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    Manoa Chinese Cemetery

    4.5 (13 reviews)

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    Entrance
    Nadine C.

    Towards the back of Manoa Valley, past the residential area and the shopping center, you may find this landmark: Hawaii's largest and oldest Chinese cemetery. Simply drive along East Manoa Road and you'll run into its 27 acres of grandeur. It's an unusual place to go for great views of Honolulu since it has an incline, but it also is an interesting place with historical value. Founded in 1851, this cemetery was planned with the help of Feng Shui methods. It was calculated that the "Pulse of the Watchful Dragon" of Manoa Valley is contained at this site. My grandfather on my mother's side used to be buried here. My aunties decided to relocate him to Kaneohe at the Hawaii Memorial Cemetery to be with my grandmother. However, our paternal grandmother and grand uncle have been laid to rest here. Our family used to come here with my dad for Memorial Day and the annual Chinese Bai San tradition - a time to clean the graves of relatives who have passed on. We used to burn paper money, incense, candles, and sometimes fireworks. We also brought food, whiskey, and tea to pay respects to ancestors. I used to enjoy trimming the surrounding grass around the headstones and tossing the rolled and folded silver and gold paper money into the circle of chicken wire which contained the fire... When the oldest relative turns 100 years old, the Bai San ritual can stop, but dad just liked to get together with his cousins and their family, so we continued until dad wasn't able to go any more. We even went a few times with our male cousins in the lead, but the younger generation seems busier with work and extracurricular activities, so we don't visit the graves any longer. I kind of miss those days of hiking through the uneven pathways and hunting for Tai Po and Uncle Kai. Once in a while, I visit Manoa Cemetery and just get some harmony and peace at this beautiful and calm site... It's a kinda cool place!

    Dog
    Angela D.

    A very calm, pretty place to walk through and contemplate life. What can you say about a cemetery? It is a solemn place, for sure. But this is beautifully maintained and I especially like the pet cemetery area with the Chinese Zodiac sculptures. Very pretty.

    Tai Po and Tai Goon

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    6 years ago

    A truly sacred place. One of the most beautiful places on Oahu I have been. I am dying to go back!

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    Review Highlights - Manoa Chinese Cemetery

    On a nice Sunday morning, my family and I came over here for the yearly Chinese Memorial Day aka Bai San.

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    Oahu Mortuary - $1,195 Simple Cremation

    Oahu Mortuary

    (128 reviews)

    On January 15, 2026 our family suffered the lost of my Dad. It came at a shock as his passing was…read morequick. Oahu Cemetary assisted me through each step of the process in this difficult time. Being that it is an emotional process our coordinator Sherie worked very hard to help in the process as we faced a simple but troubling issue. Despite this Sherie kept in touch and through this we were able to complete the process and retrieve his remains. The urn that I purchased from them was a beautiful Hawaiian Koa box that now holds the remains of both my Mom and Dad together. My Mom passed away back in 2020 during the lockdown and we were unable to do anything for her but handle her cremation. Now with the passing of my Dad, he and my Mom can be together as they were before 2020. They were married for 43 years and finally together again not just in heaven but as their remains sit together in this beautiful urn that was also beautifully engraved. Mahalo Sherie and Oahu Cemetary for helping in closing this final chapter in our family.

    A huge MAHALO to Raymond T. and staff at Oʻahu Mortuary! I could not have gone through the process…read morelosing my dad without Raymond's guidance. Dad passed back in October 2025 and finally laid him to rest last month April 2026, as I live on the mainland. Raymond was extremely helpful, patient, empathetic, and very kind throughout the months, while keeping in touch with my aunt who lives local. He went above and beyond to make sure dad was taken care of while planning his final destination at Punchbowl Cemetary. I felt so much weight lifted in interim while Raymond took care of literally all the arrangements from the beginning of the cremation to the beautiful burial. He made it that much easier during this difficult time of grief from afar. I appreciate all the Aloha and care at O'ahu Mortuary. Again Raymond T., my ohana and I genuinely thank you for being there when most needed!

    Diamond Head Mortuary & Williams Funeral Services - Open air makes service safe and cool for guests.

    Diamond Head Mortuary & Williams Funeral Services

    (31 reviews)

    Kaimuki

    The courtesy of the director lady there. She was cold and rude. Our service for my grandmother and…read moreuncle ran a couple minutes over and she kicked us out She threatened that their burial would be canceled if we didn't get out!! The carpet needs to be replaced in the chapel It has stains on the floor.

