Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Kids don't look haole at all, so I'd imagine no problem whatsoever.
If people see a couple with a haole being one...much of a response? Ill will for the girl for having a haole boyfriend...or towards the parents. Or no one cares?
To the regular debate on here.
I spent 4 weeks in Hawaii...and experienced NOTHING. I'm haole. I'm a very low-key, low-profile guy though. I did see a local give an asian guy a hard time as the asian guy didn't speak much English.
I was also over on the Big Island, and noticed a Hawaiian getting pretty tired of a haole couple who were a bit on the obnoxious side. Didn't have a problem with me. We were all in a kava hut.
I've also spent years living in Asia. I noticed some people experience racist all the time, seemingly daily as a foreigner over here. But, for me, I don't tend to have those experiences.
When I'm back on the mainland of the U.S. though, I do pick up racial tensions from time to time, just being white. But I didn't feel it in Honolulu anyways.
Anyways...many haole/asian combinations...is it more people get tired of other behaviors that haole's might exhibit, moreso than really just being a haole in general?
Again, I spent a month there...and I'm an adult...did some island hopping, spent lots of time eating in the many asian restaurants - vietnamese, korean, japanese - all my favorites. Found a kava place. People seemed pretty laid-back, and fine towards me. Like anywhere really.
But, if a haole/asian couple was going to HI...would you recommend Honolulu or Hilo? I definitely prefer Honolulu, but it is expensive. Hilo is more laidback. But quite a bit more local, whereas Honolulu has a nice international flavor to it, albeit pricely.
Haole/Asian isn't anything to notice other than how cute and pretty the kids are. Hapa-haole are usually really pretty kids. For which city/town to select, I'd say it depends more on what jobs are available than anything else. Also what you want out of where you live. Honolulu and Hilo have two totally different flavors. Honolulu is a city with a lot more night life and commercial entertainment, much more densely populated and a lot of high rise buildings. Hilo is a town with a lot less entertainment, much less densely populated, not a lot of day-to-day commercial entertainment - i.e. places to go other than shopping centers but a fairly comfortable place to live none-the-less. The beaches are much better in Honolulu although on the Big Island, you can drive to the white sand beaches on the Kona side. So, there's pros and cons for either place, it's all about what you are expecting and what you want.
Location: Was in Western New York but now in Hilo Hawaii
1,234 posts, read 4,590,132 times
Reputation: 454
In Hilo your good as gold from what I have read in your past posts over the years you sound respectful so give me a ring when you get here we can have a beer while the keiki get some icecream
Lived in both places. As far as your question goes, not any different from each other. Neither wife nor I are "local". (The definition seems to vary from person to person, but this often means you went to high school in Hawaii.)
I'm haole (blonde, blue eyes), wife is Chinese. When we walk in to a place together (mom and pop store, local eatery, beach, etc., the assumption seems to be that we are "local". (Even though both of us speak with a mainland accent, no pigoen. ) If the wife is alone, the vibe is she's local; I'm alone, vibe can sometimes be different.
Lived in both places. As far as your question goes, not any different from each other. Neither wife nor I are "local". (The definition seems to vary from person to person, but this often means you went to high school in Hawaii.)
I'm haole (blonde, blue eyes), wife is Chinese. When we walk in to a place together (mom and pop store, local eatery, beach, etc., the assumption seems to be that we are "local". (Even though both of us speak with a mainland accent, no pigoen. ) If the wife is alone, the vibe is she's local; I'm alone, vibe can sometimes be different.
Cool.
When I was in Honolulu, I went to the DMV, and remember this haole couple, looks liked sailor fishing guy - had massive arms, and tattoos with a large tattoo of Hawaii on his shoulder. Looked very local. I was thinking no one probably gives him or his wife a second thought.
Anyways, since you lived in both places, and had haole/chinese combo....did you have a preference on Hilo vs Honolulu...based on people? Which people you liked being around more...? For whatever reason it might be...
Who cares what people think. Im brown, my son is white with blue eyes, and I may move to Hawaii, and I dont care who says what. There are people of all kinds, everywhere you go. Enjoy your family and dont base your whereabouts on a few racists.
From all the reading ive done here, seems for the most part Hawaii is a cool place.
When you intermarry and mix it up, somewhere someone will have something to say.
Just ignore, and be happy!
Tiger Beer -- As KoaKine said, I've followed your posts for a long time, and I've only gotten good vibes from you. If your real-life personality is the same as your virtual personality, you shouldn't have any problems in either Honolulu or Hilo, regardless of your wife's ethnicity. I'm a haole from the mainland, and my wife is Japanese/Portuguese from Hilo. I've been going to Hawaii with her for the past 10 years, and I've only gotten attitude due to my non-localness twice. Once was on a beach near Hilo, when I had two cameras slung over my shoulders and clearly looked like a tourist. A young teenage male pointed at me, nudged his friends, smirked, and started to walk toward me. It was obvious that he intended to harass me for the entertainment of his friends. He started to open his mouth, but my wife spoke first: "Eh, cuz, howzit?" He looked surprised: "Oh. You a local girl?" In her best pidgin, she assured him that she was, and made a bit of small talk. Deflated, he went back to his friends. The other time, I was in the elevator of a Waikiki high-rise hotel. Someone was literally getting on at every floor, and I made a joking comment about it to my wife. A local lady in the elevator thought I was complaining, and proceeded to lay into me about how if I didn't like the way things were done in Hawaii, and if the elevators were too slow for me, then I should go back to the mainland and stay there, because my type wasn't appreciated over here. She got off at the next floor, and I heard her say "Fr*ckin' haole!" as the door closed. It was so over the top that it was funny. The sad thing, though, was that my wife and I got off on the main floor, just in time to witness some haole tourist cussing out the young lady at the desk because she was finishing another task and wasn't summoning a bellhop for him "NOW!!!" I made it a point to be very nice to her, and to assure her that I was as appalled by that kind of behavior as she was.
