All those and many more indicate how Hawai'i relates to fellow islands around the vast Pacific — the region called Oceania, which includes not only our state and the rest of Polynesia to our south but also Micronesia to the west and Melanesia, mostly in the far southwest.

Asia, including island nations such as Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia, is something else. It is more in the news and increasingly appreciated by Americans here and elsewhere, which is good.

But the Pacific islands of Oceania — 10,000 to 25,000 in number, depending on whether you count every dot — are too often overlooked or ignored. That's true not only in Washington and other parts of the Mainland but also by the average person in Hawai'i.

And that's too bad, because these islands enrich our lives and offer new perspectives and opportunities for Hawai'i, which is not only an American state but part of Oceania.

An adjoining story touches on aspects of the general Pacific islands picture. But before that, below are some points about Hawai'i and the other islands:

Estimates vary, but perhaps there are more than 40,000 people from other Pacific islands living in Hawai'i.

Half of that number may be from American Samoa. Large numbers of the rest come from Guam, another U.S. territory, the rest of Micronesia and the independent South Pacific kingdom of Tonga. We also have Tahitians, Fijians and more.

Educational opportunities, including our high schools, lure many islanders here,. Not only is the University of Hawai'i with its various colleges a magnet, BYU-Hawai'i serves many brought here through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The University of Hawai'i has the only Center for Pacific Island Studies in the nation. It offers master's degrees, sponsors conferences here and elsewhere, publishes a respected journal and brings visiting artists and writers to Hawai'i. The university also has a business development program serving other islands.

Among its many undertakings, the federally funded East-West Center adjoining UH runs the multifaceted Pacific Islands Development Program and what is called the best Web site for news of all the islands — www.pireport.org.

One part of the development program's activities is regular meetings here of top Pacific island leaders. Like his father in 1990, President Bush stopped in Hawai'i in 2003 to meet with the island leaders gathered for one such session, discussing common problems including security needs.

On another level, the Pentagon-funded Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, which deals with nonwar-fighting matters, follows Pacific island developments and needs.

Among its many conferences, this think tank and multinational educational institution has at times held joint conferences with the East-West Center.

Besides the U.S. Pacific Command's various activities in the Islands, the Department of the Interior and other federal agencies have offices here that run programs in the American-related islands in Micronesia.

For its part, Hawai'i's state government provides a variety of services to islanders from elsewhere. For example, it receives $10.5 million a year in federal funds to provide health services to immigrants from Micronesia. Other programs help with education and other needs.

Units of Hawai'i's Army and Air National Guard units are available for humanitarian and anti-terror roles in the islands.

Gov. Linda Lingle gets good marks for her involvement in Pacific island matters, including meetings with leaders at the East-West Center, supporting outreach programs and sponsoring an Asia-Pacific Security Summit that brought representatives from a dozen other island states.

My survey for this column didn't focus that much on Hawai'i business activity in other Pacific islands. But in total, it seems considerable, ranging from hotel development and operations, and other tourism activities, to professional services to smaller ventures related to jewelry, handicrafts and clothing.

Pacific magazine, published from Honolulu, covers all the islands.

Finally, there are what one expert called "below-the- radar" aspects of activities here relating to other Pacific islanders. Those include millions of dollars in remittances sent back to other islands by islanders working here, vibrant islander churches (often Samoan and Tongan), sometimes using facilities of older Hawai'i churches, Hawaiian ties with New Zealand Maoris, a wide variety of clubs and associations, cultural trading in tapa cloth and mats, new Pacific-islander tourist shows, and even kava-drinking sessions.

So there is more other-islander activity here than in the past, and perhaps it is better known. Consciously or not, many people who have lived long in Hawai'i have what I call an island mentality, meaning we recognize the limits of living on small bits of land but also see endless horizons around us.

Still, if we do have something special among Americans, I would argue that we can and should do more with our Pacific island heritage, our growing contacts and our relative affluence and development compared to other islands. Think a bit of leadership but also more cooperation and concern.

When I noted to East-West Center President Charles Morrison that it often seemed that other Pacific islanders looked more to Hawai'i than we pay attention to them, he answered: "But no other part of the United States cares more about those other islands."

That's a good starting point.