Surfer Competing at The Eddie This and all photos are by the author except where noted.

All these festivities are free, but bear in mind that parking on Oahu is a headache at the best of times. For high traffic days such as festival dates, it’s better to take the bus.

Okinawan Music at the Honolulu Festival

Chinese New Year is a big deal here. The Chinese have a long-established connection with Hawaii, stretching as far back as the first arrivals in 1788 and most significantly to the mid-to-late 19th century when when 46,000 Chinese immigrated to the Islands. Currently around a third of the state’s population claim full or partial Chinese descent.

For two weeks over the New Year period, events are focused in downtown Honolulu’s Chinatown district. The Narcissus Queen Pageant selects the new Queen to serve as an ambassador of the Chinese community, followed by a coronation ball for which you’ll need to purchase tickets. Subsequent festivities include Choy Cheng (a traditional lion dance blessing), a parade featuring dragon dances and kung fu artists, childrens’ rides and games, and food vendors.

Taiko at the Honolulu Festival

March’s Honolulu Festival is a celebration of the cultures of Pacific Rim countries. Japanese culture is strongly represented at this festival, which began in 1985 — not unexpected given that 16% of Hawaii’s population is Japanese. Three days of events take place at various locations throughout Honolulu and include performances of Japanese Taiko drumming, Hawaiian hula, Alaskan native dance, educational activities, and craft fairs.

At the Hawaii Convention Center you will find stalls selling native crafts and dishes from the various represented countries. Since 2009, students of the University of Hawaii have presented a Maid Cafe, proceeds from which go towards their annual field trip to Japan.

Each year the festival concludes with a parade down Honolulu’s main drag, Kapiolani Boulevard, featuring mikoshi, marching bands and beauty queens.

A festival devoted to Hawaii’s favorite canned meat, the Spam Jam closes off Kalakaua Avenue all day so roughly 20,000 Spam-lovers can enjoy live music, tastings, and games all dedicated to Spam.

Merchandise at Spam Jam

Hawaiians eat seven million cans of Spam a year. While Paul Theroux has suggested that Spam’s popularity amongst Hawaiians is down to its similarity to human flesh, it is rather a legacy of U.S. military influence on the Islands. Fresh meat was difficult for U.S. soldiers in Hawaii to acquire during World War II and so easily-stored, long-lasting Spam became a staple, eventually winding up in the kitchens of the locals as well.

Hawaiians have created many popular dishes with Spam, such as Spam sushi, Spam musubi and Spamakopita, and it often turns up in stir-fries and salads.

If you visit the Spam Jam, you can sample new Spam-based inventions courtesy of some of Waikiki’s most popular restaurants. Volunteers are also on hand to collect Spam donations for the Hawaii Food Bank.

Little Girls Doing the Hula at the Aloha Festival:
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For over 60 years, the largest celebration of Hawaiian culture has been what is now known as the Aloha Festivals. For six weeks in September and October a series of events are held on six of the Hawaiian Islands. Oahu’s Aloha Festival takes place at several different locations in and around Honolulu, beginning with a block party, Hoolaulea, on Waikiki’s Kalakaua Avenue.

The festivals highlight Hawaiian culture with events that illustrate the traditions of the Islands, including chants, hula and parades. There is also the opportunity to sample Hawaiian cuisine from food vendors at the Hoolaulea.

Surfer on the Banzai Pipeline at the Vans
Triple Crown of Surfing: surfglassy

During November and December the waves on Oahu’s North Shore can reach heights of up to 50 feet, bringing the world’s best surfers to compete in the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. The event, made up of three separate competitions on Sunset Beach, Haleiwa Allii Beach and Banzai Pipeline, is the culmination of the annual ASP (Association of Surfing Professionals) World Tour, and decides who will be crowned the world champions.

Surfing plays a central role in Hawaiian culture. More than just a sport, surfing is deeply rooted to the society, customs and mythology of the Islands. Attending some of the Triple Crown competitions gives visitors a feel of Hawaiian surfing culture, and the North Shore is an enjoyable place to spend a day, with its cafes, surf shops and slow pace.

