Is Japan Done With Hawaii?

A weak yen makes the islands less attractive

Replica of the Byoudou-in (Temple of Equality) in Oahu, Hawaii. Original from Uji, Kyoto. Photo by author.

No one to my left, no one to my right. It’s been ages since I’ve had so much room on a flight. This winter I spent a week with family in Hawaii. This can become a yearly thing for me since it’s halfway between Japan and California, not a bad deal. I could sleep sideways on two extra seats during the seven hours it took to get from Osaka to the island of Oahu. If only all flights could be like this.

On my return trip, we were packed like too much styrofoam in a box. The guy next to me smacked his lips every ten minutes during the ten hours back to Japan. I was “this” close to committing in-flight murder.

There were almost no Japanese people with me on the flight to Hawaii. On the way back, the plane was mostly filled with foreigners either returning “home” to Japan or going to visit.

I had expected to see more Japanese in Honolulu as well but saw almost none. The reason stared me in the face every time I went out to eat with my family: the US is expensive now, and Japan’s yen is dying.

How much for a protein shake?

I’m trying to beef up and become the sexy guy I know I am….deep down inside that is. In Japan, I can easily hit my target of 140 grams of protein per day. Zavas shakes are about ¥200 ($1.40). When I was in Oahu, a similar shake ran me at $8, more than five times as expensive. It also tasted like chalk.

This happened constantly. Every meal was at least $20 unless I went somewhere cheap like Taco Bell (which was glorious my friends, after four years of not visiting the States the Bell did not disappoint).

The Honolulu Civil Beat news crew interviewed some Japanese travelers to gauge their feelings on America’s bougie prices. Many expressed shock that a bowl of ramen, which would cost them the equivalent of $7 in Japan, was easily a minimum of $20 in Hawaii.

I’ve never felt like Japan was a developing nation until last week in Hawaii. In Japan, even though I can complain about inflation (¥300 for eggs!), my salary is still more than enough to live a good life here. Drop me in America and suddenly everything became a struggle.

For context, without divulging specific numbers, in terms of American dollars, my salary is now 50% less powerful than it was eight years ago. And that’s even factoring in raises I’ve gotten.

The yen is so weak, or America’s inflation is so rampant, or both really, that for people earning a living in Japan, foreign travel has become a burden.

The numbers are dwindling

Japanese visitors to Hawaii are less than half of what they were in 2019. Before the COVID pandemic, one in four Japanese held a passport, now it’s one in five.

You could argue that many from Japan are still wary about traveling overseas safely since Japan was one of the last developed countries to relax its COVID prevention measures. But I don’t think that’s it. Speaking with Japanese co-workers, many want to travel abroad, especially after years on end of being imprisoned on their home islands. The thing that keeps them from doing so is the economy. I know because I feel it when I take my yen overseas and try to buy something. If you live and work in Japan as well, you know what I’m talking about.

Cultural ties worth preserving

I lived in Hawaii (Maui island) for four years. It was then that I saw stores named “Tanaka Groceries”, it was then that I learned to walk into a house without shoes on, it was then that I saw my first Buddhist temples.

During my recent vacation, my family and I toured the “Valley of Temples” on the North Shore of Oahu. There’s a Japanese immigrant-built temple called byoudou-in, the temple of equality, which is an exact copy of a temple in the city of Uji (Kyoto) where I used to live. The surreal feeling of having been to both temples was stark. They both look the same, but the surrounding environment is different. In Uji, you can’t see anything from the temple grounds, as in the mountains, etc. In Oahu, massive peaks that shoot straight out of the ground oversee the complex.

Hawaii has a deep history with Japan. There’s the Pearl Harbor attacks of course (FYI if you want a tour on the ships you have to buy them within one minute when the tickets open online, I never got mine because it was so popular). Beyond this, Japanese immigrants have made Hawaii a second Japan. Hawaiian-born Japanese are the second biggest ethnicity in the state.

It’s these reasons that have made the islands such a desirable place for many Japanese to visit:

• Hawaii is close to Japan.

• The weather is usually nice (rainy and cold when I went though).

• A large presence of American-Japanese makes the place seem familiar.

• Many shop staff speak some Japanese and orient their storefronts to appeal directly to Japanese customers (think of omiyage Japanese usually buy for co-workers, in Hawaii many places are set up to facilitate this).

Go to Hawaii

I want to end this by encouraging people to visit Hawaii. If you do, don’t just baste in Honolulu, get out to the countryside or the other islands and experience all the beauty and hospitality of the people.

It’s hard for me to say “go and visit” as if it were easy. If you earn your living in yen, the task has just gotten much harder. Things may change in the future, but for now, Hawaii may just remain a fictional paradise many Japanese can only dream about.