Hana hou for the president

For Hawaii, it was a presidential inaugural parade for the history books. As our first kamaaina president began his final term, it was with a twinge of nostalgia that we watched him flash the shaka sign for the official Hawaii float, featuring the state seal and a representation of Diamond Head, on Monday. Same goes for the Punahou and Kamehameha marching bands as they passed the reviewing stand on Pennsylvania Avenue.

As Obama said as he looked out over the Mall just after taking the oath of office: "I want to take a look, one more time. I’m not going to see this again." We feel the same way.

Chinese visitors are as American as Amway

The most interesting part of Monday’s news that 1,500 Chinese visitors will tour the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor on Feb. 1 was not that U.S. Navy officials initially were uneasy about the idea, but that the visitors are representatives for Amway!

Who knew that Amway (originally named the American Way Association) is so big in China? In fact, according to business research company Hoovers, Amway’s China operations account for more than a third of the company’s global sales, totaling about $4.3 billion in 2011.

It’s also fascinating that Amway — a multilevel marketing firm that sells cosmetic, nutritional and household products — held out a trip to Hawaii as an incentive for its Chinese representatives to sell, sell, sell.

Yes, China is a Communist nation, which must be partly what makes the U.S. Navy nervous — but as a practical matter its economy is very capitalist, which Americans should welcome. Moreover, the draw for Chinese to visit the Pacific Aviation Museum is its Flying Tigers exhibit, which highlights the fighter pilot volunteers from America who helped defend China against the Japanese in late 1941 and into 1942, just as World War II was getting under way. In other words, they like us.