If you are very lucky, you might be able to catch The Eddie, an invitation-only big-wave competition held in memory of beloved lifeguard Eddie Aikau.

The competition takes place at Waimea Bay between December and February only when the waves are big enough. ‘Big enough’ meaning face heights of at least 30 feet. The event was started in 1985, but (as of mid 2010) has only been held eight times.

Community Connection

Looking for other things to do on Oahu? MatadorTrips’ Big Adventure on the Big Island of Hawaii has a few suggestions for you.

If you’re looking for a way to get around, BraveNewTraveler’s Hawaii Car Rentals: How To Score Wheels In Paradise has a suggestion or two for you.

Thirty foot waves too high? Check out TheTravelersNotebook for the Top 10 Surf Spots (for Mortals) in Hawaii.

Photo of a First Friday acrobatic show by madmarv00.

The coolest bars in the city are here, so step away from the tourist scene, the Tiki-bars and umbrella cocktails of Waikiki and head into the grittier, sharper, more exciting Chinatown district.

Art is a central theme in Chinatown’s regeneration. At most of these bars you’ll find rotating art exhibits on display.
The first Friday of every month is the First Friday Art Walk. Galleries stay open late and the bars get slammed. If that’s not your thing, try the new Slow Art Fridays on the third Friday of the month. Slow Art Friday gives viewers time and space for greater appreciation of the art on display—something that has been getting neglected in the rowdy, alcohol fueled First Fridays.

Photo of a live show at Mercury by the author.

A few blocks back from Hotel (see below) in a short alleyway, Mercury is a small, divey space where you’ll often see local burlesque act Cherry Blossom Cabaret perform.

1154 Fort Street Mall, (808) 537-3080

Winner of local newspaper supplement Metromix’s Best Bar 2010, Bar 35 is a fancy-looking red bar that has lots of comfortable couches and around 200 different types of beers from around the world. Monday night at Bar 35 is Happy Hour all night. Whichever night you visit, be sure to try Chef Valentini’s handmade, thin-crust pizzas, which have unusual, gourmet toppings like sweet chilli and tzatziki .

35 North Hotel Street, (808) 537-3535

Photo (and Feature Photo) of Thirtynine Hotel by the author.

Thirtynine Hotel has a great, large lanai (patio) and soon after it opens at 4:00 P.M., fills up with local workers enjoying a pau hana (after work) cocktail.

Thursday night is Prohibition, a speakeasy themed night with Jazz music, classic movies and delicious cocktails. In true Prohibition-era speakeasy style, you will need to know the password to get in: here’s a hint, become Prohibition’s Facebook Fan and they’ll email it to you weekly.

39 North Hotel Street, (808) 599-2552

Photo of artwork at Nextdoor by the author.

You’ve got to love the simplicity of thought that went into naming Chinatown’s bars; Bar 35 is at number thirty five; Thirtynine Hotel is at 39 Hotel Street and Next Door is indeed next door (to Thirtynine Hotel). The space has a warehouse feel with a large open floor, red brick walls and mystery door in the middle of one wall – a relic from when the building was split-level.

This is one of the best venues in the city to catch live music; you’ll often find local bands like The Jump Offs, GRLFRNDS and Clones of the Queen playing here. Friday night is electro/breaks night Blow Up and they also throw lots of fun, inventive parties.

43 Hotel Street, (808) 548-6398

It’s easy to forget that Manifest actually opens at 7:00 A.M. and is a pretty chill coffee spot during the day. Nights at Manifest are the flip side: parties, live bands and arts shows all take their turn at this bar that only opened in August 2009 and has already been given a shout out by the New York Times.

32 North Hotel Street, (808) 523-7575

Another good place to see local bands and visiting acts. From the outside, Loft, which is above a bakery and looks a little dingy. Once you get up the creaky staircase, you’ll find an inviting interior with giant red lanterns and a few comfy sofas.