    This is more of a technical review as well as a review for a specific funeral director since most…read moreother aspects were already covered in other Yelp reviews. I was impressed by the modern technology at the Diamond Head chapel that makes it convenient to display your videos and slide shows. Two large screen monitors are built in the chapel and one was in the lounge area where all share the same images. As an AV person, I can appreciate not having to setup a portable projection screen & projector on table and bring a separate sound system for it that is required at many other funeral venues. The wall monitors are easily visible in the ambient lighting compared to a projector and screen. The audio from the video/slide show were conveniently fed into the house sound system. The podium microphone was a high quality Shure gooseneck condenser microphone so it sounded very clear and the thin gooseneck was unobtrusive. Wyatt, who was the onsite funeral director, was professional, quick, attentive, talented and caring in all aspects of his services. He's not one to stand around doing nothing and has a keen sense of attention to detail as evidenced by him picking up trash to make everything perfect. He surprised us by playing the trumpet during the burial ceremony. Many professional musicians who happened to be in attendance commented on his skillful playing. Turns out he's an accomplished trumpet player as well as an instructor. I would recommend Diamond Head Mortuary and Wyatt as your funeral director.

    Borthwick Mortuary - Entrance to Maunakea Chapel on 1.18.25, his birthday...

    Borthwick Mortuary

    (57 reviews)

    Chinatown

    My father purchased a viewing/service plan with cremation. Everything went perfectly from the day…read moreof his passing to the service. The staff was exceptionally helpful and answered all of our questions. The service area was clean, set up and ready to go. Thank you so much for all that you do.

    We went through Borthwick with mom in 2018 and everything went smooth…read more We went through them again for my dad who passed mid November. We had the appointment with Marilou. At first it was fine. She didn't really have many answers for the questions we had. She also didn't show any intent on finding out the answers. Initially they were small things that we just brushed off. Then later into the meeting we had questions about my dad being buried with military honors. Again, she didn't have answers and didn't show any type of concern in finding them out. She said there was somebody recently who didn't get and he was high ranking. That's an unacceptable answer. That's when red flags starting flying around in all of our heads. She just didn't give a f*ck enough to verify anything. She made the whole process so much more stressful than it already was. We wanted to pay with insurance, since one of the insurance is through a local State Farm office and they can cut a check quickly, like they did with my mom. She kept arguing that insurance can't do that quickly and that we need to finance through them, taking an over $18k bill to $20k. She finally agreed to talk to her boss and call us later. There are due dates for photos, obituaries, and other things that I submitted prior to any due dates. I received email confirmation on them. Fast forward to the weekend before his funeral. No obituary anywhere. Not in the paper and not online. We have to wait until Monday to speak to anybody. I leave a message Sunday for Marilou. The lady says that she will give a call by 9 am on Monday. No call. We go down there and she's busy with another family. Merci comes to help us. The department that was in charge of posting the obituaries was busy but told Merci they posted it online on the 9th. We check, and sure enough it's posted. They insist to Merci it had already been up online, but they're not sure why it wasn't in the paper. They said they can rush and get one in the next morning which was the day of his funeral. We all argued it absolutely was not posted prior to that morning. Merci was able to verify that it was in fact just posted online that morning, the 15th. They lied and threw her under the bus. My dad was 90, not much people his age look online for obituaries. There was no other way for us to contact most of them. We could only contact family. Day of the funeral, paper has the obituary. Edwin and the limo driver (I'm so sorry I forgot his name) were so kind and everything almost went smooth. I was told previously by Marilou that we would have the service, go to punch bowl for the burial, then come back and pack up the food. 20 minutes before they were going to close the casket I was told by the lady in the kitchen that everything had to be packed up and cleared out. We had so much food because the obituary didn't get posted online until the day before and then in the paper that morning. We had to scramble and then almost missed them closing the casket. It was so much added stress. Aside from Marilou and the department that screwed up the obituary, everybody else there was very nice. TLDR: The whole thing was made to be unnecessarily stressful. 100% satisfaction is bs. Having to go back and double check everything, and then being blindsided by things we didn't even think of until it went wrong was just ridiculous. Everything needs to be done right because there are no redos here. We can't go back and fix everything. That's the most frustrating part. My dad deserved it to be done right, and they just screwed up at every opportunity.

