Background

The Japanese command mistakenly considered Niihau Island, located near Pearl Harbor, to be uninhabited and designated it as a place where pilots of aircraft seriously damaged during the attack would have to fly. The pilots were told that they would then be removed from the island by a submarine.

In reality, Niihau has been privately owned since 1864 and belonged to the Robinson family. One of them, who lived on a nearby island but regularly visited his property, was still ruling Niihau in 1941, making decisions about who was allowed on the island and who was not. Hawaiians lived there permanently, as well as a small number of non-Hawaiians, including three Japanese, all of whom would be involved in the incident.

Incident

Emergency landing

Shigenori Nichekaichi

On December 7, 1941, Japanese pilot Shigenori Nichekaichi (c. 1919 - December 13, 1941), who had taken part in the second wave of the Pearl Harbor attack and whose Mitsubishi A6M Zero had been damaged, flew it to Niihau. During the emergency landing, the plane was further damaged. A local resident, the Hawaiian Kaleohano, was near the landing site. He did not know about the attack on Pearl Harbor, but he was aware of the deterioration of relations between the United States and Japan from the newspapers. Kaleohano took the pilot's gun and papers. However, he and the other Hawaiians treated Nichekaichi with respect and showed him traditional Hawaiian hospitality by throwing a party in honor of the downed pilot.

However, they could not understand him as Shigenori only spoke Japanese, having very limited knowledge of English. So they sent for Ishimatsu Shintani (he was issei, that is, a first-generation immigrant born in Japan), a man of Japanese descent married to a Hawaiian woman to act as a translator between them. Shintani, however, was not enthusiastic about the task and, after exchanging only a few phrases with the pilot, left without explaining anything. Then the Hawaiians sent for two other residents of the island of Japanese origin (in fact, there were three of them in total) - Yoshio and Irene Harada (both Nisei, that is, second-generation emigrants born outside Japan, in the country of arrival).

Nichekaichi informed Harada about the attack on Pearl Harbor - knowledge that they chose not to share with the Hawaiians who did not know the Japanese language. He also demanded the return of his papers, which, as the pilots were instructed before the mission, should not fall into the hands of the Americans. However, Kaleohano refused to hand over the documents. The Harada family decided to help Nichekaichi get them back and escape.

News of the attack on Pearl Harbor

There was no electricity or telephone on Niihau. However, the islanders learned of the Japanese attack on the American fleet by listening to a battery-powered radio. They turned to Nichekaichi, and this time the Harada couple were forced to translate his words about the attack. It was decided that the Japanese pilot would leave Niihau when the owner of the island, Aylmer Robinson, visited him on his next weekly visit, but for now he would remain under guard in the Harada house.

However, Robinson, usually punctual and reliable, did not arrive on the usual day and subsequent ones - American authorities banned movement between the islands by boat immediately after the attack, which the inhabitants of Niihau, isolated from the outside world, could not know about. This caused concern among the islanders. Meanwhile, the island's inhabitants of Japanese descent colluded with Nichekaichi.

They sent Shintani to buy the pilot's papers from Kaleohano. However, despite the offer of a large sum by the standards of the islanders, he refused. At the same time, Irene Harada turned up the music while her husband and the pilot attacked the guard. Armed and taking a hostage, they went to Kaleohano's house. He, however, was able to hide and escape when the conspirators were distracted by Nishikaichi's plane, from which one of the machine guns was removed. Kaleohano was shot, but he was able to warn local residents in the village so that they could hide.

Kaleohano Night Escape

Under cover of darkness, Kaleohano returned to his home, retrieved the hidden papers and handed them over to a relative for safekeeping. He and other Hawaiians then rowed a small boat for many hours towards the island of Kawaii to warn Robinson about the incident. He already knew that something had happened on Niihau, since the islanders gave signals using kerosene and fires. Robinson asked the authorities to allow him to go to the island, but they remained adamant.

At this time, on Niihau, the Japanese pilot, with the help of Harada and one of the Hawaiian hostages, removed one of the machine guns from the plane and performed some manipulations with it. He also attempted to contact Japanese forces using his ship's radio, but was unsuccessful. They then burned Kaleohano's house in a final attempt to destroy any documents that might have been hidden inside, including radio codes, maps, and the Pearl Harbor attack plan.

Denouement

During the night, the Hawaiian men and women taken hostage were able to attack Nichekaichi and Harada. The first was disarmed and killed, the second committed suicide by shooting himself. Nichekaichi Ben Kanahele and his wife were killed. Ben received state awards as a result of the incident in which he himself was wounded

In the middle of the day on December 14, the Hawaiians, Robinson and government officials who had sailed earlier for help landed on the island.

