawa = 1,650 feet, Mauna Kea = 13,796 feet
• Military:  96% of American military located in Okinawa on 32 bases and 48 training sites, the most contentious issue regarding U.S.-Japan relations; while the military is prominent in Hawaii, with exceptions here and there, we mostly tolerate them for economic reasons
• Islands:  Okinawa = 48 inhabited, Hawaii = 6 inhabited
• GNP/capita:  Okinawa = $34,842, Hawaii = $51,277

Okinawans have been shown to be genetically slightly different from mainland Japanese.  The indigenous peoples of the Ryukyu Islands are also known as Uchinanchu, and have been shown to be significantly related to the Ainu people of Hokkaido.  As my father's father came from Utashinai, located north of Sapporo, perhaps I'm closer to being Okinawan than Japanese.

There has been a pervading prejudice against Okinawans as inferior to mainland Japanese, influencing who you could marry.  While this feeling has recently been overcome by the changing times, this general attitude also carried into societal attitudes in Hawaii.  Almost everyone whose name ends in "-shiro" can be linked back to Okinawa.  Certainly, there are others, and I don't know if general ignorance on my part was the reason, or a perhaps a more progressive sense, but one of my girlfriends in high school into college was Okinawan, and I did not know that Ige was rooted in Okinawa until fairly recently.  Similarly, growing up in Hawaii, Jewishness was just not part of life here, so for the longest time I thought a Jewish person was blond because the two major female characters in the movie Exodus had hair of that color.

Hawaii has the largest population of people who moved away from Okinawa.  In the early 1900's about 20% of Japanese immigrants to Hawaii came from that prefecture.  Okinawans were distinct, as they spoke a different dialect, ate sweet potatoes instead of white rice, and occupied a lower social strata.  In a sense, this isolation forced them to stick together, and they began to dominate certain economic areas.  It was estimated that  at the time of World War II, Okinawans already owned 80% of restaurants in Honolulu, largely through tanomoshi funds.  This percentage has dropped because of national fast food chains, but  even today, Zippy's, Times Supermarket,  Tamashiro Fish Market, etc, the tradition continues.  And, certainly, they entertain better, from a high school friend Teddy Chinen, who became Teddy Tanaka, to Jake Shimabukuro, who recently entertained us at 15 Craigside.

About the matter of Okinawa and Hawaii working together for our common progress, I have been involved in the process.  Kiyonari Kikutake had designed and built the showcase exhibit, Aquapolis, for the 1975 Ocean Expo to commemorate the American handover of Okinawa to Japan in 1972, the year I joined the University of Hawaii faculty.  

I remember John Craven and Kikutake designing and building a small floating structure in 1976 for our bicentennial, which, unfortunately sank and remains today rusting in Kaneohe Bay.  But I went back to Okinawa on several occasions, for I wanted Aquapolis to be floated to Lisbon for their 1998 Ocean Expo or to Hawaii for our Blue Revolution experiments.  Unfortunately, funds could not be located and the platform was sold as scrap to Taiwan.

Into the 90's I traveled to Okinawa on several occasions:

• Through the Green Enertopia group we assisted Miyakojima become the solar island for Japan.
• Stimulated the selection of Kumejima as the OTEC island.
• Was closely involved in the Okinawa-Hawaii team which hosts an annual ocean energy gathering.

All the above is just background for the annual Okinawa Festival being held in Honolulu this weekend.  Activities actually began yesterday when the World Uchinanchu Business (WUB) Network had its 21st Conference at the East-West Center.  WUB was started by Robert Nakasone, with the support of then East-West Center President Kenji Sumida.  Here below are John Tasato and Bob (left), both of whom talked me into moderating one of the sessions, then below, Kenji (right), with the Hawaii United Okinawa Association President Vince Watabu and East West Center President Richard Vuylsteke.

There is something called a Shisa, a lion-dog from Okinawa mythology, to protect from evil.  It dances like a Chinese Dragon:

That's Governor David Ige with Vuylsteke.  The past presidents of WUB gave short keynotes:

On the left in the above photo is Steve Sombrero, who was once associated with the Hawaiian Onsen group we formed just at the time the Japanese bubble burst in the early '90's.  He expressed interest in re-starting this effort.

There was an excellent bento lunch catered by Zippy's, with short statements by Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa and Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho.  I participated in the two afternoon sessions focused on clean energy, chairing the first group, which included Hawaiian Electric's President Alan Oshima (left).  The second session included the President of the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research Dennis Teranishi and new Hawaii State Energy Administrator Carilyn Shon (with Mark Matsuura of the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute to the right):

We took a group photo:

There was this elaborate dinner planned with unlimited Okinawa awamori and sake, but I decided enough was enough and went to see the Rainbow Wahine Volleyball team sweep South Dakota.  What a difference in cuisine, though, for instead of the finest Okinawan delicacies, I had hot dog, garlic fries and a cup of beer.

But for anyone who got this far and lives in Honolulu, the Okinawa Festival generally draws 40,000 to Kapiolani Park, today and Sunday.  There are 50 Okinawa clubs hosting this affair to fund their cultural programs:

• This is the 35th such event.
• FREE (okay, you need to pay for the food and drinks) and has been voted Hawaii's Best Ethnic/Cultural Festival in past Hawaii's Best People's Choice Awards.
• There will be continuous live performances at the Kapiolani Park Bandstand.
• Saturday night features a gigantic outdoor bon dance.  
• Free parking at Kapiolani Community College, with $3 transport to the site, but just buy a festival pin for $5 to get free travel.

