Hawaii
*An officially recognized bilingual state: Hawaiian & English
*Hawai'i is the former home to Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the leader of the 1911 revolution that ended imperial rule. He is revered as the founder of modern China
*Yun Tau Chee, the first Miss Hawaii and the first Asian contestant in the Miss America pageant.
*Francis S. Takemoto, the first American of Japanese ancestry to achieve the rank of general.
*Kajukenbo the first true American art was developed in Honolulu, HI between the years of 1947 and 1949--what was at the time a territory of the United States of America. Five men came together to help develop a more up to date street lethal style. Most of these men had already cross-trained in other arts like Juijitsu, Boxing, and Karate, which made it easy to come together without any egos getting in the way.
*Birth place of American Kenpo Karate
*Hawaii is one of the few states designated by the US Federal Government as a Regional Center, which benefits foreign investors interested in becoming US citizens. In fact, Hawaii has one of the biggest immigrant investor programs in the entire United States.
*HawaiŽi is the only state that coffee, vanilla, & cacao is commercially grown.
*The first Asian American in the United States Senate was Hiram Fong from HawaiŽI
*The Ala Wai Golf Course in Honolulu is the most used municipal golf course in the United States.
*ŽIolani Palace in Honolulu is the only royal palace in the United States.
*The world's largest wind generator is on the island of OŽahu (Honolulu County). The windmill has two blades 400 feet long or equal to the top of a twenty story building.
*MolokaŽi Ranch Wildlife Park is home to rare African and Indian animals.
*Moloka'I contains the world's highest sea cliffs
*Haleakala Crater (ha-lay-ah-ka-la) is the world's largest dormant volcano.
*The largest contiguous ranch in the United States is on the Big Island. The Parker Ranch near Kamuela has about 480,000 acres of land. It was once the largest single owned cattle-ranch in the world.
*The Big Island houses the world's biggest telescope and more scientific observatories in one place than anywhere else in the world.
*The Big Island is the worldwide leader in harvesting macadamia nuts and orchids.
*Based in Hawai?i, USPACOM, the U.S. Pacific Command, is geographically the largest of the U.S. unified service commands. It covers about 50% of the earth's surface from the U.S. West Coast to Africa's east coast and from the Arctic to the Antarctic.
*Hawai?i has high data rate links with more than 30 state-of-the-art telecommunications satellites. 29,000 miles of undersea fiber optic cables provide 140,000 voice equivalent circuits facilitating simultaneous voice, data and image transmissions to the continental United States, Canada and Asia along with a new "supercarrier" cable providing an additional 130,000 circuits. Thirty dedicated T-1s link to every major business center in Asia and Europe. In 1998, 100% of local telephone lines were converted from analog to digital switching. In 2001, a new transpacific cable linking Australia to the U.S. mainland via Hawai?i has provided increased bandwidth to the islands.
*Sources of energy other than oil: Solar, geothermal, garbage power, bagasse (waste from sugarcane) and wood chips from trees, wind power, water-driven turbines and coal.
*Bishop Museum & Planetarium - at 1525 Bernice Street, the Museum houses the world's foremost collection of Hawaiiana and Polynesian antiquities.
*Byodo-In Temple - Japan's 900-year-old architectural treasure is duplicated in exact detail at the Valley of the Temples Memorial Park. beneath the majestic cliffs of the Koolau mountains. The beautiful Oriental garden setting also has a carp pool, massive nine-foot Buddha statue, and tea house.
*The Mormon Temple - built in beautiful Laie in 1920, it was the first Mormon Temple to be constructed outside of Utah.
*National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific - Punchbowl or Puowaina, literally translated "Hill of Sacrifice" is the final resting place of thousands of World War II, Korean and Vietnam war veterans.
*Lahainaluna School - oldest school west of the Rocky Mountains, established in 1831, its first building of poles and grass was replaced by a stone building which still stands on the modern school grounds.
*Honolulu Marathon is among the Worlds largest - Honolulu, with its 19,236 finishers, was the world's 6th largest and the nation's 3rd largest marathon of 2001. The largest marathons in the world were London (30,071 finishers), Chicago (28,830), Berlin (25,792), New York City (23,651) and Paris (22,341).
