Hawaii Economy Essay

496 Words2 Pages

This week’s lecture focused on the expansion and contraction of Hawaii’s economy. Japan’s booming economy helped drive Hawaii’s economy up in the 1980s. With the rise of Japan’s economy, many Japanese citizens had more money to spend and were tying to find a way to spend their money. Many Japanese citizens turned to Hawaii, which lead to an increase of Japanese visitors to Hawaii in 1982. With the increase of Japanese visitors, Hawaii’s economy started to rise. New jobs were created because of the increase of Japanese visitors. Many Japanese visitors spent more than other visitors. According to Grandy, “in 1988, the average Japanese visitor spent $350 per day while the U.S. mainland visitor spend only $121 per day” (Grandy, 2002). Grandy went on to explain that because of the rise of the yen against the U.S. dollar, not only did Japanese spend more than any other visitors, they also invested in Hawaii. Japanese investors invested in the Halekulani Hotel on Oahu and the Westin hotels on Maui and Kauai. They …show more content…

According to Mak, “the median prince of a single-family home on Oahu rose from $185,000 to $352,000” which was an increase of 90% in just three years (Mak, 2004). The prices of homes and the property tax increased. As a result, many local residents had a negative view of foreign investment especially Japanese investors. According to a 1988, a statewide survey exposed that 59% of Hawaii residents opposed foreign investment in Hawaii and only 33% favored foreign investment (Mak, 2004). In 1989, a survey exposed that “60% of a different group were against additional Japanese investments” in Hawaii (Mak, 2004). Even though many residents had a negative view on Japanese investments, Japanese investors only had a short-term and minor affect long-term on Hawaii housing problems (Mak,