it’s true. we were in waikiki, the most touristy of them all. there are a lot of japanese people that visit hawaii and that live there. you can get a lot of menus in english or japanese and bus stops are also listed in english and japanese and stuff. you see a lot of tour buses labeled “NIPPON TOURING COMPANY” full of japanese people on the streets, too. japan is close by i guess. also at the teppenyaki restaurant, we noticed our chef speaking in japanese to some japanese-only-speaking guests at our table and we asked him if he grew up speaking it (he didn’t really, though he’s a very small part japanese) … he said it was just part of job training, required for working at that restaurant.