    Kyoto Gardens of Honolulu Memorial Park - I saw this along the highway

    Kyoto Gardens of Honolulu Memorial Park

    (4 reviews)

    Maybe I was Japanese in a previous life. Somehow, I'm drawn to Japanese things, but I've only been…read moreto Japan once. Luckily for me, there are enough Japanese things in Hawaii and LA! I was always curious about the pagoda top that I passed by every day on the way to school and work when I lived in Nu'uanu. After many years, I saw Cara M.'s review when I searched Honolulu Landmarks on this Yelp website! I finally had time yesterday to explore and get a close up look! It was really cool! I parked for free on Craigside Place - the street in the front of the big condominium. It's just a short walk down the paved driveway which is blocked off with orange cones. If you drive to the left, you'll pass by all of the Japanese style graves which are like crypts where urns of family members can be placed together. So - walking down the driveway which curves to the left, you'll arrive at the tall, faded Sanju Pagoda straight ahead. Although the it needs repair and is surrounded by a soft, saggy orange fence, it's still magnificent and beautiful! According to an article in Honolulu Magazine (11-1-06), it is one of the "9 Most Endangered Historic Sites in Hawai'i". It is believed to be the largest pagoda in the world! Before the Sanju Pagoda, to your right, sits a replica of the Kinkaku-ji Temple with the Mirror Lake Garden. It would look better if the water filled the ponds and if the temple were gold in color like the original one in Kyoto, Japan, but I was happy enough to be so close to it! There seems to be some controversy about the maintenance of this Landmark. It may take over $2 million to renovate. If you want to check it out before it falls down, you may want to do it soon... Just be careful!

    After driving on the Pali Highway and seeing the top of that mysterious pagoda every day, I decided…read moreto investigate! and the Internet gave me the Kyoto Gardens of Honolulu Memorial Park, which is the eastern half of the Honolulu Memorial Park and Cemetery. We parked by the graves and walked down to the Sanju Pagoda, an impressive sight in Hawaii! To people from Japan, they'd probably just think that it's old and in SERIOUS need of repairs, but to my friends and I, it was super awesome! A for real pagoda outside of Japan! There was an orange safety fence around it, so we couldn't walk around the pagoda, but it was for the best because it really does look like it can fall down any moment. We then walked down to the replica of Kyoto's famous Kinkaku-ji. Although it doesn't have gold walls, the building looks practically exactly the same as the one in Japan! What makes this replica even more fun is that you can walk right up to it and walk around it, which you can't do with the one in Japan. Good for us! Good for the old building? Probably not... The Mirror Lake Garden was empty of water, so it wasn't really a lake, but we could see how the rocks were placed. It was interesting. If you are a fan of Japanese culture, have gone to Japan, or plan on going soon, the Kyoto Gardens of Honolulu Memorial Park is really nice! Just respect the grounds and don't throw rubbish around.

    Aloha Mortuary

    Aloha Mortuary

    (60 reviews)

    When you need mortuary services, Aloha Mortuary is the best one to call. I did a yelp search when…read moremy dad passed away, and I called a couple of places before I called Aloha Mortuary. After speaking to Nani, I knew I didn't need to call anyone else. She was extraordinarily kind, compassionate and clearly explained answers to all of my questions. I wasn't even sure what I needed, but she guided me through and arranged for pickup for my dad. The pickup team was kind and very understanding, as we were waiting for another family member to arrive and they gave us extra time. Nani kept in contact with me, and was available by phone for any questions and directions to their facility for his viewing. The team at the facility were so gracious and welcoming. The female staff member was so kind and supportive to my mom and I, and made our last moments with my dad, so very special. Nani continued to keep me updated on the process for cremation, as there was a hold up, due to the medical examiner needing to sign off on dad's paperwork. Her attention to detail and superior customer service made the horrible experience of losing my dad, into one that brought my family peace of mind. I cannot express how deeply I appreciated everything Nani and her team did to make this experience a positive one. I have heard stories from friends who used different mortuaries with not positive experiences, so I am even more grateful that we found Aloha Mortuary.

    One thing my niece went with them cause they were a local company,…read more And we are locals so we chose them but,when we were going to view my sister they first said 15 minutes,we asked if we could stay longer, they said 30 minutes free and 400.00 for the next 30 MINUTES 400.00 ! talk about ripping grieving people off ,thats horrible, I must say though the guy who fixed my sister up made her beautiful

    Manoa Chinese Cemetery - funeralservices - Updated May 2026

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