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Japanese Cultural Center Of Hawaii (JCCH) -COMING SPECIAL EVENTS/NEWS -
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What’s Happening at the JCCH
Modified Hours Notice
The JCCH Gift Shop, Gallery, Resource Center, and Administrative Office will be closed for inventory from July 2 - 5, 2025. We apologize for any inconvenience.

JCCH Gift Shop: Expanded Hours and Special Promotions
EXPANDED OPERATING HOURS: We are pleased to announce that the JCCH Gift Shop is expanding its operating hours! Beginning on Thursday, July 10, 2025, the Gift Shop will be open from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
NEW GIFT SHOP HOURS (Effective July 10, 2025)
Wednesday through Saturday | 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
バーゲン - BIG SUMMER SALE: To kick off our expanded shop hours, we are launching the JCCH Gift Shop’s バーゲン - Big Summer Sale! Beginning on Thursday, July 10, 2025, receive 50% off a huge selection of items in the Gift Shop for a limited time only.* Dishes, kimono, lacquerware, and other treasures will be available for purchase at unbeatable prices!
KIMONO SALE ENDING SOON: Receive 50% off kimono, yukata, and accessories at the Gift Shop through Saturday, June 28, 2025.* Browse a huge selection of styles and patterns for your next bon dance outfit! This Friday and Saturday, the Gift Shop will be open from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
*2-hr parking validation with a JCCH Gift Shop purchase. Discount cannot be combined with other offers, and is only applicable to pre-loved items. All sales final. See store for full details and limitations.
JCCH Craft & Collectibles Fair
Hello, summer! Shop with local small business vendors that will offer Japanese and Japanese-inspired items at the next JCCH Craft & Collectibles Fair. The JCCH Gift Shop and Historical Gallery will be open until 3:00 PM.
NEW DRINK VENDORS: Cool off with two new drink vendors! ALOHA MATCHA HAWAII specializes in a cup of wellness, brewed with aloha and omotenashi おもてなし (sincere hospitality). Neko Koneko Cafe offers a variety of small batch bottled cold brews and iced specialty drinks known for its smooth, easy-to-drink and refreshing taste.
Saturday, July 12, 2025
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM


Next Weekend: Mōʻiliʻili Summer Fest
Join us next Saturday at the 12th Annual Mōʻiliʻili Summer Fest. This year, it will be hosted at a NEW location, Washington Middle School. Our booth will feature a special JCCH Gift Shop pop-up store, and family-friendly activities including Tanabata 星祭り (Star Festival) wish-making, along with hachimaki 鉢巻 (headband) and uchiwa 団扇 (fan) stamping.
Learn More
Saturday, July 5, 2025
5:00 - 10:00 PM
JCCH Featured Ikebana
Each week, our ikebana volunteers generously donate an arrangement to display in our administrative office lobby. We hope you enjoy this special design by:
Shannon Teves, Sogetsu
This arrangement uses green orchid buds, sago palm leaves, and an autograph tree leaf with a ceramic vase set between two pieces of torn paper.

感謝 - With Gratitude

Presentation at the Hawaiʻi Hotel & Restaurant Show
Mahalo to Hawaiʻi Gas for inviting us to share a namasu 膾 (raw vegetables seasoned in vinegar) recipe inspired by the culinary legacy of Muriel Miura. Currently in production is Muriel’s Mainichi Cooking presented by Hawaiʻi Gas, a new JCCH video series that shares a glimpse into Muriel’s cookbooks. As the former Home Economics Director at the Honolulu Gas Company, Muriel developed affordable recipes for Hawaiʻi’s food culture.
Episodes will be posted to the JCCH Instagram. Follow us for updates!
IMAGE: Hawaiʻi Gas

Screening of The Untold Story
To mark the 10th anniversary of Honouliuli National Historic Site as a national park, a public screening of the documentary The Untold Story, produced by the JCCH and written/directed by Ryan Kawamoto, was held this past Sunday. Mahalo to panelists Ryan Kawamoto, Carole Hayashino, and Sandi Chang for engaging the audience in a captivating discussion. Special thanks to the host, Honolulu Museum of Art, the organizer, National Park Service, and the sponsor, Pacific Historic Parks. Voices Behind Barbed Wire will be shown on August 17, 2025, followed by Removed by Force on October 19, 2025.
IMAGE: Liane Tamashiro - Kawamoto
Community Announcements
Renkon Project
The Renkon Project is bringing together a multigenerational group of artists committed to spreading the message of pilina, the relationship between all living things, on the 80th observance of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Learn More

Renkon Project Series Highlights
Butoh Workshop | August 1 - 3, 2025
This 3-day movement workshop with Butoh Master Hiroko Tamano at Pacific Buddhist Academy will explore unique Butoh processes developed to reduce anxiety and free the mind. Butoh is a Japanese dance form created out of the nuclear bomb experience.
Hiroshima Observance | August 6, 2025
At sunset on the 80th anniversary of Hiroshima’s bombing, live Butoh dance and taiko will accompany a video projection onto the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium.
Nagasaki Observance | August 9, 2025
MA vs. GROOVE: Kenny Endo’s 50th Anniversary Concerts will feature The Renkon Project - a short film by Noe Tanigawa commemorating the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Japan, accompanied by contemporary dance by Peiling Kao.

