Warriors march onward

The aloha spirit can’t always overcome team spirit. Richard Lum, one of about 270 University of Hawaii fans on the road with the football team, seemed unabashedly happy to hear of the 52-7 drubbing University of Colorado took from the University of California on Saturday.

Lum, exultant over the UH win at West Point, doesn’t usually celebrate the misfortune of others, of course. But the Warriors take on the same Boulder team this coming Saturday, so all’s fair in love, war and football.

"It gives us hope," said Lum, whose World Wide Tours and Travel service organized this mainland trip.

Higher-than-average, 81-degree temperatures are projected. An away game, maybe, but it should feel a bit like home.

Lingering over longevity

When it was reported in July that Tokyo’s oldest man — who would’ve been 111 — had actually died 32 years earlier but his body was still lying at home, it was scandalous. Horrifying. The incident set off a flurry of fact-checking in Japan — and now, more than 230,000 centenarians listed in records there can’t be accounted for.

Most of the "missing" are thought to be due to lax bookkeeping, but still, it makes one think. Japan is renowned for having the longest average life expectancy in the world: 86 years for women, 80 years for men.

In the U.S., Hawaii tops the longevity list, at 80 years. Taking care of kupuna, especially after kupuna can’t take care of themselves, will become an increasingly important message as more of our people live longer.