This study examines the role of traditional calendars in regulating agriculture in a tropical monsoon climate in Western Sumba Island, Indonesia. Our findings indicate that Podu, which marks the end of the dry season and the start of land crop agriculture, and Nyale, which marks the late rainy season and the start of rice planting, are cardinal points at which local calendars are synchronized to the luni-solar cycle. Analyses of 391 normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) images that were issued every 16 days from 2000 to 2017 revealed that the timing of Podu and Nyale did not correspond with specific vegetation levels across different years due to fluctuations influenced by extreme weather events. However, time-series analyses of the same images disclosed that Podu and Nyale represented the bottom and the peak of “standard” seasonal vegetation changes, respectively, suggesting that these calendars represent Western Sumbanese adaptations to the unstable monsoon climate.

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This paper examines the origin and transnational growth of Korean-run English language education businesses, through which Philippine English has been commercialized as a commodity in overseas markets. The Philippines has become one of the most popular destinations for Korean and Japanese students to study English. Two major factors make this decision valid: English competency has become an essential skill for employability and career growth; and studying in the Philippines is more affordable than doing so in native English-speaking countries. Accordingly, English language schools for foreigners in the Philippines have proliferated tremendously. However, little is known about why these English language schools, owned and managed by Korean and Japanese migrant entrepreneurs and investors, have dominated the English language industry in the Philippines. Unlike Korean migrants’ small and self-employed businesses in the Philippines, such as Korean restaurants, beauty parlors, bakeries, and butchers, the schools are both groundbreaking and innovative. These businesses, initially established for early study abroad opportunities for Korean children, have continued to grow rapidly by finding a new overseas market in Japan. Such a transnational spread of these ethnic businesses has been possible not only thanks to their innovative English language training programs, but also because of the de-regulation policy related to visa application by the Philippine authorities, which facilitates this ethnic entrepreneurship. In this paper, focusing on Baguio, a regional capital in northern Luzon, we analyze how Korean migrant entrepreneurs started their English language schools and how they came to develop their innovative educational programs. Further, we shed light on how Philippine authorities have assisted with the growth of Korean ethnic businesses by advertising the study of Philippine English as a new tourist attraction.

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Based on empirical observation, it is traditionally recognized that the prehistoric settlement pattern in the northern part of Guam consists of permanently inhabited villages along the coast and sporadically occupied sites inland. This hypothesis must be confirmed by analysis of substantive archaeological data in order to reconstruct land use patterns of prehistoric society in Guam. In this paper, the spatial distribution of latte stones at different geographical settings in northern Guam is quantified and compared. The latte stone is selected as an analysis target because this distinctive stone’s features might well reflect adherence to a particular place that people chose to utilize intensively during Latte Period (800/1000–1700CE). As a result, it is shown that latte stones are clustered along the coastal lowlands in contrast to inland, where latte stones are dispersed over a large area. Coastal sites are covered with numerous latte sets at a given site, in contrast to inland sites, which have fewer numbers of latte stones. Thus, the distribution pattern of latte sets is established by its proximity to the shoreline, especially along sandy beaches. This result corresponds with the traditional view of settlement patterns. However, since there are numerous inland sites with latte stones, their functions need to be understood. The results can then be compared with distribution of environmental variables to clarify how the site locations were selected.

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The purpose of this paper is to consider the social impact of tourism using data from fieldwork in Aneityum Island, southern Vanuatu. Previous research has discussed tourism in Oceania from the perspective of “sustainable development.” This series of discussions was very relevant to those on “glocalization,” in which expanding Westernization or globalization is reinterpreted by local people. However, we must bear in mind that the impacts of tourism on small societies cannot easily be localized and reinterpreted. The social impact of tourism is changing people’s notion of tradition (kastom in Melanesian pidgin). In anthropology in Japan, unlike in Europe and America, it has been argued that kastom and skul (the Western element) cannot be syncretized, but coexist. In light of this, Melanesian societies have been referred to as “bicultural,” and “immutability” has been viewed as the characteristic of kastom. However, with the influx of cash to islanders working in tourism, life on Aneityum is changing dramatically. The islanders themselves understand that their livelihood (numu) is not as it was before, but do not know whose lives they are currently living. Therefore, it is dangerous to unilaterally judge these situations as good examples of glocalization or “developing tradition.” Instead, we must accurately assess the social impact of tourism.

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