Seisuke Knife Festival HAWAII
Join master craftsmen Yu Kurosaki, Yoshimi Kato, and Takumi Ikeda for live demonstrations, knife testing, and sushi-making demos from Chef Yoshiki Hatano and Chef Angie Lee at Queen Kapiolani Hotel. Limited spots are available! Purchase tickets online.
Learn More
Sunday, June 29, 2025
4:00 - 8:00 PM
Support the Neighbors Not Enemies Act
The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 grants the government wide-ranging power to imprison and deport non-citizens from enemy states at war with or invading the United States. In the wake of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt swiftly invoked the Alien Enemies Act to round up and imprison Japanese nationals who held positions of leadership in the Japanese American community. Contact your members of Congress and urge them to oppose the President’s use of the Alien Enemies Act and co-sponsor the Neighbors Not Enemies Act to repeal the Alien Enemies Act.
Support the JCCH




Copyright (C) 2025 Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaiʻi. All rights reserved.
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The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i (JCCH), a non-profit organization, strives to share the history, heritage and culture of the evolving Japanese American experience in Hawai‘i. Located at 2454 South Beretania Street in Mō‘ili‘ili, the Cultural Center features a Community and Historical Gallery, Resource Center, Kenshikan martial arts dōjō, Seikōan Japanese teahouse and Gift Shop. The Cultural Center presents various programs, festivals and exhibitions throughout the year.
Motto
Honoring our heritage. Embracing our diversity. Sharing our future.
Vision
We aspire to co-create a society where a deeper knowledge of one's heritage and a profound understanding of oneself will enable enlightened connections among all people.
Mission Statement
To be a vibrant resource, strengthening our diverse community by educating present and future generations in the evolving Japanese American experience in Hawai‘i. We do this through relevant programming, meaningful community service and innovative partnerships that enhance the understanding and celebration of our heritage, culture and love of the land. To guide us in this work we draw from the values found in our Japanese American traditions and the spirit of Aloha.
History
The seeds of thought and planning which had since developed into the solid concrete of Phase I and the working committees of the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i were sown over two generations ago. Minds and hearts of Issei and Nisei (first and second generations) forebearers set themselves to the tasks of survival, later to national heroism, and later still to the responsibility of restoring the concept of cultural pride in themselves and their community. Emotions generated by the Kanyaku Imin (125 Years of Japanese In Hawai‘i) celebration in February of 1985 spurred the devotion of major Japanese groups in the community to initially conceptualize the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i.
In 1986, The Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce (HJCC) initiated the Japan-Hawaii Cultural Center project, "The Dream," for the purpose of bringing together related organizations in Hawai‘i to work in a common effort to preserve the legacy and history of the pioneers who came to Hawaii from Japan, and whose sacrifices and contributions made it possible for the younger generations to become integral members of American society. It was planned to be a legacy where future members of our community could look back and be fully conscious of their roots. The Center would also foster relations by promoting harmony and mutual understanding between Japan, Hawai‘i, and the United States.
The Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce was willing to accept the enormous responsibility of immortalizing and cultivating the legacy of the Japanese in Hawai‘i by making a commitment to plant and nourish the seedling. Many community organizations supported the creation of a Japanese cultural center, as indicated by a survey to assess the need and expectations for a center.
Courses of action plans were implemented to create Ad Hoc Committees composed of the various Japan related organizations, and to organize a fund-raising organization to raise funds from the community within the State of Hawai‘i as well as in Japan. Committees set in motion to carefully plan, develop, and research in establishing the Cultural Center. The inception of some committees were: Steering, Planning, Public Relations, Historical Research Program, Program, Membership and Property Management. A schedule of "Milestone" tasks for these committees were implemented to prepare for the tremendous work that lay ahead in the formation of the Cultural Center.
On May, 28, 1987, the birth of a new direction and a new step toward the dreams of our forefathers emerged as the Cultural Center was incorporated under the laws of the State of Hawai‘i as a non-profit corporation to develop, own, maintain, and operate a Japanese cultural center in Hawai‘i. As an independent entity, the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i would play a most crucial role in perpetuating the cultural heritage we inherited from our Issei forefathers into the lifestyles and values of our children's children.
Revamped, Revved and Ready... the Cultural Center Boards and staff moves forward with great aspirations
The Board of Directors consists of 15 community leaders from O‘ahu, Maui, Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i counties who lead the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i by establishing policies and strategic direction. Each Director either chairs and /or is a member of the Executive Committee, Governance Committee, Membership Development Committee, Fundraising Committee, Facilities & Operations Committee, and Budget & Finance Committee. The Board members are elected by the membership as a whole.
The Board of Governors currently has forty (40) members who advise and make recommendations to the Board of Directors, and oversee the implementation of programs and activities of the Cultural Center. The Board of Governors also assist and maintain the fiscal well-being of the Center by supporting its fundraising activities. The Board of Governors are appointed by the Board of Directors.
The staff of nine full-time and two part-time employees is led by the President & Executive Director who administers the day-to-day operations of the Cultural Center.
The Board of Directors, Board of Governors and the staff, and volunteers work in unison to carry out the many exciting plans at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i. When put together these individuals, though all unique in their background, create a dynamic, capable and passionate group who are dedicated to the Cultural Center's mission of sharing the history, heritage and culture of the evolving Japanese American experience in Hawai‘i.
HOURS
Historical Gallery & Gift Shop: Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Resource Center: By Appointment Only
Administrative Office: By Appointment Only
Questions? Ready for an appointment?
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Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii (JCCH)
Honoring our heritage. Embracing our dirversity. Sharing our future. The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii (JCCH), a non-profit organization, strives to share the history, heritage and culture of the evolving Japanese American experience in Hawaii.
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