For more information, visit okinawanfestival.

Finally, 15 Craigside has a pervading spirit of Okinawa.  First the percentage of Japanese extraction is very high, at least 80%, and maybe even closer to 90%.  Secondly, while Okinawans represent 17% of Japanese in Hawaii, my guess is that this percentage is twice as high here.  I could diligently count names, but I really don't know which ones are Okinawan.

-

Hurricane Irma at 110 MPH will strengthen and is looking now like she is heading for Florida or the Eastern Seaboard:

-

I DID IT AGAIN

My most important decisions seem to be made impetuously.  And I have finally realized why.

I met Pearl in September, and we were married in December.  My previous home was a spot decision, for I was still working in the U.S. Senate and came home to quickly purchase something for our return.  The morning my real estate agent showed me around, he indicated that a rather unusual penthouse was just made available, and would I like to see it?  Turned out one of the co-owners of the building had a spat with the rest of the group and he suddenly just offered his apartment for sale.  It was love at first sight when I saw it.  My neighbors somehow were linked to the ownership, and were people like Aaron Placourakis (went on to own a bunch of restaurants), Stevenson Higa (art gallery), Donald Johanos (symphony conductor), Harry/Emma Myers (Waikiki hotel), etc.  Then, my recent decision to totally change my lifestyle for permanence at 15 Craigside was also swift:

• I saw this building coming up for several years in the adjacent lot, so one day decided to drop by on a Saturday for no particular reason.
• I had not looked into any seniors community on the island.

• However, after only a few minutes at 15 Craigside, they indicated that an apartment which had never been lived in was suddenly made available that very hour.  I looked at it and said to myself, if I happened to be the first person to sign up when the place was first made available, this was the one I would have picked.
• So 20-minutes into a lark I signed a $20,000 check for my final home.

These monumental spur of the moment decisions resulted in:

• A marriage that lasted 47 years, and the reason for the hasty decision was something called love.
• Life in Craigside was for 32 years, and, again, it was love.
• I'm now in Year 3 of what I hope will continue for another 30 years, but this time, it's more like like.

So yesterday I went for an oil change at Pacific Honda.  Turned out it took longer because a mandatory recall defect needed to be corrected.  Having a lot of time, I thus walked into the showroom and told the salesperson that, as a promise to a friend, I needed to first see the latest Toyota Prius before I made my decision at Honda.  

I had two other more probable options:

• Keep my current 10-year old Honda Fit until it finally broke down.
• Quit driving for good.

There was absolutely no real need to buy a new car, for this old gray pal ran well.  The only problem was that there was no camera in the reverse mode, and backing up in parking lots worried me.

Similar to my 15 Craigside opportunity, it turned out that Pacific Honda's computer had just found an automatic 2017 Fit, just what I wanted.  This was the last one available, and would probably have been bought that day because it's so popular.  The 2018's had come in and were more expensive.

As happens at car dealerships, negotiations became an interesting game:

• I first asked William what would be the lowest possible amount I would pay after trading-in my car.  
• When they brought back the balance sheet, the cost was $27,000 (the grand sum when they add everything like taxes, handling, mistakes, 10-year insurance, etc), minus $3000 for my old car, or $24,000.
• So I  began some bargaining, as I thought the 3-year warranty was sufficient, the leather seats were unnecessary (but that was just another mistake by their computer) and assorted other stuff I didn't want...so what about $22,000?
• He had to go see his manager.
• While waiting, I had a second gambit.  Ask for an even lower price, I would forget about Toyata, and I would just write them a $20,000 check.
• Of course he had to go back to check with his manager.  
• But while he was away, I thought, why not use my Mile-Plus VISA card and get 20,000 miles. 
• So when he came back I asked, and he had to see his manager again.
• The manager returned instead and said the VISA assessment was around $500, and they were at the lowest level they could go.  
• So I quickly said, why don't we split that difference and we can forget about a credit card.  I'll write a check for $19,750.  
• The manager had to check with his superior...and they essentially said okay.

The whole process is designed to make the customer happy at the end, plus they appeared sincere about wanting to keep me in the family.  Maybe I should have been more demanding.  In any case, they seemed satisfied, and I was happy.

While they were preparing the car, I walked a block away and saw for the first time in the Remington Building about a dozen international eating places.  I selected Catina, an Italian outlet, and ordered a Spaghetti Agli Oglio with anchovies, plus garlic bread.  I only paid $8.50 for this:

Okay, but some basil leaves and a slice of raw onion would have been better.  I then went back to shift all my stuff from old to new car.  Ten years later, the 2017 version looks almost exactly like my 2007 model.  

Turned out William also went to McKinley High School, this was his first month on the job, and, until I appeared, he was up to 11 sales in August.  Being the final day of the month, my order brought him up to a full dozen, raising him to a special achievement category which he clearly appreciated.  Everybody's happy!

While I might wear a shirt that says Don't Worry Be Happy, I rarely, actually, act with any haste, but on those occasions when I have, that's the key word.  Every time I made a quick monumental decision, it was to enhance my happiness...and every one was of life-determining consequence.

-

Hurricane Harvey is now only bringing some moisture to the midwest and northeast.  However, there are four more ocean storms:

Hurricane Irma is now at 110 MPH and looks to be heading for islands of the Caribbean:

There is a new one, Typhoon Banyu at 90 MPH, located sufficiently east of Japan and projected to keep moving parallel to the northeast:

-