115 Hotel Street, (808) 521-8008

A few blocks back from the main-drag of Hotel Street, Soho Mixed Media Bar was the winner of Metromix’s Best Nightclub 2010, Soho’s best night might be the 80’s themed Acid Wash on Wednesdays.

80 Pauahi Street

Community Connection

Looking for other things to do in Hawaii? Big Adventure on the Big Island of Hawaii could be a place to start. If the new experience your after is food, Foodie Primer for Hawaii: 13 Local Foods to Try may give you a few fresh ideas.

Single exposure of dancers at Warehouse’s Pink! Photo: Karen Dion

To be fair, underneath its dirt, alienating neon glare and eardrum-lacerating racket, there is something comforting about Roppongi: no pretensions, no dress code; just rowdy bar after rowdy bar, drinking, dancing, fun, and a couple of familiar looking American chain restaurants. After a few nights’ walking up and down Roppongi-dori you are certain to find new friends, though you may lose your wallet.

The Tokyo club scene took a blow in 2008 with the closure of Nishi-Azabu’s long running and much beloved Space Lab Yellow but Yellow’s departure was marked with an appropriately fabulous closing party and the following three clubs are more than filling the gap.

The mother of all Tokyo clubs, ageHa is a giant warehouse in an industrial district a little outside of metropolitan Tokyo. The complimentary shuttle bus that runs hourly to and from nearby Shibuya station might sound like a drag, but is actually part of the fun.

ageHa’s marquis adds a touch of Hollywood.
Photo: Karen Dion

If you take the party bus, you are most likely to bond with partygoers as excited and giddy from convenience store-bought Chūhai as yourself. The journey takes you across the Bay Bridge and past the giant glittering Ferris wheel before depositing you right outside ageHa.

Open since 2002, ageHa attracts the biggest DJs in the world. On any weekend you can catch the likes of Tiesto, Armin van Buuren, Fatboy Slim or Paul van Dyck.

Its four dance floors accommodate up to 5,000 people, and there are an outdoor swimming pool, four bars, an outdoor dance tent, and a store selling ageHa merchandise. You can even get ageHa brand condoms in restroom vending machines.

ageHa is what you can confidently call a super club; it is the biggest club in Japan and there’s even another branch in Taipei.

ageHa.com
2-2-10 Shin Kiba,
Koto-ku,
Tokyo 136-0082
(03) 5534-2525

Womb’s notable disco ball is the biggest in Japan.
Photo: Karen Dion

Have you seen the movie Babel? Do you remember the scene where the deaf schoolgirl takes an Ecstasy pill and goes to a club? The club was Womb.

Womb’s incredible laser system played a major role in that scene and it is a central part of the experience at this cavernous space discreetly located on Love Hotel Hill in Shibuya.

It’s not just the lasers though; Womb regularly draws international artists such as The Chemical Brothers, Sven Vath and John Digweed.

You will almost always see Womb in the Top Ten on World’s Best Clubs lists and, just for good measure, it also has Japan’s biggest mirror ball.

womb.co.jp
2-16 Maruyama-cho,
Shibuya-ku,
Tokyo 150-0044
(03) 5459-1383

Warehouse is a little less well known than ageHa and Womb, yet is just a ten-minute walk from Roppongi and open on weeknights as well as weekends.

Chaotic Video from the Tokyo Decadence fetish party:

The playlist is eclectic at Warehouse: on different nights you can hear house, techno, R ‘n’ B or Hip Hop, and you will see go-go dancers up on the podiums and pole most nights.

Perhaps most fun are the themed nights: look out for Pink! Pole dance Night, Bikini Night and the Tokyo Decadence fetish party.

Warehouse.com
B1F Fukao-building,
1-4-5, Azabu-juban,
Minato-ku,
Tokyo 106-0045
(03) 6230-0343

Community Connection

Is Japan in your future? Matador’s Japan Focus Page centralizes our content about the nation. From descriptions of local customs and foods and insiders’ tips on where to eat to advice on speaking the Okinawan dialect, it’s a varied resource of unexpected information for the savvy traveler.