September Events: National Literacy Month

September is National Literacy Month and is an opportunity to connect with the poems and stories of those who were held at the camp. The internees and incarcerated American civilians devoted themselves to learning English, the very language of their captors who imprisoned them.

Through poems and stories, the prisoners of Honouliuli remained mentally resilient through their unjust internment, and the National Park Service has partnered with bookstores and authors who continue to publish literary works that honor that history. This month will feature a speaker and in-person book events to meet these authors and learn about their work.

Please Note:

Nearly all of our Speaker Series events will be virtual.

Event details will be posted closer to the month in which they take place. Please check back for updates to the calendar and event pages.

---

 

Speaker: Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson (Concluded)

Date and Time: September 4th, 2025, 5:30-6:30 PM (HST). You can watch the talk here: Hidden Histories Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson - YouTube

Discussion Summary: Searching for my Grandfather’s Voice at Honouliuli

As the granddaughter of a Japanese American civilian who was incarcerated at Sand Island and Honouliuli, Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson has long sought to better understand her grandfather's story. Although he died long before she was born, Sharon inherited the shells her grandfather had collected during his incarceration. Her newest children's book, SHELL SONG, shares the story his shells carried across generations to her. Sharon will discuss her family story, her grandmother's poems and autobiography, her retellings of her grandfather's experience, and reflections on visiting Honouliuli National Historic Site in person. Sharon will be in Hawai'i for in-person book events in September.

 

Honoring Honouliuli: Library Talk (Concluded)

Salt Lake-Moanalua Public Library

Date and Location:
September 6, 2025, Salt Lake-Moanalua Public Library, 3225 Salt Lake Blvd, Honolulu, HI 96818, 1:00-2:00 PM

About the Event: Honouliuli National Historic Site's Outreach and Education Lead, Jian, will be giving a 30-minute presentation at the Salt Lake-Moanalua Public Library about the history of Honouliuli Internment Camp and how the National Park Service is stewarding the site for the benefit of future generations. Following the talk will be time for talking story and answering questions related to the park.

The library will provide light refreshments.

 

Meet the Authors (Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson and Dr. Kelli Y. Nakamura) (Concluded)

da Shop

Date and Location: September 20 2025, da Shop, 3565 Harding Ave, Honolulu, HI 96816, 2:00-3:00PM (HST)

About the Event: Visit da Shop to meet these two authors.

Though this event is free, due to limited seating, please RSVP to [e-mail].

Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson's work is rooted in her Japanese-American heritage but more broadly seeks to normalize all types of stories of underrepresented characters who don't fit mainstream boxes. Her books "Shell Song" and "The Mochi Makers" are children's books that intersect the messages of the past with the hopes for future generations. Shell Song is the first ever children's book about Japanese American incarceration in Hawaii told through Sharon's family history and the shell collection she inherited from her grandfather. Come visit the store for a chance to speak with her about her experiences and written works at 10am featuring Shell Song. There will also be a keiki activity.

Then at 2pm, Sharon will be sharing her poetry featured in Gate of Memory, a poetry anthology comprised of poems by descendants of Japanese Americans incarcerated.

Joining Sharon will be author Dr. Kelli Nakamura as she discusses her book "Legacies of Incarceration: The World War II Experience of Hawaii's Japanese". Legacies of Incarceration provides a holistic view of the incarceration experience of Hawaii's Japanese by exploring the factors that shaped the circumstances of confinement on each island before, during ,and after WWII. This book examines residents' experiences on Hawaiʻi Island, Maui, Molokaʻi, Lanaʻi, Kauaʻi, and Oʻahu, expanding beyond an Oʻahu-centric urban focus to highlight the community impact of incarceration.

Dr. Kelli Y. Nakamura is also a featured speaker in December.

 

Meet the Author (Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson)(Concluded)

Barnes & Noble

Date and Location: September 21, 2025, Barnes & Noble, 1450 Ala Moana Blvd Ste 1272, Honolulu, HI 96814, 2:00-3:00PM (HST)

About the Event: Visit Barnes & Noble to meet Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson, an author whose work is rooted in her Japanese-American heritage but more broadly seeks to normalize all types of stories of underrepresented characters who don't fit mainstream boxes. Her books "Shell Song" and "The Mochi Makers" are children's books that intersect the messages of the past with the hopes for future generations. Come visit the store for a chance to speak with her about her experiences and written works.

