Japan Info Swap Blog

There are places one can go to in Japan where it will seem you’ve stepped through Doraemon’s Dokodemo Door and straight up landed in America’s 50th state, Hawaii. From hula dancing to learning to play the ukulele, Japan has been all-in on all things Hawaiian since the heady “Bubble Era” days, when a salaryman’s winter bonus could fly the whole family to a Waikiki resort.

But Japanese ties to America’s Island Paradise run deeper than that, even …