• Ainu visit • Grading and grubbing Ainu visit Young representatives of the aboriginal people of Japan are visiting Kaua‘i this month. The Ainu are an interesting people with unique customs and dress. Long ago their culture went into the
• Ainu visit
• Grading and grubbing
Ainu visit
Young representatives of the aboriginal people of Japan are visiting Kaua‘i this month. The Ainu are an interesting people with unique customs and dress. Long ago their culture went into the background in Japan, and today they are experiencing problems similar to those suffered by Native Hawaiians, Native Americans and the various Alaskan native tribes.
Today most Ainu live in Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of Japan.
The Ainu are working to preserve their native language, and their cultural identity, as the modern world more and more affects their tribal life.
The Rev. Noriaki Fujimori from the Waimea Higashi Hongwanji is organizing these visits, which are becoming annual events.
The goal of the visits is to bring together Native Hawaiians and the Ainu so the visitors from Japan might learn how to better hold onto their culture.
Island residents are helping to make the visitors feel welcome on Kaua‘i, and friendships are building, and include visits by Kaua‘i residents to the Ainu homeland.
Both the people of Kaua‘i, and the Ainu people are benefiting from this trans-Pacific cultural exchange.
Grading and grubbing
New legislation aimed at controlling illegal grubbing and grading presents almost a 180-degree turnaround from past enforcement of laws controlling those items.
Councilman Mel Rapozo proposed having notice of offenders sent directly to county prosecutors.
However, this request is probably being cut back to major offenders only.
The legislation is a reaction to county inaction that was in part behind mudslides that resulted from unpermitted grubbing south of Kilauea.
While putting teeth into county laws, and enforcing those on the books, is the right way to go in many cases, there’s also a dividing line where too many resources might go to the wrong places, and an overreaction might over penalize some local residents.
However, it now appears the current council is ready to show some action on the issues, and that is a step in the right direction.
Decisive action is also needed by the council in the area of property taxes. Local residents who reside year-round in their homes should be put in a lower-taxed category than those who have second homes, or are using their homes for an investment. A gross annual household income cap might be needed in determining this.