Consequences

Irene Harada, who became a widow, and Ishimatsu Shintani were taken into custody. The first was sent to an internment camp and then returned to the island and received American citizenship by 1960.

Irene was imprisoned for 31 months and was released in June. She was not convicted of treason or other crimes committed on the island, and insisted on her innocence, but in a 1992 interview she confirmed her desire to help the pilot. She moved to the island of Kauai, where the woman was once visited by a Japanese officer who became an American evangelist after the war. .

Rust-covered wreckage of the Zero at the museum

Influence on public opinion

Historian Gordon Prange noted that the assistance of Japanese residents to the Japanese pilot undermined the Hawaiians' trust in all Japanese living on the islands.

Novelist William Hallstead believes the incident contributed to the internment of Japanese living in the United States.

Memorialization, museumification and controversy surrounding the incident

Coastal Japanese city Hashihama immortalized Nichekaichi, who was from there, with a 12-foot granite cenotaph. This happened at a time when the circumstances of his death were unknown and he was presumed killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The pilot's family learned the truth about his family and received the remains only in 1956.

The remains of Nichekaichi's plane and the tractor on which he moved around the island are in the museum. There is disagreement about whether the exhibit should tell the Harada family's role in the story.

Notes

Literature

  • Beekman, Allan. The Niihau Incident. - Honolulu, HI: Heritage Press of Pacific, 1998. - ISBN 0-9609132-0-3.
  • Clark, Blake. Remember Pearl Harbor! . - New York: Modern Age Books, 1942.
  • Jones, Syd."Niihau Zero: The Unlikely Drama of Hawaii"s Forbidden Island Prior to, During, and After the Pearl Harbor Attack. - Merritt Island, Florida: JBJ Delta Charlie LC/Signum Ops, 2014.
  • Prange, Gordon W. December 7, 1941: The Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor. - New York: McGraw Hill, 1962.
  • Shinsato, Douglas T. and Tadanori Urabe, For That One Day: The Memoirs of Mitsuo Fuchida, Commander of the Attack on Pearl Harbor," eXperience, inc., Kamuela, Hawaii, 2011.
Niihau
woof Niihau
File:Map of Hawaii highlighting Niihau.svg
21°54′ N. w. 160°10′w. d. /  21.900° N. w. 160.167° W d. / 21.900; -160.167 Coordinates:
ArchipelagoHawaiian Islands
Water areaPacific Ocean
A countryUSA 22x20px USA
RegionHawaii
Square179.9 km²
Highest point381 m
Population (2009)130 people
Population density0.723 people/km²
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Population

As of 2009, about 130 people permanently reside on the island. Almost all of them are ethnic Hawaiians and live in the largest locality islands - Puuwai village (English)Russian. Part of the island's population earns income from fishing and agriculture, while another part depends on social benefits. Niihau has no telephone service, no cars, and no paved roads. Only horses and bicycles are used for transport. Solar panels fully provide the island's population with electricity. Also, there is no running water on Niihau; water comes from rainwater harvesting. There are no hotels or shops on the island; goods and products are transported by ships from Kauai.

The native language of the island's population is a dialect of Hawaiian, which differs slightly from modern literary Hawaiian. Today Niihau - the only island archipelago whose main language is Hawaiian.

Some residents of the island have radios and televisions, but the use of the latter is virtually limited to watching videotapes and DVDs due to poor coverage. Sometimes, during severe droughts, the population of Niihau is completely evacuated to Kauai before the first rainfall can replenish the local water supply. Niihau has a school providing a full 12 years of education. Like other buildings on the island, the school is also fully powered by solar panels. The number of students varies from 25 to 50, as many families live part of the time on Kauai. In addition, some students from Niihau are constantly enrolled in 2 schools on the island of Kauai.

Owners of the island

Since 1864, the island has been the private property of the Robinson family. Robinson Family).

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Notes

Links

  • Niʻihau, the last Hawaiian island. - Press Pacifica, 1987. - ISBN 0-916630-59-5.

