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were essentially different from what we had encountered elsewhere in our lives. When we became accustomed to wearing "aloha shirts" and "muumuus," when we came to understand that "no more" meant in Hawaii that "something is lacking» and not that something "no longerexists,"when we came to understand that the Hawaiian usage of "the kind" was equivalent to the Japanese term "ano" to make unspecified but understood references, and came to use such terms naturally in ourspeech, we no longer were "kotonks"and had already become full "citizens" within the Hawaiian community. A "Tropical, Ocean Culture" Ithas beenalmost 10years since I have moved toHawaii. IfIhave learned one thing, it is the obvious fact that Hawaii is one comer of an ocean-orientedPolynesiancultural area. This, ofcourse, is a major factor in any understanding of Hawaii. Hawaii is basically a place where the ocean-oriented Polynesian culture had come to fuse with other cultures in complex ways. Differing from Japan, Peru or the U.S. mainland where I have lived, everythingin mylife inHawaii has been tied toour tropical sun andsea. Thepeoplehere are, asitwere,"naked"or almostsoandtheir basic mode oflife is one ofuncovered and open living; it may be taken as life as open and natural as for a newborn infant. BeforeWesternersarrived,Hawaiianshad nostrongcustom, I am told, ofdistinguishingtheinsideofa home from theoutside. Forthem, the inside ofahome was simply an extension ofnatural, environmental space; they lived in conformity with nature. In not differentiating between interior and exterior space, indigenous Hawaiians had, I feel, something in common with white culture. Westerners built homes with walls on four sides and were much involved with the idea of "privacy," yet they wore the same clothing and shoes whether they were within the home or outside the home. IfweholdthatHawaiianslived in anoverwhelminglyopenand natural space with no "inside" space, whites can be said to approach the question from the opposite direction-that is, they tended to extend their interior space to embrace the entire "outside space." In contrast, Japanese culture was different in every way. For the Japanese, who actually speak of their homes as the "inside," the distinction between "inside" and "outside" is extremely important. Japanese culture prescribes a difference between life "inside" the home and that "outside" the home. When one returns from "outside," one removes one's shoes and "steps up" into the home. It is also 242-HIGASHIDE common for one to also change into a different set ofclothing inside the home. In Japan, however, at the boundary between what is completely "interior" space and what is completely "exterior," there are areas which belong to neither. There are, for example, areas of the traditional Japanese home with earthen floors and engawa, or walkways extending outward around the Japanese home. The areas with earthen floors are probably an extension of"outside" into the "inside." On the other hand, the outside walkways constitute a projection of "inside" space outward. Similar spaces exist in Polynesian and white cultures-porches, sun rooms, atria, etc., all fall into such an "inbetween " category. In Hawaii, such elements from different cultures blended to form a unique culture. In the early 19th century, Puritan missionaries from New England made a strenuous effort to have the half-naked indigenous Hawaiians wearmoreclothes. Butthe stiflingand restrictive clothingthey broughtwere notsuitablefor Hawaii. Such clothing became accepted only in the altered form of "aloha shirts" and muumuus. The Western custom ofwearing shoes, with noticeable Japanese influences, becamemore accepted when sandals and slippers became available. At almost every home in Hawaii todayt it is the custom to remove one's shoesbefore entering, due in partto the ease with which sandals and slippers can be put on and removed, combined with the Japanese custom ofmaking strict distinctions between "inside" and "outside" spaces. This interesting blend of cultures can also be seen in Hawaiian architecture. The basic style in Hawaii is Western, in which all sides of a house are enclosed by walls. Many homes, however, have large sliding glass panels which create a feeling of extension of"outside" space. Often, fixed interior walls are kept to a minimum in order to further promote a sense ofopenness through the interior spaces ofa home. There is also the "lanai," which seems to corresond to Western porches, the Japanese areas with earthen floors, and the Polynesian home itself. Modern Hawaiian lifestyles, therefore, can be viewed as an adaptation of Western and Asian cultures to the tropical climate of Hawaii's tropical and ocean-oriented culture. What is interesting is the fact that in the process ofblending...

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