Other than that, I've been treated kindly by every stranger I've met in Hawaii. Of course, I treat people the same way. What has touched me is how joyfully most locals react when I tell them how much I love and appreciate Hawaii and its culture. My wife says that they take a lot of crap from tourists and newcomers who come only for the beaches and the climate, and who care nothing for the culture and people, so locals are very pleased by outsiders who truly understand the "spirit of aloha."
As for mixed-race couples out in public, it's not really an issue, because Hawaii is such a melting pot. My wife says that, years ago, she did get some attitude from some of her local male friends when she dated and married a mainland haole in the military: "What, us local boys not good enough for you?" But she was never bothered in public. And, like anywhere, there are certain traditional parents who prefer that their children date and marry within their own cultural and ethnic group, but that doesn't extend to harassing strangers on the street. As others have posted in other threads, one's ethnicity is a topic of conversation along the lines of "So, what do you do for a living?" People tease each other (and themselves) about their ethnicity, but it's all in fun. I always get a laugh from my darker-skinned inlaws and friends about having to slather on SPF 40 "haole protector" when I go outside, because I burn under a full moon. When my wife has been talking for what she deems to be too long, she'll say, "Hey, I'm a typical Portagee -- I get straight to the point, no matter how long it takes."
If you plan on visiting Hawaii, I highly recommend visiting both Honolulu and Hilo. Honolulu is an exciting, diverse, cosmopolitan city, although it's nowhere near on the scale of NYC or Tokyo. Plenty of people make fun of Waikiki for being touristy, but I love it. It's great for swimming and people-watching, and life doesn't get much better (for me, anyway) than sitting on the patio at Duke's with friends, eating whatever fish is on the menu, drinking the beverage of your choice, and waiting for the sun to set, and then stumbling on a free outdoor concert of Hawaiian music a little farther down the beach. Hilo is the opposite: one the last of the old-style Hawaiian towns in the islands. It's not a major tourist destination, due to the lack of sandy beaches and resort hotels. It's laid-back, friendly, and charming. When my wife and I go, most of our time is spent hanging out with friends and family (and eating, eating, eating). If you don't know anyone there, then there aren't a lot of "tourist destinations" to visit. If you're talking about living there, though, and you're looking for a slow pace of life, and you have a way to earn a living, then it's a wonderful place. My wife and I plan to retire in Hawaii, and it probably will be Hilo, primarily due to the affordability. If we had the money, we'd choose Oahu, because we like the pleasures of the city, but housing prices are out of our reach.
Second time to hear that I'm well-received as a poster on the Hawaii forums.
I do think it would be a great fit for me. One of major motivations is because I really like and feel very comfortable with Asian cultures, especially living over here in Asia for many years.
Hawaii is more of a half-way home and half-way in Asia....mix of both. So, maybe ideal in many ways.
Honolulu is the one I'm most interested in...but Hilo is so much cheaper. If and when I'm done with Japan, Honolulu would be the one I'd aim for.
Don't know much more to add than that, but thanks for the responses
My grandkids are a mix of Koren & American with three other grandkids who have a mix of diff mother and father from all over the world .
one of the boy's married a girl from Spain one married a guy who Korean American -other boy married a girl from Brazil -the other girl married a guy from Texas and Spanish ..So my grandkid's are a melting pot of the world in some ways ..
One set of the grandkid's looks like the little perfect asian girl and the other sister is blue eyed and red hair and light skin with asian feature's ..The one lady who was in front of me there on the big island at the local target was like really they are sister by same mother and father .
The cashier was laughing because i was speaking korean to them and i had ask Monkey to pass me the milk from the cart to put it on the belt so can be rung up by the cashier .. I had miss up the word for milk and Monkey said no grandpa it this way in korean grandpa ..The Cashier was i think Korean and she goes she right and keep talking them to both of them in korean ..
So that one of the reason i chose Hawaii to retire in because of melting pot of races there ..Most of the people look at my grandkid's like they are some type of freaks in the some of the places in the state's where they have lived ..They have some of most stangest eye color and hair color mixs in the world and i love that they all can speak at least two other langauges beside english in the house
So Hawaii is the one place i love because of the big melting pot of people who live here because that day in the target i had all the grandkid's with me and so of the local women where like you produce that rainbow of kids and i told them they are my grandkid's and it was like a door had been open for me there to walk through and be treated as one of the people who lived there ..
Last edited by henry1; 07-08-2011 at 07:01 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
