The Creation of a National Monument: Honouliuli

Retired librarian Jane Kurahara led a Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii (JCCH) team to the rediscovery of the state's largest internment camp, Honouliuli, where 300 internees and 4,000 POWs were held.  Carole Hayashino, JCCH President & CEO, initiated the grassroots movement to encourage President Obama to proclaim Honouliuli a national monument.  Both Jane and Carole were present in the oval office when President Obama signed the proclamation officially making Honouliuli a national monument. 

Join us on July 23rd as Carole Hayashino and Jane Kurahara talk about the journey to create the Honouliuli National Monument that opens to the public this month.  The Honouliuli National monument will tell the history of internment, martial law, and the experience of prisoners of war in Hawaii during World War II and will be a place to reflect on wartime experiences and recommit ourselves to the pursuit of freedom and justice. 

Carole Hayashino joined the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii as its president and executive director in 2012. She oversees all operations, programs and development of the Cultural Center. She is also on the board of the United Japanese Society of Hawaii and member of the Hiroshima and Fukuoka Kenjin kai. Prior to joining the JCCH team, Hayashino served as vice president for university advancement at California State University Sacramento where she oversaw the external relations of the university including The University Foundation at Sacramento State, alumni relations, university marketing, and publications. She was elected to two terms to the Board of Trustees of the College of Marin in 2004 and 2008 .

She has also served as associate director of the National Japanese American Citizens League headquartered in San Francisco and was involved in the national legislative effort for redress and reparations for Americans of Japanese ancestry incarcerated during World War II.  She served on the advisory board to the California State Library Civil Liberties Public Education Program responsible for awarding grant funds to educational projects to preserve and teach the Japanese American experience. 

Hayashino earned her undergraduate degree at San Francisco State University and graduate degree in educational administration at the University of San Francisco.

Jane Kurahara is a retired school librarian and dedicates much of her free time in the Resource Center.  She was the co-manager of the Resource Center as a volunteer from 2001 to 2006. 

Kurahara has co-chaired the Hawaii Confinement Sites Committee since it inception in 2005.  She has taken the lead on the planning, coordination, and discourse on outreach presentations, archaeological surveys, spearheaded acquisition of key archival collection manuscripts and photographs relating to internment, was key in creating the original and traveling Dark Clouds Over Paradise exhibits, and the development of the Hawaii internment curriculum of materials being taught in schools today.

Jane Kurahara meets President Barack Obama before he signed a proclamation on the establishment of the Honouliuli National Monument on February 24, 2015.