Hawaiʻi’s ties to the Asia Pacific transcend geography. There’s a lot of interest among Hawaiʻi residents about our regional neighborhood.
Here are four trends to watch in 2026 that may have a direct impact on Hawaiʻi.
1. Japan tourism: visitors and hosts
Japanese visitors to Hawaiʻi and their spending have grown modestly for three months in a row compared to a year earlier. Tourism industry leaders hope the modest trend will continue, but it’s only part of a broader story: Japan’s boom as a travel destination.
Those planes heading from Tokyo to Honolulu also carry a growing number of returning kamaʻāina. The same weak yen that makes prices high for Japanese visitors to Hawaiʻi means lower prices for Hawaiʻi residents traveling to Japan.
Overall, 2025 has already shattered records with more than 39 million visitors to Japan — and that doesn’t even count the month of December.
But there’s an increasing ambivalence and in some cases dissatisfaction with that burst in arrivals. “Overtourism” is a condition that locals cite in a growing number of locations in Japan, especially for visitors behaving badly, breaking rules and ignoring cultural norms. Watch Japanese media coverage in 2026 to see if “foreigner fatigue” is a phrase that gets even more usage than in 2025.
2. Australians on Oʻahu
Not as visitors, but as residents. A Dec. 30 report from the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism showed that fewer flights are coming from Australia to Hawaiʻi compared to a year ago. Overall airline seats on those planes were down more than 20% in November following a drop of 15% in October and 12% in September.
But some Australians are coming for much longer stays. Pearl Harbor is a key link in Australia’s multi-billion-dollar partnership with the United States and the United Kingdom designed to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered attack submarines. The partnership is known as AUKUS, and it has already brought scores of Australian citizens to Hawaiʻi for training and other work.
While there was a period of uncertainty about whether the Trump administration would continue full support for this program, it is moving ahead, and is certain to develop further this year — and bring more Australians to Hawaiʻi.
3. Korean business in Honolulu
This month marks 123 years since the first major wave of Korean immigration came to the United States — when 102 Koreans arrived in Hawaiʻi to work on sugar plantations.
That pattern of Hawaiʻi as a gateway to the United States takes a new form with South Korea’s largest convenience store, CU. The store’s parent company chose Hawaiʻi, and specifically downtown Honolulu as its first retail location in the United States, starting in November 2025. Plans are to open 50 more stores across the state within the next three years.
Another 2025 development targets higher end dining. Okdongsik is a restaurant started in Seoul that has expanded to locations in New York, Tokyo, Paris, Los Angeles, and now Honolulu. Its location in the “Kapiʻolani corridor” highlights other Korean themed and/or funded projects that will continue to develop in 2026.
4. Asian car sales in Hawaiʻi
2025 may have been the year of the tariff with political negotiations and trade threats, but 2026 is likely to be the year when higher prices kick in and get passed along to consumers in many areas, including automobiles and trucks. The Hawaiʻi Automobile Dealers Association notes in its latest Auto Outlook report that “higher tariffs will eventually be a headwind for new vehicle sales.”
That’s particularly significant for Hawaiʻi because out of the top 10 selling brands in the state, 7 are from Asia (5 from Japan, 2 from South Korea). Toyota remains the most popular in the state — taking 3 of the top 5 models, including the perennial best-selling vehicle in Hawaiʻi: the Toyota Tacoma mid-sized pickup truck.
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