Japanese “Pancake Boom” Fuels Renewed Relations with Hawaii

BY JACQUELINE OSHIRO (Hyogo 2016-2018)

Growing up in Hawaii, I was always acutely aware of the close relationship between Hawaii and Japan—particularly when it comes to tourism. After all, it was pretty hard to miss the tour busses full of Japanese tourists unloading at the mall, the daily destination weddings held at the picturesque chapel next to my school, or the stands full of Japanese language travel magazines standing at busy street corners. But despite their seeming omnipresence, for most of my life, you could readily expect to see Japanese tourists in just a few centralized locations—Waikiki, Ala Moana, and the outlet malls, primarily.

The last few years, though, have seen a shift in travel patterns as Japanese tourists have begun to venture outside of organized tours to explore smaller neighborhoods, lesser-known restaurants, and beaches outside of the trolley routes. I never thought much of this shift until I moved to Japan on the JET Program and encountered the Hawaiian pancake phenomenon.

Since around 2010, Japan has consumed and been consumed by a “pancake boom.” There’s been an explosion of Hawaiian-themed pancake restaurants, Hawaiian pancake-flavored snack items, and even Hawaiian pancake specials at restaurants like McDonald’s. As someone born and raised in Hawaii, this was all kind of baffling to me as I’d never considered pancakes a particularly Hawaiian dish, and indeed, what is considered “Hawaiian” pancakes in Japan are often nothing more than simple buttermilk pancakes. . . .

Jacqueline Oshiro is from Honolulu, Hawaii, and served as a JET in Hyogo Prefecture from 2016-2018.

This article is part of a guest-contributor partnership between the East-West Center in Washington and USJETAA in which former JET participants contribute articles relating to their experiences in Japan.