This volume represents an effort in community reflection. It looks at various aspects of the Uchinaanchu Diaspora, but mainly as it relates to Hawai'i. It considers the social and cultural elements that Okinawan emigrants carried with them from their homeland of Uchinaa, the traditions and customs they maintained or continued to perpetuate and the new patterns, practices and organizations they constructed. It builds on the realization that the Uchinaanchu diasporic community in Hawai'i is intimately connected to events, conditions and communities in Okinawa itself, as well as to other Okinawan diasporic communities." - from the Preface