Excerpt describing Niihau

I looked in fascination at this beautiful, brave, amazingly gifted woman, unable to hide the sorrowful tears welling up in my eyes... How did “people” dare to call themselves PEOPLE, doing this to her?! How did the Earth even tolerate such criminal abomination, allowing itself to be trampled on without opening up its depths?!
Isidora was still far away from us, in her deeply wounding memories, and I honestly didn’t want her to continue telling the story any further... Her story tormented my childhood soul, forcing me to die a hundred times from indignation and pain. I wasn't ready for this. I didn’t know how to protect myself from such atrocity... And it seemed that if this whole heart-tearing story didn’t stop right away, I would simply die without waiting for its end. It was too cruel and beyond my normal childhood understanding...
But Isidora, as if nothing had happened, continued to talk further, and we had no choice but to plunge with her again into her distorted, but so high and pure, unlived earthly LIFE...
I woke up very late the next morning. Apparently, the peace that the North gave me with its touch warmed my tormented heart, allowing me to relax a little, so that I could meet the new day with my head held high, no matter what this day brings me... Anna still did not answer - apparently Karaffa firmly decided not to allow us to communicate until I break down, or until he has some great need for it.
Isolated from my sweet girl, but knowing that she was nearby, I tried to come up with different, wonderful ways to communicate with her, although in my heart I knew very well that I would not be able to find anything. Caraffa had his own reliable plan, which he was not going to change, in accordance with my desire. Rather, it’s the other way around - the more I wanted to see Anna, the longer he was going to keep her locked up, not allowing the meeting. Anna changed, becoming very confident and strong, which scared me a little, because, knowing her stubborn fatherly character, I could only imagine how far she could go in her stubbornness... I so wanted her to live!.. So that Caraffa’s executioner did not encroach on her fragile life, which had not even had time to fully bloom!.. So that my girl still has only the future...
There was a knock on the door - Caraffa was standing on the threshold...
– How did you rest, dear Isidora? I hope your daughter's proximity has not caused any trouble to your sleep?
– Thank you for your concern, Your Holiness! I slept surprisingly well! Apparently, it was Anna’s closeness that calmed me down. Will I be able to communicate with my daughter today?
He was radiant and fresh, as if he had already broken me, as if his biggest dream had already come true... I hated his confidence in himself and his victory! Even if he had every reason for this... Even if I knew that very soon, by the will of this crazy Pope, I would leave forever... I was not going to give in to him so easily - I wanted to fight. Until my last breath, until the last minute allotted to me on Earth...
- So what did you decide, Isidora? – Dad asked cheerfully. – As I told you earlier, this determines how soon you will see Anna. I hope you won't force me to take the most brutal measures? Your daughter deserves her life not to end so early, isn’t it? She really is very talented, Isidora. And I sincerely would not want to cause her harm.
– I thought you had known me long enough, Your Holiness, to understand that threats will not change my decision... Even the most terrible ones. I may die without being able to bear the pain. But I will never betray what I live for. Forgive me, Holiness.
Karaffa looked at me with all his eyes, as if he had heard something not entirely reasonable, which surprised him very much.
– And you won’t feel sorry for your beautiful daughter?! Yes, you are more fanatical than me, Madonna!..
Having exclaimed this, Caraffa stood up abruptly and left. And I sat there, completely numb. Not feeling my heart, and not being able to hold back my racing thoughts, as if all my remaining strength was spent on this short negative answer.
I knew that this was the end... That now he would take on Anna. And I wasn’t sure if I could survive to endure all this. I didn’t have the strength to think about revenge... I didn’t have the strength to think about anything at all... My body was tired and didn’t want to resist anymore. Apparently, this was the limit, after which a “different” life began.
I really wanted to see Anna!.. To hug her at least once goodbye!.. To feel her raging strength, and to tell her once again how much I love her...
And then, turning around at the noise at the door, I saw her! My girl stood straight and proud, like a stiff reed that an approaching hurricane is trying to break.
- Well, talk to your daughter, Isidora. Maybe she can bring at least some common sense into your lost mind! I give you one hour to meet. And try to come to your senses, Isidora. Otherwise, this meeting will be your last...
Karaffa did not want to play anymore. His life was put on the scales. Just like the life of my dear Anna. And if the second did not matter to him, then for the first (for his own) he was ready to do anything.

The Hawaiian archipelago consists of several islands. One of the most mysterious and interesting is the island of Niihau. This island is the seventh largest among all the islands of this archipelago, its area is almost one hundred and eighty square kilometers. Moreover, the island is one of the most sparsely populated. According to official data, only about two hundred and fifty people live on Niihau. This number of inhabitants is due to the fact that only native Hawaiians can live on the island.

The history of Niihau Island is interesting; in 1863, Queen Kamehameha IV decided to sell the island and it was purchased by Elizabeth Sinclair, who lived on a neighboring island, for only ten thousand dollars. Subsequently, the heirs, the Robinson family, began to own the island. It is the owners of the island who try to preserve the traditions and cultures of the Hawaiian people. Moreover, it is here that the Hawaiian language is not only the first language, but also the only one today.


