Where Was Karate Kid Part II Filmed – All Locations

Here’s where The Karate Kid Part II was filmed. Director John G. Avildsen’s most iconic film is 1976’s Rocky, which was written by and starred Sylvester Stallone as the titular underdog. The film was a critical and commercial smash and is still beloved today. Avildsen passed on Rocky II though he eventually returned for 1990’s critically lambasted Rocky V. Avildsen would become something of a specialist in uplifting underdog stories, including movies like The Power Of One and 8 Seconds.

Outside of Rocky, his most famous work is 1984’s The Karate Kid. The film followed Daniel (Ralph Macchio), a student being bullied by Johnny (William Zabka), who is part of the Cobra Kai dojo. Daniel is later trained by Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) in karate and the two form a close bond, with Daniel eventually triumphing against Johnny in the finale. The film’s success quickly led to The Karate Kid Part II in 1986, which was an even bigger hit. The trilogy spluttered out with the third entry in 1989, which grossed less than half of Part II, and Avildsen himself later dubbed it a “horrible” movie.” Christopher Cain helmed soft reboot The Next Karate Kid in 1994 which featured Miyagi training Hilary Swank’s character, which is considered the franchise nadir.

The Karate Kid Part II sees Mr. Miyagi head back home to Okinawa for the first time in decades when he receives news his father is dying. Daniel accompanies his mentor on the trip, which sees Miyagi reconnect with an old love and spark with a former rival. Part II is a worthy follow-up to the original and is easily the best of the movie sequels. While it might take place on Okinawa Island, the bulk of it was really shot in Oahu, Hawaii.

Oahu was selected because of its similar climate to Okinawa and producers were able to hire a large number of Okinawan-born extras. The production also built a very convincing Japanese village set to complete the effect. The Karate Kid Part II also filmed at the Warner Brothers Burbank Studios backlot in California for locations such as Sato’s Dojo. This backlot was also used for movies like Gremlins and Ghostbusters.

After The Next Karate Kid’s failure, the series didn’t return until 2010’s Karate Kid remake, which starred Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith. When a planned sequel to the latter movie failed to materialize, a webseries called Cobra Kai picked up from the original franchise instead. The show follows Cobra Kai bully Johnny as a failed grown-up who wants to rebuild the dojo, which brings him into conflict with Macchio’s Johnny. The series is a surprisingly great, well-written continuation and has surpassed The Karate Kid Part II as the franchise’s best sequel.

About The Author

Padraig Cotter
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It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

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He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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