The Niʻihau Incident
Pearl Harbor and the Case of Mistaken Occupancy: The Niʻihau Incident
December 7, 1941. Japan surprises Hawaiʻi with an attack on Pearl Harbor, Oʻahu. The U.S. military is not anticipating this attack and scrambles to get American defenses in place.
The strafe air raid by eight Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighters first drops bombs on the U.S. Naval Air Station on the Mōkapu Peninsula and then on Bellows Field, a U.S. Army air base. As the Zeros attempt to return to their Japanese aircraft carrier, Hiryu, waiting in the waters 200 miles off Oʻahu’s northern tip, they are surprised by a flight of nine American Curtiss P-36A fighters.
The P-36As do their best to reign havoc on the Zeros but are no match for the speed and maneuverability of their contenders. The P-36As go down in smoke, managing, however, to chase the Zeros off the island, inflict damage to their fighters, and prevent further destruction to the Hawaiian Islands. (1, 2)
Japan’s Plan B: Land on Niʻihau
If the Zeros cannot return to Hiryu, Plan B is to land on Niʻihau, just north of Kauaʻi. Japan concluded that Niʻihau was uninhabited and the fighters could wait there for their Imperial Navy I-class rescue submarine.
Airman 1st Class Shigenori Nishikaichi, one of the escorts for the flight bombers, is in desperate need of Plan B. His Zero is heavily hit and leaking fuel at a fast rate. He turns west and heads toward Niʻihau, unaware that it is inhabited by native Niʻihauans. (3)
Niʻihau: An Inhabited Island, Indeed
As 22-year-old Nishikaichi makes his way toward Niʻihau, one thing becomes certain: it is an inhabited island. Nishikaichi attempts to land the plane as the Zero takes a hard nose dive near the home of native Hawaiian Howard Kaleohano.
Kaleohano and the inhabitants of Niʻihau are unaware of what transpired at Pearl Harbor. Kaleohano rushes to aid the downed pilot, disarms Nishikaichi, and takes the fighter’s official papers. He then invites him inside his hale, where his wife makes him breakfast. (4)
Shintani & the Haradas Aid Nishikaichi
Born and educated on the Big Island, Kaleohano is fluent in English and attempts to communicate with Nishikaichi with little success. Kaleohano calls upon their beekeeper, 60-year-old Japanese-born Ishimatsu Shintani.
Shintani is afraid to tell Kaleohano what Nishikaichi shares with him. He cannot get U.S. citizenship due to a Territory of Hawaiʻi law. He leaves the meeting revealing little information.
Next, Kaleohano summons the Haradas, fluent in Japanese and English. Yoshio Harada was born on Kauaʻi to Japanese parents, making him an American citizen, and his wife, Irene, was born in Japan.
The Haradas align more strongly with Japan than Hawaiʻi, join forces with Nishikaichi, and do not reveal the urgent plight at hand. This decision comes at a significant cost to many, gravely steering the course of events about to unfold.
But before the accelerated chaos ensues, the inhabitants of Niʻihau hold a lūʻau for Nishikaichi, unaware they are dining with the enemy. By nightfall, the Niʻihauans discover that the U.S. and Japan are at war and scramble to decide what to do with the pilot.
Nishikaichi stays with the lūʻau host overnight and is transported to Kiʻi Landing in the morning, expecting to meet Aylmer Robinson, Niʻihau’s absentee landlord. The Robinson family has owned the island since 1864, and Aylmer, who lives on Kauaʻi, makes weekly visits to Niʻihau. However, due to wartime restrictions, Aylmer cannot make the journey. (5)
Nishikaichi’s Temporary Take-Over of Niʻihau
The next couple of days are full of treacherous acts by Shintani and the Haradas as they aid Nishikaichi.
Here is a summary of the events:
- Nishikaichi solidifies allegiance with the Haradas, convincing them to stand firm in their allegiance to Japan, who he insists will win the war.
- Shintani demands Kaleohano return Nishikaichi’s papers.
- Nishikaichi devises Plan C: death by honor.
- Harada steals a shotgun and pistol and hides them in a honey warehouse.
