On a nub-like point on the west coast of Guam stands a monument built as the Statue of Liberty’s Pacific counterpart. The Latte of Freedom, which opened in 2010, is an 80-foot-tall concrete structure, shaped like a mushroom with an upturned top. It’s a homage to the island’s famous lattes (pronounced LAH-tees), two-piece stone pillars that, for centuries, the indigenous Chamorros erected as the foundation of traditional buildings. In the observation deck inside the Latte of Freedom’s capstone, a plaque explains its cultural roots and announces its modern-day purpose: “to stand boldly as America’s Western gatepost from Asia and the Pacific Rim.”

Until last week, despite its status as a U.S. territory, Guam was an afterthought for most Americans, an obscurity out in the vast blue part of the globe. When news broke that North Korea was considering an attack on the island, stateside media outlets proffered maps and explainers on basic details. It is 30 miles long, with a population of about 160,000. It has been a U.S. territory since 1898, ceded by the Spanish after the Spanish-American War. And it is of strategic importance: 4,000 miles west of Honolulu, about half that distance from Pyongyang, and it is home to both Andersen Air Force Base and Naval Base Guam.

But it is also a gatepost with dual roles, a place of both watchful vigilance but also heartfelt hospitality, welcoming travelers and immigrants alike — just not many Americans. Last year, a record-setting 1.53 million tourists came here — mostly from Japan (746,000) and South Korea (550,000). Arrivals this year have been on a strong pace, with hotel occupancy at 85.7 percent, according to Josh Tyquiengco of the Guam Visitors Bureau — higher than average (if not quite the 95 percent that Eddie Calvo, the governor of Guam, recently claimed in a conversation with President Trump). Since the territory became headline news, there have been scattered cancellations, though not enough to affect the overall industry, Mr. Tyquiengco said.

Strikingly, though, Guam may be the U.S.’smost popular tourist destination that Americans themselves don’t see in substantial numbers. About 63,000 people from the mainland states visited last year, a smaller number than Kauai, Hawaii’s fourth-largest island, gets in a typical month. When I traveled to Guam in 2014, while researching a book about the U.S. territories, the woman selling tickets at the Latte Stone of Freedom assumed I was from the nearest military base, and was visibly surprised to learn that I was a sightseer from the States.