 

Speaker: Mary Kunmi Yu Danico (feat. Dukhee Lee Murabayashi) (Concluded)

Center for Oral History

Date and Time: September 23, 2025, 5:30-6:30 PM. Please register for the event using the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/w17UKZt9RtmGOulibiRRcA

Discussion Summary: Unpacking the Layered History of Korean Prisoners of War in Honouliuli (1943-1945)

The Center for Oral History team (led by Mary Kunmi Yu Danico) is conducting archival research in both the U.S. and Korea and has interviewed descendants of Korean POWs who later returned to Jeju Island. Dukhee Murabayashi contributed significantly to this research by translating the names of over 2,700 Korean POWs listed in the Free Press and has worked closely with Honouliuli efforts to highlight how Hawaiʻi’s Korean communities interacted with and responded to the presence of these POWs. Together, Danico and Murabayashi will offer a glimpse at the lived experiences of Korean POWs during their internment in Honouliuli and share insights into their lives upon returning to Jeju Island, S. Korea.

Biography: Dr. Mary Kunmi Yu Danico, Director of the Center for Oral History (COH) and Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, will be joined by Dukhee Lee Murabayashi, President of the Korean Immigration Research Institute in Hawaiʻi and Associate Member at the Center for Korean Studies. Murabayashi is a leading scholar on the history of Koreans in Hawaiʻi.The Center for Oral History completed its administrative oral history project on Honouliuli in 2025 and is currently exploring the life experiences of Korean conscripted laborers who were brought to Honouliuli as prisoners of war between 1943 and 1945.

 

SHELL SONG: A Book Reading & Shell Activities with Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson (Concluded)

Bishop Museum

Date and Location: September 26, 2025, 1525 Bernice St, Honolulu, HI 96817, 5:00-8:00 PM. $15 General Admission, free for museum members. Please register online for this event.

About the Event: Based on the author’s true family history, Shell Song is a picture book about Japanese American incarceration in Hawai‘i during World War II and is a moving tribute to the importance of finding and collecting pieces of hope, big or small, even in the darkest of times.

Join us for a live book reading with author Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson, see rare shells in Bishop Museum’s Malacology collection, participate in a shell stamping activity, and hang out with malacologists and Hawai‘i Malacological Society members to learn how to identify rare shells – guests are encouraged to bring your own shells to I.D. with experts!

The Pūpū Ola: Kāhuli Captive Rearing Research Center will also be open to view live rare native snails reared at Bishop Museum.

Book Synopsis
A grandfather loved music, seashells, and the sound of the ocean in Hawai‘i. But when war came, there was no more music. And in this war, there was no kindness for anyone who looked Japanese. Taken to an island prison, the grandfather passed many long, lonely days away from his family searching for tiny seashells. He collected the shells, labelled them, and saved them with care. His collection has been passed down to his children and grandchildren, and now, author-illustrator Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson tells the story of her grandfather and his shells.

 

Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson Book Signing Event (Concluded)

Pearl Harbor National Memorial Bookstore

Date and Location: September 27 2025, Pearl Harbor National Memorial, 1 Arizona Memorial Place, Honolulu, HI 96816, 10:00AM-12:00PM

About the Event: Visit Pearl Harbor National Memorial's bookstore to meet children's author Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson, whose books "SHELL SONG" and "The Mochi Makers" document her own family's rich cultural history, struggles, and triumphs. "SHELL SONG" is the first children's book to ever be published about Honouliuli Internment Camp, where Fujimoto-Johnson's grandfather was incarcerated.

 

Poetry Reading Event (Concluded)

Native Books

Date and Location:
September 27, 2025, Native Books, 1164 Nuuanu Ave, Honolulu, HI 96817, 3:00-5:00 PM

About the Event: Join three poets at local Oahu bookstore Native Books for an intimate poem reading from "Gate of Memory", an anthology of poems inspired by the Japanese American internment experience written by descendants of internees.

Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson
As the granddaughter of a Japanese American civilian who was incarcerated at Sand Island and Honouliuli, Sharon Fujimoto-Johnson has long sought to better understand her grandfather's story. Although he died long before she was born, Sharon inherited the shells her grandfather had collected during his incarceration. Her newest children's book, SHELL SONG, shares the story his shells carried across generations to her. Sharon will discuss her family story, her grandmother's poems and autobiography, her retellings of her grandfather's experience, and reflections on visiting Honouliuli National Historic Site in person. Sharon will be in Hawai'i for in-person book events in September.

Richard Hamasaki
Poet and independent filmmaker & producer Richard Hamasaki has been active in Hawai‘i’s literary and arts community for over 50 years, collaborating with creatives locally, regionally, and internationally. In 1976, he independently published seven issues of Seaweeds and Constructions, an art and literary magazine ending its run after the tragic death of his friend, mentor, and co-editor Wayne Kaumualii Westlake (1947-1984). After 40 years of teaching language arts in Hawaiʻi, Richard resumed producing and directing mostly poetry based films. In 2024, Richard gifted Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum his extensive Hawaiʻi/Pacific library along with his and his brother Mark Hamasaki’s silkscreens, printed matter, selected photographs, and more, from their ʻElepaio Press collective and archive. His poems “This Is Not Our Wasteland” and “Death Poem of the Koʻa” were recently published online in Hoʻolana Journal co-edited by Ryan Oishi, Tiare Picard, Sage Uilani Takehiro and Rain Wright. His poem “Love Song for the Pristine Sea” will be published this year in The Hopkins Review, guest edited by R. Zamora Linmark. Richard’s most recent short film MANIFESTO [for Concrete Poetry] co-directed with Jody Stillwater and Sebastian Galasso features the late Wayne Kaumualii Westlake’s 3-page poem which screened at the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival and the Micheaux Film Festival in L.A. in October 2024 and will screen again with live performances of MANIFESTO by its three co-directors, featuring dancer Pei-Ling Kao and musician Jorge Bachmann in June 2025 at Gray Area in San Francisco and at the Crocker Museum in Sacramento. Richard Hamasaki identifies as Sansei, grandchild of Japanese immigrants to the U.S. continent and the occupied Hawaiian Islands.

Ryan Oishi
Ryan Oishi grew up in Kaimukī. He is a writer, educator, and editor of Hoʻolana Publishing, a literary hui dedicated to uplifting Hawaiʻi’s many talented poets, writers, and artists. His work has appeared in Tinfish, Routes, Bamboo Ridge, The Value of Hawaiʻi 2, and The Statehood Project with Kumu Kahua Theatre.

 

Honouliuli Traveling Pop-Up Exhibit: Salt Lake-Moanalua Public Library

Salt Lake-Moanalua Public Library

Date: All of September, 2025, the Salt Lake-Moanalua Public Library, 3225 Salt Lake Blvd, Honolulu, HI 96818, open during library hours.

About the Event: For the entire month of September, the Salt Lake-Moanalua Public Library will be the home of Honouliuli National Historic Site's traveling exhibit. Visit the library to read up on the history of Honouliuli and what work has been done on the site since its discovery. For a comprehensive list of literature related to Honouliuli and Japanese American incarceration, please check out our Recommended Reading List.

 

Honouliuli Monthly Bookstore Educational Item

Pearl Harbor National Memorial Gift Shop

Date and Location: September 2025, 1 Arizona Memorial Place, Honolulu, HI, 96818

About the Event: The Honouliuli National Historic Site bookstore is located in the Pearl Harbor National Memorial bookstore. The bookstore, which carries items beyond just books, provides visitors with a range of interpretive and educational materials about Honouliuli. The income generated from these items supports important historic preservation, ongoing research, visitor interpretation, natural and cultural resources management, and educational programs at the park.

To find other ways to help support the park, explore the drop down menu under the Get Involved section of the navigation banner.