urban sketching waikiki

I've always loved watching people, as far back as I can remember. We use to sit in the European train stations and watch people bustling by busy to find their platforms, and late for trains, dragging children, and bags. I loved doing that, it gave you a glimpse of peoples lives, and actually made YOU feel alive in the world.
So now we live in Hawaii and wow, is Waikiki interesting. People from all over the world come to visit this world famous iconic beach.

Most tourists head to the beach immediately, making Waikiki their first stop. I want to do a study of urban sketches in prep for a series of paintings I will attempt. 

I get the opportunity to watch them for a bit, to see what the story is. The two Japanese couples above are obviously newlyweds ( at least this is the story I have made up about them). Interesting story is I had a cab driver tell me that a lot of Japanese tourists work so hard all year, then they come to Hawaii to shop and have a huge bonus to spend...hence the shopping bags we see in the pic. Waikiki has now been turned into a Designer Shopping paradise, Kalakaua the main street, currently looks like Rodeo Dr.....it is terrible!
I hate that they have done that to Waikiki, part of the charm of old Waikiki is gone.