Japan in Hawaii!

Aloha and こんにちわ!

I decided to do a report based on what I saw on my trip in Hawaii about Japanese culture there.

It was amazing, not even 10 minutes after getting off the plane in Oahu I saw my first Japanese sign,; it was one of those wet floor yellow cones. It's like here in Canada there'll be English and then French below, but in Hawaii there is Japanese below. Ofcoarse as soon as my family realized I'm learning Japanese, theyd ask "What does that mean?" "Can you read that?" or "What does it say?" . It made me at times feel rather embarassed and point out the English right above it. Late a night I also found a channel playing old Japanese movies( probably from the 80's) but the story was too hard to follow half way through. @.@;
Also noticed a lot of Japanese people in Hawaii too, which I thought was really cool. Every where I went I could pick up little bits of different conversations (I know I was eavesdropping but I never said anything!) I talked to a couple of women at the Byodo-in Temple on Oahu. I was very nervous but i spoke well, they complemented me on my accent and said it was very natural sounding. I was very glad.
The temple was amazing! It is a replica of a 900 year old temple in Uji, Japan. There is a huge bell just after the brigde when crossing to the temple and it's custom to ring the bell before going into the temple. Ofcoarse before going inside you must remove your shoes(like any good guest) and inside is a big statue of Buddha, in front of him there is a small altar with incense burning and flowers in vases. It was so neat. Outside in the court yard there is a pond full of koi, some of them are almost a foot long, and many birds including black swans, sometimes peacocks(Sadly I didn't see any) and doves. The two women I talked to there were very nice. Sadly I didn't ask there names ><;. Shoodo san( しょうど　の　画家) was very nice and I bought one of her shoodo pieces. I bought my Chinese Zodiac ( Hitsuji no Jikan Juunishi), and Misenohito san Had a small souveigner shop where my mom bought incense and I bought a charm.
Perhaps one of the most exciting things in Hawaii that was Japanese was the depato stores. There is one in Ala moana centre in Waikiki called Shirokiya. The top part of the store was filled with dish ware, and a grocery store (a little bigger than the Asian market here). There was fresh seafood, produce and lots of candy. The bottom floor had clothes, toys, books, electronics, oretty much everything! I bought quite a few things there. ^^ While at Shirokiya my mom and I tried a creme Daifuku. We ate a さくら（Sakura） Daifuku and a メロン(Melon) Daifuku. They were served cold and had a nice sweet taste to them, and they were filled with a sweet white creme. It was so good, I probably could have tried all the flavours they had and not liked them ^//////^
Well needless to say my trip was awesome and it helped me feel a tiny bit more confident speaking one on one to real Japanese people, and I hope someday I can go to Japan.

~Cat (^.^)v