Portraits of King Kalakawa and his niece

Hi everyone, do you know Hawaii and its history well ?

I lost my way and accidentally found a museum on my way home last month. It was the museum of Japanese Emigration to Hawaii. As for Hawaii, it is a beautiful tropical island where people all over the world would like to go on a vacation. The island is an overseas territory of the United States of America. However, I figured out that I did not know about the Hawaii and its history well. In addition, Hiroshima citizens emigrated to Hawaii for work since 1800s because of the decrease of arable land per farmer caused by the increase of Hiroshima citizens’ population.

Hawaii was not a territory of United States until 1894 which was the fall of Kingdom of Hawaii. Then Hawaii island became the strategically important place between United States and Japan. Hawaii was finally attacked by Japan in 1941.

In this museum, we can see items which are related to Hiroshima citizens emigrated to Hawaii. Hiroshima citizens carried such a bag made from tatami mat to go to Hawaii for work. Originally, they had a plan to return to Japan after working for a few years.

You can see the Hawaii items in this museum. There are real items. They are not copies. The director of this museum had been collected them for a long time.

Hawaii flag is in the center of this photo

There are old items which we can see in the movie. They are also real ones.

The director of this museum published a book. He is also 2nd generation Japanese American. It is full of info about Japanese Hawaii emigrants. You can buy it at Amazon store.

ハワイ日本人移民史 -The history of Japanese emigration to Hawaii-