A group of University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa haumānastudents and faculty travelled through Japan this spring, following the paths of King David Laʻamea Kalākaua’s historic 1881 visit as well as other travels by Hawaiian aliʻiroyalty and haumānastudents in the 19th century. Their nine-day journey in March 2025, part of the UH Mānoa Native Hawaiian Student Services’ (NHSS) Hawaiian Youths Abroad (HYA) program, connected them to a pivotal moment in Hawaiian history—one that is being brought back to life.
King Kalākaua traveled the world to build diplomatic relationships and reaffirm those his predecessors and other Hawaiian officials established before him. During his visit to Japan in March of 1881, Kalākaua met with Japan’s emperor to discuss revising established treaty relations between the Hawaiian Kingdom and Japan. That treaty, stored away for 154 years, was retrieved during the HYA Japan visit, providing a rare glimpse into Hawaiʻi’s international past.
“As a Kanaka ʻŌiwiNative Hawaiian history student, seeing the original treaty between the Hawaiian Kingdom and Japan was a surreal moment. We were the first, if not some of the very few, to have seen the Japanese version of the treaty in over 150 years,” said Kale Kanaeholo, who is pursuing a PhD at UH Mānoa. “I felt a sense of both humility and gratitude: haʻahaʻahumility for being in the same room as this living document and piece of our history, and aloha for Mōʻī KalākauaKing Kalākaua.”
Vision of a monarch
The NHSS program is a reincarnation of a 19th century program by the same name created by the Hawaiian Kingdom legislature in 1880 that provided funds to support 18 students who studied in six different countries between 1880 and 1892. These students trained in fields such as engineering, medicine, art, music, military science and foreign languages, with the goal of returning home to serve their nation. Funded entirely by the Hawaiian Kingdom, it was one of the world’s first government-sponsored study abroad programs.
NHSS restarted the program in 2018, and have since designed and implemented 4 Hawaiian Youths Abroad program cohorts, led by Nalani Balutski (research specialist) and Willy Kauai (director) of NHSS within the UH Mānoa Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge.
This year’s cohort of 13 students and six faculty and staff explored Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.
On the journey were two UH Mānoa haumānastudents with a remarkable connection to the past—Kuʻu Lunn, a geography graduate student, and Joy Nuʻuhiwa, an incoming political science graduate student—both direct descendants of one of Kalākaua’s original Hawaiian Youths Abroad students.
Piʻianāiʻa
“The Hawaiian Youths Abroad program has been a tremendous opportunity for me to learn and build upon a legacy of Hawaiian geography. One of the original HYA students was my great-great-grandfather Abraham St. Chad Piʻianāiʻa, who attended St. Chad’s College in Denstone, England. Years later, he returned to use his education in service to his kingdom. As we explore the world, like our kūpunaancestors did, I hope to share the knowledge and connections we gain with my family and community,” said Lunn.
Harbottle Hakuʻole
Nuʻuhiwa’s great-great-grandfather, James Harbottle Hakuʻole, was only 10 years old when he and his brother Isaac were chosen to participate in King Kalākaua’s visionary program to educate Hawaiian youth overseas. In 1882, the brothers from Kīpahulu, Maui, embarked on their journey, among the youngest students selected to study abroad under the king’s initiative.
“It’s pretty heavy,” Nuʻuhiwa reflected. “I didn’t start exploring this history until I heard about this program so it was incredibly meaningful to be able to do this for my family more than anything.”
She found a deep personal connection in walking in her ancestor’s steps.
“To know that we had similar experiences even if it was just trying to navigate Japan…being Hawaiian in Japan and knowing both languages, knowing he also spoke Japanese. To think that maybe if we ever met, we would’ve been able to speak and understand each other in that way.”
Aliʻi footsteps
The NHSS group retraced Kalākaua’s steps from 144 years ago, visiting some of the same train stations, palaces, temples, and even the former site of the Hawaiian Kingdom’s consulate in Shiba.
NHSS hopes to continue to engage future students in international educational experiences and training around the world in service to the lāhuination.
“The Hawaiian Youths Abroad program is emblematic of NHSS programming design and philosophy, which engages students in research, history, and the educational excellence of kūpunaancestors who came before,” said Kauai.
Bridging past and present
The inaugural HYA cohort traveled to France and England in 2018, followed by a journey to England and Italy in 2019. In 2024, UH Mānoa students and faculty followed the path of 19th-century Hawaiians in Tahiti, exploring the legacy they left behind. A fifth iteration of the program is slated for summer 2026 to focus on the Hawaiian footprint in the Pacific Northwest from Vancouver to San Francisco. For each program, a tailored curriculum is developed that explores the themes of Hawaiian education, diplomacy and travel to those particular countries from the 19th century. To date, 48 Hawaiian undergraduate and graduate students from UH Mānoa participated in the NHSS HYA program.
Empowering haumāna
This year’s program is sponsored by the UH Mānoa Provost Office Innovative Initiatives program and Ka Papa Loʻi o Kānewai Alakaʻina project. Supplemental support was also provided for students by various departments: political science, history, geography, educational administration, communication & information science and the Hawaiʻinuiākea Keaweawe a Kalākaua fund.
NHSS is housed in UH Mānoa’s Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge. For more on their journey, visit the HYA program’s website and travel blog.
