Today both Guam and Chichijima share some similarities as tourist destinations. Chichijima has become a popular ecotourism, diving, and whale-watching destination. Visitors from Japan must take a 25-hour boat trip from Tokyo to reach this destination. Just like Chichijima, Guam also welcomes most of its tourists from mainland Japan. However, Guam is more easily accessible via air routes from major Japanese cities that take approximately 3.5 hours flight time. Guam and Chichijima both wrestle with issues concerning the commodification of culture, such as the “selling” of Micronesian dance to entertain visitors while maintaining some form of authenticity. On Chichijima, local residents are in the process of reviving the traditional dance, Nanyo odori (South Pacific Dance), and also working to further creatively enhance it with their own variations (Guo, 2007: 92). A similar revival is occurring on Guam as well as other Micronesian islands as seen in performances at Guam’s annual Micronesian Fair. In addition, there are efforts on both islands to harness the local language variety as a tourism resource and as a way to preserve culture through the use of local language. Discussion and Conclusion Heritage areas are described as dynamic regional initiatives that build connections between people, their place, and their history and Daly (2003), in her paper that stresses the importance of heritage areas to invigorate communities, adds that these connections are strengthened by capturing and telling the stories of the people and their place. These stories, when linked together, reflect a regional identity and support a collective awareness of the need to protect and enhance the unique qualities of places, such as Chichijima and Guam. Little has been written about the connection between Chichijima and Guam. The awareness of interactions that took place between these island neighbors is negligible even among both islands’ general population. Very little, if any, discussion on cultural exchange that took place between the islands in the 19th century and beyond takes place in each island’s school history courses. The history about the original settlers on Chichijima and their fascinating stories about the cultural evolution of their island via the exchanges with their island neighbors, such as Guam, should be shared with island residents and visitors. As discussed in this paper, it is obvious there is a historical link between the islands of Chichijima and Guam, but this link is largely forgotten and under acknowledged. The present-day connection between the islands can be strengthened by capturing and retelling the stories of the islanders’ past, and thus
Marianas History Conference 2012 ・ 145