I dropped in at Moanalua Gardens to see a monkeypod tree over 100 years in age, which is well-known to Japanese, as that tree has long been featured in a CM of the HITACHI group. However, the tree was alien to us, Japanese. What's its name? Where is the location? Lots of Japanese people wondered. On the other hand, local people in Hawaii are now also wondering why Japanese gather there.
The first picture was shot from near the entrance. If you visit there by sightseeing bus, your free time will be only 10 minutes or so and most people shoot the tree from this angle, but I have time to walk around the tree or see other places in the gardens. I was able to shoot the third picture from the same point as the CM film and found indigenous jack fruits. I've not eaten them and I'd like to taste them on the next visit. The 5th picture shows the summer cottage of King Kamehameha V built in 1850s. These gardens used to be owned by the royal family.
When it comes to the royal family, I have something to tell you. The royal family's descendants seemed to be still alive and own a vast area of land. While I was test-driving a TESLA, I saw an old house was on sale and asked about its incredible high price to my attendant, why a small and old house was so expensive. His answer was like this: The house itself has no value, but the land is expensive, because there isn't enough room for the number of people who want to live around here and the foundation established by the Kamehameha family even now owns the area around and controls the price. As I had thought that the Hawaiian royal family would have been cruelly treated by the U.S. in 19th century, his answer was unexpected to me. Anyway, is the surname of the descendants Kamehameha? If someone introduced himself as Barack Kamehameha for example, I would be surprised.
(Vocabulary)
garden 《[C]通例複数形で》(公共の) 庭園, 植物園
monkeypod モンキーポッド 熱帯アメリカ原産のマメ科の高木。枝がよく張り、高さ20メートル、直径40メートル以上にもなる。葉は羽状複葉で、夜になると閉じて垂れ下がる。アメリカネムノキ。
indigenous indigenous people or things have always been in the place where they are, rather than being brought there from somewhere else; [=]native:
[+to] Blueberries are indigenous to America.
モアナルア・ガーデン
日立グループのＣＭで一躍有名になった樹齢１００年を超えるアメリカネムノキ（モンキーポッド）を見るためにモアナルア・ガーデンに立ち寄った。この木を知らない日本人はあまりいないと思うが、なぜ日本人だけがこの木に集まるのか、現地の人は気になっているようだ。『この木なんの木、気になる木～』と歌っているかどうかは知らないが。
一枚目の写真は公園の入り口から撮ったもの。観光バスでここを訪れると１０分ほどしか時間をもらえずこの角度からの写真となるらしいが、我々はチャーターしたタクシーなので時間は自由。反対側に周り、ＣＭとほぼ同じ位置から３枚目を撮影。公園内で自生しているジャックフルーツを見つけた。そして公園内にある建物（５枚目の写真）はカメハメハ５世の別宅だったそうだ。この土地は元々カメハメハ王家の所有だったらしい。
カメハメハ王家で思い出したが、その末裔は健在で、多くの土地を今なお所有しているらしい。テスラの試乗中に売りに出ている古い家を見つけ、価格が馬鹿高いので尋ねると、家には価値はなく、土地が高いのだという。そしてそのあたりのほとんどの土地の所有者はカメハメハ王家の末裔だという。ところで、その名字はカメハメハなのかな？ちょっと興味あり。ハワイ出身で、バラク・カメハメハです、、なんて挨拶されたら驚くだろうな。(^_^;)
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