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The 'Niihau Incident' (or 'Battle of Niihau') occurred on December 7, 1941, when a Japanese Zero pilot crash-landed on the Hawaiian island of Niihau after directly participating in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The misadventures of the pilot came to be referred to as The "Niihau Incident". Although this event is occasionally referred to as the "Battle of Niihau," this term is a misnomer since there was never a full-scale battle.
Westernmost of the eight major Hawaiian Islands, the island of Niihau had been designated by Japanese naval officers as a location for pilots of damaged aircraft to land after the attack, and then rendezvous with a rescue submarine. Japanese officers thought the island was uninhabited; in reality, it had 136 residents, almost all of which were indigenous Hawaiians whose first language was Hawaiian.^[1]

Contents

History

Nishikaichi crash-lands

Pearl Harbor attack

Villagers flee

Kaleohano's midnight run

Endgame

Japanese memorial

Possible repercussions

Nishikaichi's plane

Further reading

Citations

References

History

Since 1864, Niihau had been privately owned by the Robinson family, and was only accessible by permission from Aylmer Robinson. Permission to visit was almost never given, except to friends or relatives of Niihauans. Aylmer, a Harvard graduate who was fluent in the Hawaiian language, ran the island without interference from any government authority, and although he lived on the nearby island of Kauai, he made weekly trips by boat to Niihau.

Nishikaichi crash-lands

Naval Airman 1st Class Shigenori Nishikaichi, who had just taken part in the second wave of the Pearl Harbor attack, crash-landed his bullet-damaged plane in a Niihau field just 20 feet from where Howard Kaleohano, a Native Hawaiian resident, was standing. Kaleohano whirled at the sound and saw the plane. He was unaware of the attack at Pearl Harbor, but knew from newspapers that the relationship between the U.S. and Japan were poor due to the U.S. oil embargo to Japan. He recognized Nishikaichi and his plane as Japanese and thought it prudent to relieve the pilot of his pistol and papers before the dazed airman could react. He and the other Hawaiians who gathered about treated the pilot with courtesy and the traditional Hawaiian hospitality, even throwing a party for him later that Sunday afternoon. However, the Hawaiians could not understand the pilot, who spoke Japanese with a limited amount of English. They sent for Japan-born Ishimatsu Shintani (an issei), who was married to a Native Hawaiian, to act as a translator.
Having been briefed on the situation beforehand and approaching the translation task with evident distaste, Shintani exchanged just a few words with the pilot. He paled; the pilot froze. Shintani left. The puzzled Hawaiians then sent for Yoshio Harada. Harada, born in Hawaii of Japanese ancestry, and his wife Irene (both nisei), along with Shintani, represented Niihau's entire Japanese ancestry population.
Nishikaichi informed Harada of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a revelation Harada thought prudent not to share with the non-Japanese natives of the island. Nishikaichi desperately wanted his papers returned, which he had been told should by no means fall into American hands. Kaleohano refused to return the papers.

Pearl Harbor attack

Niihau had no electricity, nor telephones, but later that night the Hawaiians heard a radio report about the Pearl Harbor attack on one of the battery-operated radios on the island. The Hawaiians confronted the pilot, and this time Harada translated what was said about the attack. The owner of the island, Aylmer Robinson, was scheduled to arrive on his regular weekly trip from Kauai, a much larger island just 17 miles away, the next morning, Monday. It was decided that the pilot would return to Kauai with Robinson.
Robinson did not arrive on Monday because the U.S. military had put a ban on boat traffic in the islands within hours of the Pearl Harbor attack. Nor did he arrive in the following days. The Niihauans, knowing nothing of the ban, were puzzled and very uneasy that the normally dependable Robinson had not been seen since the attack. The Haradas’ request to have the pilot stay with them was acceded to, but with a contingent of five guards. There was now ample opportunity for the Haradas to converse with Nishikaichi, the pilot.
At four o’clock on Friday, Shintani, the Japan-born Niihauan, approached Kaleohano in private with about $200 in cash, which was a huge sum for the Niihauans. He asked to buy the papers from him, but Kaleohano again refused. Shintani unhappily departed, saying there would be trouble if the papers weren’t returned, that it was a matter of life and death. Kaleohano was unimpressed.
Harada and Nishikaichi, not waiting for Shintani’s return, attacked the lone guard who had been posted outside the Harada residence, while Irene Harada, Yoshio’s wife, blared music over a phonograph to cover up the sounds of the struggle. Three other guards, apparently not taking their duties seriously, were elsewhere. The guard was locked in a warehouse where Harada also acquired a shotgun and the pilot’s pistol that had previously been stored there. Thus armed, they proceeded to Kaleohano's house.

Villagers flee

Having parted from Shintani only five or ten minutes before, Kaleohano was in his outhouse, and saw Harada and Nishikaichi coming, along with a 16-year-old captive that they prodded along with a gun. Kaleohano stayed hidden in the outhouse, and the conspirators, unable to find Kaleohano, turned their attention to the nearby plane. Seeing his opportunity, Kaleohano burst out of the outhouse. He heard, “Stop! Stop!” and the boom of a shotgun, inspiring him to the utmost speed. Kaleohano escaped unhurt to the nearby village, where he alerted the residents who gathered around him, warning them to evacuate the village. Many would not believe that their good friend and neighbor, Harada, whom they knew so well and who had been living among them for almost three years, could do the things that Kaleohano related.
Then the locked-in guard from the warehouse escaped, running to the village and informing the villagers of the armed and dangerous Harada and Nishikaichi. They fled — the women and children to caves, thickets and distant beaches.