- Harada and Nishikaichi use the weapons to force a watch guard into the warehouse and lock him inside. They commandeer a wagon and go to Kaleohano’s home. Not finding him there, they go to Zero, guarded by a 16-year-old boy, and try to use the radio. They force the boy back to Kaleohano’s home.
- Kaleohano attempts to rush the intruders, and Harada shoots at him, missing. Kaleohano escapes and informs the village of the attack. He moves the plane’s official papers to his mother-in-law’s home.
- The locked-up guard escapes, backs up Kaleohano’s story, and the village goes into hiding.
- A warning bonfire is set on Mount Pānīʻau, and Kaleohano decides to go to Kauaʻi for help. He and five others make the 10-hour trip in the middle of the night in a lifeboat from Kiʻi landing to Waimea.
- Upon arrival, Robinson receives approval from the Kauaʻi Military District to send help.
- Nishikaichi and Harada recapture the escaped guard, take another prisoner, Kaahakila Kalima, and all of the machine guns and ammunition from the Zero, and walk the village, shooting guns and demanding Kaleohano surrender.
- Kalima is ordered to send word to Haradas’ wife and escapes to the beach to warn the village further. (6)
December 12: The Fall of Nishikaichi & Bravery of Ben Kanahele
On the beach, Kalima finds Ben Kanahele and his wife. Kanahele, a 49-year-old sheep rancher who stands six feet tall and is revered for his strength, successfully steals the machine gun ammo from the wagon but is later captured while attempting to get food.
On the evening of December 12, Nishikaichi and Harada, unable to locate the plane’s papers, burn down Kaleohano’s house. They force Kanahele to look for Kaleohano as Nishikaichi holds the shotgun and a pistol in his boot, threatening to kill him and the rest of the village if he can’t find Kaleohano.
Kanahele is outraged and demands that Harada take the pistol from Nishikaichi. Harada does not cooperate but asks for the shotgun instead. When Nishikaichi hands Harada the shotgun, Kanahele and his wife leap toward Nishikaichi, who quickly pulls the pistol. He shoots Kanahele, hitting him in the chest, hip, and groin. Kanahele picks Nishikaichi up off the ground and throws him into a nearby rock wall.
Kanahele’s wife quickly grabs a rock and beats it on Nishikaichi’s head. Kanahele swiftly finishes the job, slicing Nishikaichi’s throat with a knife. Harada ends it all by taking the shotgun to his gut, killing himself.
On December 13, the rescue mission from Kauaʻi arrives, learning of Kanahele’s bravery,
Following the Niʻihau Incident:
- Kanahele survived and was awarded the Medal of Merit and the Purple Heart.
- Kaleohano was awarded the Medal of Freedom.
- Shintani was held on the Mainland through the war and blamed Japan for his actions. He became a U.S. citizen in 1960.
- Irene Harada was charged as a Japanese spy and imprisoned on Oʻahu until 1944. She held silent and returned to Niʻihau upon her release. (7, 8)
The Niʻihau Incident’s Lasting Effects
The events of the Niʻihau Incident tragically impacted not only the Japanese residents of Niʻihau but the U.S. as a whole. The U.S. was outraged by the Pearl Harbor attack, and increased suspicion ensued for people of Japanese ancestry.
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, forcing over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry into U.S. prison camps. Roughly two-thirds were American citizens. They were forced to live in these camps for the remainder of the war, with 8,500 labeled as disloyal, separated from their families, and detained at a specific facility. (9)
Finally, in December 1944, the prisoners were released, and Japanese Americans were allowed to return to the Pacific West Coast. However, the damage of Pearl Harbor and the Niʻihau Incident would live on with lasting effects, directly contributing to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. (10, 11)
(1): https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2018/12/06/remembering-pearl-harbor-the-nncident/
(2-7): https://www.jiaponline.org/2016/12/the-niihau-incident-that-other-fallen.html
(8): https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/niihau-incident/
(9-10): https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/japanese-american-incarceration#:~:text=the%20United%20States.-,Following%20the%20Pearl%20Harbor%20attack%2C%20however%2C%20a%20wave%20of%20antiJapanese,for%20most%20of%20the%20war.
(11): https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/history/attack-pearl-harbor-1941/