*Several key figures of the Korean independence movement of the middle twentieth century lived in Hawaii when they were in exile.
*The Honolulu Cricket Club - The club's members come from many far off places including Australia, Bangladesh, Barbados, Canada, England, Fiji, Ghana, Guyana, India, Jamaica, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, St.Vincent, Trinidad, UAE and the USA. The Honolulu Cricket Club was established in 1893 when Hawaii was a territory of the United States. Historical documents show that the club is the oldest sporting organization in the islands. In fact, the Guinness Book of World Records names the Honolulu Cricket Club as the oldest sporting organization in the Pacific.
*Elected the first Asian American to sit in the United States Senate was a Chinese-American from Hawaii.
*Elected the Nations first Fillipino Governor
*Elected the first Japanese Governor
*Elected the first Female Jewish Republican Governor
*Elected the first Asian-American woman to Congress
*Elected the First Hawaiian Governor
*Home of The East-West Center, The EWC is an internationally recognized education and research organization that helps promote the establishment of a stable, peaceful and prosperous Asia Pacific community in which the United States is a natural, valued and leading partner.
>All Asian Countries are represented as well as the following Pacific Islands: American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna.
*Home of The Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, the APCSS is a U. S. Department of Defense academic institution providing a forum where current and future military and political leaders from the 45 Asia-Pacific nations gather to enhance cooperation and build relationships through mutual understanding and study of comprehensive security issues.
>Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Canada, China, Comoros, Cook Islands, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Mongolia, Nauru, Nepal, New Zealand, Niue, North Korea, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Phillipines, Russia, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Vietnam are all represented at the APCSS.
*Honolulu is the Headquarters of The Pacific Basin Economic Council or PBEC's membership collectively employs 10 million people and generates $4 trillion in annual revenues
>Founded in 1967, PBEC is the one of the longest running independent nonprofit business development organization's in the Pacific Rim and has 1,000 members in 20 regional economies. The organization has been based in Hawaii since 1992.
>>Member countries/places: Australia, Canada, Chile', China, Colombia, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Phillipines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand.
***As you can see Central & South American Countries are also expanding their relations Eastward and Hawaii is growing in popularity as a location to conduct business because of its location.
*Home of the PTC, the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) occupies a unique place in the dynamic, rapidly-growing world of Pacific hemisphere and global communications.
>The Council is an international, non-profit, non-governmental membership organization that brings together in a single forum both the providers and users of communication services, as well as policy-makers, technologists, lawyers, scientists and academics.
>>PTC's members are found worldwide, and membership is open to all who share an interest in the development and beneficial use of telecommunications and related disciplines in the Pacific hemisphere. This area includes the Americas, Asia and Oceania.
>>>Participant/Membership Countries include over 55 countries: Australia, Indonesia, China-Hong Kong-Taiwan, United Kingdom, Phillipines, Singapore, France, New Zealand, Bermuda, American Samoa, Japan, Macau, Korea, Canada, India, Brunei, Fiji, Federate States of Micronesia, Guam, Russia, Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Tahiti/French Polynesia, Palau, Western Samoa, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Peru, Thailand, Netherlands, Bangladesh, Brazil, Italy, Northern Mariana Islands, Malaysia, Belgium, Chile, Switzerland, New Caledonia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Niue, Austria, Tonga, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Germany, Tuvalu, & Spain.
**As you can see Hawaii is becoming more and more global and being looked upon not just as a tourist destination, it is the bridge between the East & West and is probably in the best times to expand businesses and use Hawaii as a stepping stone to take advantage of the booming Pacific Rim economies/markets.
*The University of Hawaii teaches more Asian & Pacific Islander languages than any other US university.
*Kileaua Volcano has been erupting continuously since 1983 and is adding more land every year to Hawaii/U.S.
*Has 11 of the World's 13 Climatic Zones
**Okay that's more than enough for now, hopefully I didn?t bore you to death!
Please feel free to post other stuff of the other places represented in this part of the American Forums.