Kaleohano's midnight run

Kaleohano retrieved the papers, giving them to a relative for safekeeping. Then he set out at 12:30 a.m. with a group of five other Hawaiians in a lifeboat, where they paddled the arduous ten-hour trip to Kauai to inform the stewing Robinson of the events on Niihau.
Robinson had come to know that there was trouble on Niihau because the Niihauans had flashed signals toward Kauai with kerosene lanterns and reflectors. The night before, in sheer desperation, they had lit a bonfire, the first ever. These were ominous signs of trouble on the island. Exactly what the nature of the trouble was, Robinson did not know. His explanations of the signals and pleas to be allowed to go to Niihau to see to the welfare of the inhabitants had come to naught.
Meanwhile, Harada and Nishikaichi headed to the downed plane, where Nishikaichi unsuccessfully attempted to make contact with someone on the aircraft's radio. The two then torched the plane, and proceeded to Kaleohano's house and set it ablaze at about 3 a.m. The Hawaiians rowing towards Kauai saw the blaze, and knew it was in the vicinity of Kaleohano’s home.

Endgame

That morning, Saturday, December 13, Harada and Nishikaichi captured Ben Kanahele and his wife, Ella, also natives of the island. They ordered Kanahele to find Kaleohano, keeping Ella as a hostage. Kanahele knew that Kaleohano was rowing toward Kauai, but made a pretense of looking for him. He soon became concerned about Ella and returned to her. Nishikaichi realized he was being deceived. Harada told Kanahele that the pilot would kill him and everyone in the village if Kaleohano was not found.
Kanahele, noticing the fatigue and discouragement of his two opponents, took advantage of the brief distraction as the pilot handed the shotgun to Harada. He and Ella leapt at the pilot. Nishikaichi pulled his pistol out of his boot. Ella grabbed his arm and brought it down. Harada pulled Ella off the pilot, who then shot Kanahele three times: in the chest, hip, and penis. Ben Kanahele picked Nishikaichi up in the same manner that he picked up the sheep that were commercially raised on the island, hurling Nishikaichi into a stone wall. Mrs. Kanahele then bashed him in the head with a rock, and Kanahele slit his throat with his hunting knife.
Despairing at the sight of the dead pilot, shaken by the unaccustomed violence, Yoshio Harada turned the shotgun on himself, committing suicide.
The next afternoon, the military authorities, the six Hawaiians who had rowed to Kauai, and Robinson arrived together. The grieving Irene Harada and Ishimatsu Shintani were taken into custody. Shintani was sent to an internment camp and later rejoined his family on Niihau, where he attained U.S. citizenship in 1960.
Irene Harada was imprisoned for thirty-one months, being released in June 1944. She was never charged with treason, nor any other crime resulting from her complicity in the affair. She maintained her innocence when speaking in English, but said she felt sorry for the pilot and wanted to help him when speaking in Japanese for a Japanese audience.

Japanese memorial

The hometown of Shigenori Nishikaichi, Hashihama, Japan, erected a granite column in his honor. Engraved in the column is a version of the story and the claim that he died "in battle" and that "His meritorious deed will live forever."^[2]

Possible repercussions

Historian Gordon Prange notes "the rapidity with which the three resident Japanese went over to the pilot's cause", which troubled the Hawaiians. "The more pessimistic among them cited the Niihau incident as proof that no one could trust any Japanese, even if an American citizen, not to go over to Japan if it appeared expedient."^[3]
Novelist William Hallstead argues that the Niihau incident had an influence on decisions leading to the Japanese American internment.² According to Halstead, the behavior of Shintani and the Haradas, Niihauans of Japanese descent, were included in a Navy report. The official report was authored by Navy Lt. C.B. Baldwin and dated January 26, 1942. In the report, Baldwin writes: "The fact that the two Niihau Japanese who had previously shown no anti-American tendencies went to the aid of the pilot when Japan domination of the island seemed possible, indicate likelihood that Japanese residents previously believed loyal to the United States may aid Japan if further Japanese attacks appear successful."

Nishikaichi's plane

The remains of Nishikaichi's Zero and the intact but ancient tractor used to transport him to the boat landing are on permanent display at the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, which had its grand opening on December 7, 2006.

Further reading

★ ''East Wind, Rain'', a 2006 historical novel about the incident, by Caroline Paul.

★ ''The Turncoats on Niihau Island'', complete Chapter 1 of ''In Defense of Internment'' by Michelle Malkin

★ Hallstead, William. (Jan. 1, 2000) "The Niihau Incident." ''World War II'' 14.5

Citations

1. Unlike the rest of Hawaii, where the first language was English or Hawaii Creole English.
2. The Niihau Incident
3. Prange, Gordon W. (1962).''December 7, 1941: The Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor''. New York: McGraw Hill. pp. 375-77

References

★ ''The Niihau Incident,'' by Allan Beekman, copyright 1982

★ ''The Niihau Story,'' taken from ''Remember Pearl Harbor!'' by Blake Clark, copyright 1942

★ ''The Battle of Niihau,'' by Gordana Liddell, taken from BellaOnline.com, ''The Voice of Women''