Got you! Just kidding, but I was practically waiting for this response. Yes of course Hawaii is part of the United States. However, there is a very complicated past which affects a lot of people's emotions of the state, and The legal technicality in which many people firmly believe the kingdom still exists, because even the state can't claim it was dissolved. So obviously the people who stand by this are very few, but at the same time it highlights the complicated past, which mainlanders don't understand. For example, there is no religious majority. Both languages Hawaiian and Japanese got banned on the island, despite over three quarters of the island easily being native and/or Asian. White people were less than 10% of The island population yet took over with guns and over through a legitimate government that was recognized by multiple European and Asian nations, which I believe included the United States also
Hawaii back then would be similar to having Guam, Puerto Rico, or even Okinawa or Jamaica as a part of the US in terms of demographic.
Remember a few things: When Hawaii became a State, Black people had no voting rights, even though women did. Jim Crow laws would still be in effect.
Chinese immigrants moved to Hawaii when George Washington just finished creating the independence of the 13 colonies. Japanese people would be moving in when the empty region of California was just being flooded by gold seekers.
Obviously my point isn't to contest but it's part of the United States. Of course it is. But and also mentioning that, it's the least related of the 49. It's practically a miracle and only became a state very likely from strong legislature and pressure from Japanese and Filipino Americans who came back from the war and were fed up with being second-class citizens
Remember, Asians were totally banned from entering the United States for a very long period of time during and before the war for decades.
Anyway, I said a lot, but my main point was that the culture is very different. And mainlanders often get shocked because of it. They expect this place to be beaches and nature
They don't expect this place to be a Mexican food Les, Asian field, unique English dialect speaking place that never had a white majority. It's super rare these days but up to WWII some people probably never even seen a white person in their neighborhood that wasn't military or a missionary (unless Portuguese, which weren't considered white by many for quite some time anyway). There wasn't that many tourists back then since the boat would take forever.