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Here's a funny reference point that I just thought of... since a lot of scenes for Hawai'i Five-O are shot on location in real homes, I just subconsciously scan the scene inside the doorway, and have totally lost count of the number of places that have a lineup of shoes just inside the door much like the one pictured in that blog post just quoted.
More traditional Japanese may wear tabi, the socks with a split for the big toe that are worn with sandals, so slipping off the geta (sandal) at the door and keeping on the tabi is perfectly normal. Others who follow the Hawaiian custom are more relaxed about going bare footed in the house.
Really gracious hosts may keep an assortment of clean socks or hotel type slippers for guests to wear inside, and a stool is a very nice touc for guests to sit on to put their shoes back on when leaving. But in any case, wearing outdoor shoes inside the house? No bueno! (not good!).
Lol OpenD watches 5-0? Old or New? I watch the old on netflicks. Its really interesting to see what hawaii looked like back then. Sone places even i remember lol.
And it was entertaining and didn't disappoint - to bad no wifi on the plane.
On to the silly shoe thing - I personally would not expect my guests to stand outside on the concrete (and often wet concrete) in bare feet or socks waiting for me to come to the door. Nor would I be an uptight host and find it rude if they didn't want to do it.
hbh, huh. i'm not defending anyone. (this is the internet. i don't know any of you and i have a life outside the internet.)
i'm pointing out that your posts are not helpful and are inflammatory. i may be malihini but, as it stands - literally (and i'm standing in my living room in oahu), you're more mainland than me. just sayin'.
And it was entertaining and didn't disappoint - to bad no wifi on the plane.
On to the silly shoe thing - I personally would not expect my guests to stand outside on the concrete (and often wet concrete) in bare feet or socks waiting for me to come to the door. Nor would I be an uptight host and find it rude if they didn't want to do it.
That isn't the issue. Do whatever you want to do personally. But calling it "the silly shoe thing" underlines how much disdain you have for Hawaiian culture, and in this case for Japanese custom. Sure, people relate to it in a wide variety of ways, but some do take it quite seriously, and most everyone knows about it and would respect that tradition if invited into a Hawaiian home in which the host took off their shoes at the door.
You've been claiming for a long time there's no such custom in Hawai'i, making HBH wrong for saying there is, and claiming that you'd never heard of it. Funny, I personally first learned about the custom from visiting Japanese friends' homes and temples in Chicago decades ago, so I find it truly unlikely that you've never heard of it before when you've lived in Hawai'i as long as you have.
Matter of fact, the same custom is followed in many homes in Korea, Laos, and Vietnam... ask your wife... as well as at Shinto and Buddhist temples, and let's not forget mosques. And now it's become very common in mainland American homes as well, for a variety of reasons, and it would be a sign of rudeness to ignore that preference when you're a guest in someone's home. Yet you said you've never heard of it.
That isn't the issue. Do whatever you want to do personally. But calling it "the silly shoe thing" underlines how much disdain you have for Hawaiian culture, and in this case for Japanese custom. Sure, people relate to it in a wide variety of ways, but some do take it quite seriously, and most everyone knows about it and would respect that tradition if invited into a Hawaiian home in which the host took off their shoes at the door.
You've been claiming for a long time there's no such custom in Hawai'i
Now you are making things up - that isn't cool. I didn't say there was no such thing - it is fading, especially on Oahu - and as I said in the previous post, expecting my guest to stand on wet concrete while I come to the door doesn't seem cool either (nor having them walk around the house after standing in wet concrete in bare feet or socks isn't cool either). I also said if there was winter in Hawaii this shoe thing wouldn't exist. People aren't as uptight about it as you are making it seem.
Let me refresh your memory what I have stated.
I've stated this notion of unique "Hawaiian Culture" some of you dream about is basically non-existent in 2014. Anything associated with "Hawaiian Culture" is simply marketing for tourists. In Hawaii, the mainstream culture is simply a variation of US Western Culture, different only in the sense of the "culture" being different like New Orleans, New York City, San Francisco. Hawaii is just a small variation to the culture on the mainland.
Even your favorite Wiki agrees.....
While traditional Hawaiian culture remains only as vestiges in modern Hawaiian society, there are reenactments of the ceremonies and traditions throughout the islands.
For those who don't know what vestiges means - look it up.
I particularly like the second link where I acknowledge is it more "cute" than anything.
More breaking news for you - the shoe thing, what will ultimately make it dwindle, not folks from the good ole mainland - the influx of Chinese nationals many of whom have total disdain for anything Japanese.....
It's too bad that you live on Oahu, White Viper. Here on the Big Island we keep many of the old traditions alive in our daily lives, whether they be Japanese, Fillipino, South Seas or whatever. They are traditions that have been woven into the "Hawaiian" culture. Let's not get into yet another discussion here on what "Hawaiian" means, please. That's been talked to death on too many other threads already.
My point is that your experiences living in a big city on Oahu aren't really representative of the whole state. It just isn't true that anything associated with the Hawaiian culture is simply marketing for tourists, no matter what Wikipedia says. Living on the Big Island is very different than Oahu. Here in Na'alehu we do take our shoes off (usually on the covered lanai and not in the rain) just because that's what is done. We honor our kapuna in many ways. We also greet friends and strangers with an Aloha hug. No-one complains when the guy in front of you in line at the store spends a couple of minutes talking story with the cashier. Those are just a few examples, and this isn't meant to start a whole new line of arguing.
Personally, I've not been in anyone's house or condo on Oahu where shoe's off at the door was not the norm. Most condo building no longer allow shoes to be left in the hallways, but they are still removed and placed just inside the door.
I was even in a chineese-owned home on Oahu and shoes were off at the door.
I don't know anyone (other than Viper) who has said this custom is fading away. That's not to say it's not, but if it is, I haven't seen or experienced that. If anything, I think it's catching on. I'd say now about 50% of friends homes I frequent in Portland are also shoe's off.
Last edited by WaikikiBoy; 11-17-2014 at 02:00 PM..
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