News Release

August events for Honouliuli National Historic Site 10th Anniversary Commemoration

News Release Date: July 28, 2025 WAIPAHU, Hawaii – Honouliuli National Historic Site, as part of its year-long 10th anniversary celebration, is hosting a series of events and activities every month through January 2026.
 
The park and its over 55 partners will honor and preserve this history by featuring different aspects of the park -- past, present, and future -- to connect and engage the community to this history. The park tells the story of incarceration, martial law, and prisoners of war in Hawaii during World War II. The incarceration site, opened in 1943, was the largest and longest used incarceration site in Hawaii where U.S. residents and citizens of Japanese and European ancestry were unjustly detained. The camp also held over 4,000 prisoners of war including Okinawans, Koreans, Japanese, and Italians.
 
Events and activities are a mix of virtual and in-person and includes a speaker series, special tours, book events, pop-up exhibits, film screenings, panel sessions, musical performances, youth and school initiatives, and a statewide art exhibit. Many events will be free through the park’s partnership with its non-profit organization, Pacific Historic Parks.    
 
The latest information on all events and activities are on the park’s website, www.nps.gov/hono. Also visit the park’s Facebook (www.facebook.com/honouliulinps) or Instagram (www.instagram.com/honouliulinps). 
 
August events:
 
Table Event at the Korean Festival. Honouliuli National Historic Site is joining the Korean Festival to bring the community a table event opportunity to learn more about the Korean Prisoners of War held at Honouliuli.
When: Saturday, August 2 from 10-8 p.m.  
Where: Honolulu Hale Civic Grounds, 530 S. King Street, Honolulu, HI 96813 
 
Musical Performance. Join Taiko master Kenny Endo for the Kenny Endo 50th Anniversary Celebration Concerts on August 9 and 10 which will feature artists from Japan, world class musicians, and collaborations. The August 10 performance will feature the Taiko Center of the Pacific (TCP) performing ensembles and new and existing work composed by TCP members. To help honor Honouliuli National Historic Site’s 10th anniversary, Kenny Endo will also feature a taiko drum that was used at Honouliuli Internment Camp at the August 10 performance.
When: Sunday, August 10 at 4 p.m.  
Where: John F. Kennedy Theater, 1770 E West Rd, Honolulu, HI 96822 
 
Special tour of Konko Mission. The founder of this mission, Reverand Haruko Takahashi, was incarcerated at Honouliuli Internment Camp. The mission will provide a special tour to share Reverand Takahashi’s life story, including a showcase of her memorabilia and photos.
When: Saturday, August 16 at 10 a.m.
Where: Konko Mission of Wahiawa (207 Muliwai Avenue, Wahiawa, HI 96786)
 
Film screening: Voices Behind Barbed Wire produced by the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i (JCCH) tells the story of Japanese-Americans living in Hawaiʻi after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and how their families were affected by martial law. The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Carole Hayashino, president emerita of the JCCH, author Tom Coffman, writer-director Ryan Kawamoto, and Lynn Tahara Kim whose grandfather was held at Honouliuli Internment Camp. There will also be a pop-up bookstore in the Honolulu Museum of Art’s shop showcasing books featuring Honouliuli. 
When: Sunday, August 17 at 2:00 p.m.  
Where: Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Museum of Art (900 Beretania Street, Honolulu, HI 96814). Though free, ticket registration is required. 
 
Virtual talk: Lessons from Camp Honouliuli: Breaking Down Myths and Assumptions about Wartime Internment in Hawai‘i. Dr. Alan Rosenfeld is the Associate Vice President for Academic Programs and Policy for the University of Hawaiʻi System. Looking primarily at the experiences of those civilians interned at Sand Island and Honouliuli Internment Camp as German and Italian Alien Enemies, Dr. Rosenfeld will discuss several common sense assumptions about civilian internment in wartime Hawai‘i that evaporate when measured against the historical record. In addition to logs maintained by internment camp authorities, Dr. Rosenfeld relies largely upon the transcripts of Hawaii’s wartime hearing boards, which offered a vague semblance of jurisprudence to civilian internees. The lessons drawn from these experiences of more than eighty years ago may offer insights into contemporary contexts.
When: Wednesday, August 20 at 6 p.m.  
Where: This is a free virtual talk. However, registration is required to get the link for the talk. 
 
Virtual talk: Partnering to Preserve An Unknown Part of Korean History in Hawai‘i. Over 2,700 Korean Prisoners of War were held at Honouliuli. Come and learn about the park’s partners within the local Korean community who are working to help understand and preserve this history. Featured partners are the Center for Korean Studies at the University of Hawai‘i Mānoa, Hawai‘i Korean Cultural Center, Korean American Foundation, and the United Korean Association of Hawai‘i.
When: Tuesday, August 26 at 6 p.m.  
Where: This is a free virtual talk. However, registration is required to get the link for the talk. 
 
Virtual talk: Unpacking the Layered History of Korean Prisoners of War in Honouliuli (1943–1945). Dr. Mary Kunmi Yu Danico, Director of the Center for Oral History and Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa will be joined by Duk Hee Lee Murabayashi, President of the Korean Immigration Research Institute in Hawaiʻi and Associate Member at the Center for Korean Studies. Through archival research in both the U.S. and Korea, interviews with descendants of Korean POWs, and exploring how Hawaiʻi’s Korean communities interacted with and responded to the presence of these POWs, Danico and Murabayashi offer a glimpse of the lived experiences of Korean POWs and share insights into their lives upon returning to Korea.   
When: Thursday, August 28 at 5 p.m.  
Where: This is a free virtual talk. However, registration is required to get the link for the talk. 

Table Event at Okinawan Festival:
Honouliuli National Historic Site is joining the Okinawan festival to bring the community a table event. The National Park Service will have information specifically about the Okinawans held at Honouliuli to help share this important history of Honouliuli National Historic Site.
When: August 30-31, 2025
Where: Hawaii Convention Center, 1801 Kalakaua Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96815 
 
Honouliuli National Historic Site Traveling Pop-Up Exhibit: The main branch of Central Pacific Bank will be the home of Honouliuli National Historic Site’s traveling exhibit. Visit their Atrium area to learn about the history of Honouliuli and what work has been done on the site since its discovery.
When: August 11-29, 2025
Where: 220 S. King Street, Honolulu, HI 96813
 
 
Photos and videos are available for download.  The park and its partners are available for interviews and news segments.
 
Programs are subject to change or cancellation without notice.