Community Calendar

The public is welcome to join in a commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the infamous Battle of Okinawa, the bloodiest war in the WWII Pacific Campaign that killed almost 1/3 of the Okinawan people. With survivor testimonies, music and intergenerational and interfaith perspectives on war in Okinawa, and its legacy today. With so much war & suffering today, Irei no Hi offers a meditation on the preciousness of life and peace, past, present and future.

While in-person is recommended, there will be a livestream option on the Jikoen Buddhist Temple page on YouTube.

Doors open 12:30. Parking, wheel-chair accessible, light refreshments available. Free, but donations welcome, including to Wai Nau Gaza water relief project (more info will be available).

Questions? hawaiiokinawaalliance@gmail.com or Jikoen 808-845-3422

DJ Jet Boy spins an eclectic set at mixcloud.com/live/djjetboy808 November 5 6pm

Okinawan POWs were the last group among four major ethnic groups of POWs to arrive in Hawaiʻi during and immediately following WWII. Although the exact reason for their forced transport to Hawaiʻi from the battleground of Okinawa is unclear, this presentation will examine clues that reveal details of their lives in Honouliuli based on US military documents, interviews and their memoirs in Japanese.

Kaori Akiyama is an Assistant Professor at the Division of Japanese Studies in the Graduate School of Humanities at Osaka University. After studying at the University of Hawaiʻi, she received her Ph.D. in Japanese History from The Graduate University for Advanced Studies [SOKENDAI] in 2018. She is the author of "The History of Japanese Internment in Hawaiʻi: Changes in the Camps and Camp Life during the Pacific War" (2020, in Japanese). Her areas of study are the history of Japanese in Hawaiʻi and Okinawan Prisoners of War during WWII and the study of cultures and representation.

This event is a part Honouliuli National Historic Site's 10th Anniversary Celebration.

Higa’s research on the legal status of Okinawan prisoners of war during World War II provides critical insights into the broader historical and legal framework of civilian internment and military detention policies in the Pacific. Okinawans, many of whom were forcibly conscripted by the Japanese military or caught in the crossfire of the Battle of Okinawa, occupied a complex legal position under international law as both subjects of the Japanese Empire and an indigenous people with distinct historical ties to the Ryukyu Kingdom. His work examines how these legal ambiguities influenced the treatment of Okinawan POWs and how their experiences parallel those of Japanese Americans and other detainees interned at Honouliuli and similar camps in the United States. By drawing connections between the wartime internment of civilians and the evolving legal frameworks governing military occupation, Higa’s research contributes to understanding Honouliuli’s role as a site of remembrance and historical reflection on civil liberties, war, and indigenous identity.

Brandon Marc Higa is a lecturer in law and licensed attorney with a doctor of juridical sciences (S.J.D.) and juris doctor (J.D.) degrees from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law. Higa received a NSEP Boren Fellowship to complete post-graduate research at Stanford University’s Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Yokohama, Japan. His undergraduate study abroad experience includes exchanges to Waseda University (Tōkyō, Japan) as a Freeman - ASIA awardee and Kyung Hee University (Seoul, South Korea) through the Critical Language Scholarship while completing dual bachelors and master's degrees in international relations at the University of Southern California.

DJ Jet Boy spins an eclectic set at mixcloud.com/live/djjetboy808 November 5 6pm

DJ Jet Boy spins an eclectic set at mixcloud.com/live/djjetboy808 November 5 6pm

DJ Jet Boy spins an eclectic set at mixcloud.com/live/djjetboy808 November 5 6pm

DJ Jet Boy spins an eclectic set at mixcloud.com/live/djjetboy808 November 5 6pm

DJ Jet Boy spins an eclectic set at mixcloud.com/live/djjetboy808 November 5 6pm

DJ Jet Boy spins an eclectic set at mixcloud.com/live/djjetboy808 November 5 6pm