If you speak Hawaiian, English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Tagalog, Samoan, Tongan or Pidgin, you'll find yourself at home in Hawaii. Our population includes large numbers of residents who speak one or more of these languages, and others besides. Nowhere else in the world have so many diverse cultures come together to influence daily life. If you visit a home here, you'll find that almost everyone has adopted the Japanese custom of removing footwear before entering the house.
Many Hawaiian words are a part of everyone's vocabulary.
Politics and commerce here are conducted in ways that often reflect Hawaiian and Asian traditions more than European or American. And Pidgin English, originally a result of the need for communication between plantation workers of many countries, is a living language spoken by large numbers of local folks. The cultural mix affects everything, including the way we eat. Restaurant menus here offer an eclectic mix of Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Hawaiian dishes on the same menu. Local supermarket shelves include staples which, if you could find them at all in a mainland US store, would be gathering dust on a corner shelf.