Council world turns over

"A whole new world … "

So it is, as Todd Apo left his job yesterday as City Council chairman for his new gig as public affairs manager in Hawaii for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Apo, shown below, leaves behind his District 1 vacancy, which will be filled by Dec. 29 via a special election.

His successor will join four other newbies on the nine-member Council: Ernie Martin, Tulsi Gabbard Tamayo, Stanley Chang and Breene Harimoto.

As the Council turns. Or, as Disney’s Aladdin would continue singing:

"A whole new world,

Don’t you dare close your eyes … "

Saying ‘aloha’ in Asia

Chinese entrepreneurs have been flocking to golf and real estate on Hainan, an island on the southern tip of China described as the "Hawaii of China," and South Korea now is subscribing to the same imitation.

The Wall Street Journal reports that five million South Koreans visit the island of Jeju Island, 50 miles south of the Korean peninsula and sporting a dormant volcano, calling it the "Hawaii of Korea." Nonstop flights from China and Japan are enabling record numbers of international visitors. The question is whether Hainan and Jeju compete with each other or with us, the real thing.