A society of voyagers

Dennis Kawaharada's writings about Polynesian voyaging is as broad and easy to read as any I've found on the web. On the Polynesian Voyaging Society site, he writes extensively about migration from the Marquesas Islands to Hawaii. The map of Polynesia comes in handy, too. I often forget where Samoa and Tonga are in relation to Tahiti and the Marquesas.

Screw the cover-ups

I am not Okinawan, but I'm glad the governor there stands up for his people. Imperialism, "nationalism" and all isms that are dishonest don't have a place in today's world. Not when information flows so freely and lies only last so long. Japan may have conquered Okinawa a few centuries ago, and Japanese culture permeates the islands ... but there's something about island people that won't allow their history to be buried. Ever.

From Wikipedia

2007 passage change on forced World War II suicides
Japan orders history books to change passages on forced suicides during World War II.[11] In June 2007, the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly officially asked the Ministry of Education of Japan to retract its instruction to downplay the military's role in mass suicide in Okinawa in 1945.[12] More than 100,000 people in Okinawa rallied against the text book changes at the end of September. According to the Kyodo News agency, it was the biggest staged rally on the island since its 1972 return to Japanese rule. Okinawa governor Hirokazu Nakaima spoke to the crowds, commenting that the Japanese military's involvement in the mass suicides should not be forgotten.[13]