Honouliuli National Historic Site

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Honouliuli National Historic Site

Honouliuli National Historic Site tells the experience of prisoners of war and incarcerated American civilians in Hawai‘i during WWII.

It is the site of the largest and longest-run incarceration camp in the Hawaiian Islands. Honouliuli National Historic Site tells the history of incarceration, martial law, and the experience of prisoners of war in Hawai‘i during World War II.

06/11/2026

June marks the beginning of Obon season around the Hawaiian Islands. The season combines many beliefs and cultures with the idea that the deceased return to the material world for a brief time. During Obon, bon odori festivals are commonplace. Bon odori is a style of dance originating in Japan. Often times during these festivals, the traditional Japanese drum, the taiko, is played to increase merriment during the dances or for ceremonial purposes.

The first recorded bon dance in the United States happened in Hawaiʻi. In 1885, 900 Japanese immigrants arrived to work the sugar plantations. That same year, laborers at a plantation in Wainaku on the Big Island organized the first American obon. They danced in the cane fields. (https://historichawaii.org/article/the-o-bon-tradition-in-hawaii/)

At Honouliuli Internment Camp, many incarcerees, despite their bleak circumstances, still participated in this tradition of Obon. The only artifact known to have the name of the camp written on it - ホノウリウリ監禁所 - is a taiko drum from an Obon service held within the camp. In August 15, 1944, Bishop Zenkyo Komagata beat on this taiko drum during the service, a telling reminder that despite their incarceration, they were true to the traditions they held dear.

06/08/2026

The Honouliuli NHS team has been overwhelmed by the amount of attention, support, and excitement the opening of tours brought the past couple days. The desire to visit the park by our community is not going unnoticed by us!

While we are sorry to announce that 2026 tours are full and understand there may be some disappointment, please stay tuned as we hope to announce the 2027 tour dates near the end of this year. We hope to increase the number of tours given in 2027 as our team of volunteers grow!

Waitlists are still open. Please check our website's Public Tour Information page to see updated approximate numbers of our waitlists: https://www.nps.gov/hono/planyourvisit/public-tour-information.htm

Even if you were unable to make it to a tour this year, we hope that we will see all of you at our many community events for the 80 Years of Closure Commemoration as well as table events in our community. Keep following our page to learn about these events and where our team will be around the island chain in 2026.

Mahalo nui loa for all the aloha, love, and support for our small park.

Photo courtesy of Hawaii's Plantation Village

06/07/2026

For the 80 Years of Closure Commemoration of when Honouliuli Internment Camp closed, the National Park Service in partnership with the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i, Kinetic Productions, and Pacific Historic Parks, will be bringing special film screenings of "Voices Behind Barbed Wire" on all neighboring islands.

"Voices Behind Barbed Wire", a film by Kinetic Productions, tells the story of Japanese-Americans living in Hawaiʻi after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and how their families were affected by martial law. Following the film will be a panel discussion with Ryan Kawamoto, director of the film, Carole Hayashino, President Emeritus of the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i, and Christine Ogura, Superintendent of Honouliuli National Historic Site.

There is no registration required to attend and seats for the screening will be first come first serve.

In June, in partnership with the Japanese Cultural Center of Kona and the Kona Japanese Civic Association, the film will be shown at the Kona Elks Lodge 2616 on Hawai'i Island. There will also be a Honouliuli NHS pop-up exhibit display at the Kailua-Kona Public Library all month in coordination with the film.

EVENT DETAILS:
"Voices Behind Barbed Wire" Film Screening
June 21, 2026, 12:30-3:00pm
Kona Elks Lodge, 75-170 Hualalai Rd., Kailua-Kona

Photo courtesy of Ryan Kawamoto/Kinetic Productions

06/05/2026

ANNOUNCEMENT: Honouliuli National Historic Site's guided, public tour reservations are officially OPEN! Take the opportunity to be one of the first visitors ever to Honouliuli National Historic Site on a guided tour by the National Park Service.

Due to staff and volunteer capacity, tours will be held once a month on Saturdays. A shuttle bus will be transporting tour groups and docents to the park from Hawaii's Plantation Village in Waipahu and back. We hope to increase the number of tours we give in the future. Each tour can take up to 22 people. If a tour is full, a waitlist will be made.

List of 2026 tour dates:
- July 18
- August 22
- September 19
- October 17
- November 14
- December 12

All instructions on how to reserve a spot on the tour, transportation details, and other information can be found on our website's Public Tour Information page: https://www.nps.gov/hono/planyourvisit/public-tour-information.htm

Reservations cannot be made via social media. Please be sure to follow all instructions carefully to reserve a slot. Dates for 2027 will be posted near the end of this year.

06/02/2026

As a part of Honouliuli National Historic Site's 80 Years of Closure Commemoration, they will be partnering with Pacific Historic Parks to bring a new, free, virtual speaker series to the community. Titled "Remembrance Awakened", this speaker series will focus on remembrance through the lenses of art, architecture, institutions, and technology. By examining remembrance through these undervalued lenses, we can expand what we understand about the incarceration story by learning how far its impacts spread.

June's Remembrance Awakened speaker will be Ellen Carson, who represented Japanese Americans in a class action lawsuit in the 80s that went to the United States Supreme Court to obtain justice for the Americans who had their constitutional rights stripped from them during WWII.

Ellen's talk will focus on legal challenges to the wartime injustices that sought to protect the constitutional rights of Americans of Japanese ancestry during the wartime, and subsequent legal efforts to obtain apology, compensation, and recognition of the severe injustices inflicted on this community.

This is a free, virtual event. Registration is required to attend (link below).

EVENT DETAILS:
June 16, 5:30-6:30pm HST
Link to register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/YEe61JfUToWtkglOZHHFBA

05/31/2026

For the first time, Honouliuli National Historic Site's pop-up exhibit will be making its way to Hawaiʻi Island's Kailua-Kona Public Library for the entire month of June!

Following the success of its Oʻahu tour last year, the pop-up exhibit will be traveling to other Hawaiian Islands and will provide the perfect opportunity to reach audiences who have not yet had a chance to learn the foundations of this important history. Our traveling pop-up exhibit is able to conveniently share the story of Honouliuli Internment Camp and the National Park Service's stewardship of the site.

We hope you have a chance to visit the exhibit in June!

The pop-up exhibit is traveling in conjunction with the film screenings of Kinetic Productions' film, Voices Behind Barbed Wire to other islands this year as part of the 80 Years of Closure Commemoration of when Honouliuli Internment Camp closed in 1946.

05/28/2026

The rumors are true! As a part of the 80th commemoration of Honouliuli Internment Camp closing, Honouliuli National Historic Site will open the site for guided, public tours beginning this July. This is the first time in park history that the National Park Service will be taking the general public down into the site of the former Honouliuli Internment Camp since the park's inception in 2015.

For more details on dates, important links, and how to secure a reservation, check back in to our social media or website on June 4th, 2pm HST. We can't wait to make history with you.

Photo courtesy of Hawaii's Plantation Village

05/23/2026

Honouliuli Internment Camp was the largest and longest-operated incarceration site in the Hawaiian Islands during WWII, holding 4,000 prisoners of war and 400 civilians. It opened its gates in 1943 and permanently closed in 1946.

In 2026, Honouliuli National Historic Site is marking the 80th anniversary of the camp's closing with a series of special events that will take place later this year. We encourage you to stay tuned for future announcements and details for our "80 Years of Closure" commemoration.

05/20/2026

This past weekend, staff and volunteers joined their partner Pacific Historic Parks event Kids to Parks Day at Diamond Head State Monument!

Outreach events are crucial to our park's connection to the community, especially since the site is currently inaccessible to visitors due to the lack of public access roads. Through our outreach team, we can travel around the island and bring this important history to the keiki who might not have an opportunity to learn about Honouliuli Internment Camp otherwise!

Thanks to Kids to Parks Day, we were able to reach over 120 keiki and their families, letting locals learn local history.

05/04/2026

Last month, Superintendent Ogura led a group of scholars who were in Honolulu for the annual Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) Conference on a park tour. Many researchers and academics who participate in the AAAS conference are experts on the Japanese incarceration story and presented about Honouliuli.

During World War II, Honouliuli was the largest and longest-used incarceration site in Hawaiʻi. Around 4,000 prisoners of war and 400 civilians of Japanese and European descent were held here. Most people have never heard that story.

These researchers are helping change that. They’re studying the history, sharing it in classrooms and conferences, and bringing more attention to a chapter of American history that still feels surprisingly hidden.

Why does that matter? Because understanding what happened here isn’t just about the past. Every visit, every study, every conversation helps make sure this history isn’t lost.

Address

1 Arizona Memorial Place
Honolulu, HI
96818

Website

https://www.nps.gov/hono

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