The main mystery of Niihau Island is that the island is closed, that is, only native Hawaiians or people invited by island residents or members of the Robinson family can visit it. Niihau Island in Hawaii is called the “forbidden island”, which is the name by which it became known throughout the world. If you do not have an invitation from its inhabitants, you can see this island only at a distance, that is, during a helicopter ride or while snorkeling. You can also take a boat ride near the island, but you cannot approach it within a certain distance. If you are a scuba diving enthusiast, you can enjoy the beauty of the underwater world around the island without going ashore.


The vegetation of Niihau Island is not as diverse as on other islands of Hawaii, since the island is quite dry. Shell Leia can be found on the island's beach. This shell has a high value among shell flower collectors. One sink can be valued at up to several thousand dollars. The island's inhabitants mostly work on the ranch of the island's owner, Robinson. Livestock is raised here and fruits and vegetables are grown. The island's inhabitants also engage in fishing and hunting. For hunting they use ropes and nets that they weave with their own hands, spears and knives. At the same time, there are absolutely no shops, cars or hotels on the island. Residents of Niihau Island travel exclusively by bicycle or on foot.

Basic moments

Niihau is called the "Forbidden Island". Since 1864, it has been privately owned by the Robinson family, and for a long time it was possible to get here only by invitation. It is curious that these restrictions even applied to relatives of the indigenous islanders.

Since 1987 the situation has changed. Now Niihau offers expensive safari tours and helicopter trips. Helicopter excursions designed for half a day. During them, tourists are taken over the island, told about its history and dropped off on one of the beaches. Here travelers relax and swim in clear waters Pacific Ocean. Along the coast you can watch schools of colorful tropical fish and endangered monk seals.

Safari tours are conducted for those who are partial to hunting. Tourists are offered to hunt maned boars, wild sheep, antelopes - oryx and eland - that live on Niihau Island. The islanders sell beautiful necklaces and shell crafts to all guests.

Geographical features, climate and nature

Niihau Island is the seventh largest island in Hawaii. It was formed about 4.9 million years ago. The land area is 30 km long and 10 km wide. Himself high point considered the top extinct volcano, rising 381 meters above sea level. Near Niihau, 1.1 km to the north, is the small uninhabited island of Lehua.

Niihau is home to Lake Halulu, the only freshwater body of water in the Hawaiian archipelago. Its water reserves are replenished by rain.

Not on the island high mountains, which can stop the movement of rain trade wind clouds, which is why droughts often occur here. When this happens, the few residents of Niihau flee their homes. They move to other islands of the archipelago and live there until the weather changes.

Hawaiian ducks and stilts live near the freshwater lake. In addition, Niihau is home to many other birds, some of which are endangered and rare species. In this regard, the United States granted the island the status of a seabird sanctuary.

Population

The nationality of the islanders is Hawaiian. They communicate in a language that is slightly different from literary Hawaiian, so the inhabitants of Niihau can be said to speak their own dialect. Some of them speak English well as a second language.

All the islanders live in a single village - Puuwai. Some residents receive benefits, others earn money from mullet fishing, cattle breeding, agriculture and serving tourists. The main means of transportation is horses. Many people use solar panels and have televisions. But their operation is difficult, because Niihau Island is located in an area of ​​poor television signal coverage.

The islanders use rainwater for drinking, washing and irrigating fields. All necessary goods are delivered here by ship from the island of Kauai. There is a permanent school on the island with a 12-year education cycle, the number of students in which ranges from 25 to 50 people.

Military incident

The life of the people living on Niihau is very far from the events taking place in the world. The only time they took part in hostilities remained in the history of World War II as the “Nihau Incident.”

Although the island was permanently inhabited by Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians, Japanese generals considered it uninhabited. When developing plans to bomb the American base at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese command decided that Niihau could be useful as an alternate airfield. The pilots were ordered to land heavily damaged aircraft on the island, and a submarine was to pick up the pilots from Niihau.

On December 7, 1941, a Japanese military plane landed here. The islanders received the plane pilot with respect, since he, not knowing the Hawaiian language, could not explain to them who he was and where he came from. When everything became clear, the Japanese pilot was killed. At the same time, a Niihau resident who took part in the shootout was wounded and later received a reward.

How to get there

Niihau Island is located 28 km southwest of Hawaiian island Kauai. Tourists fly to Kauai by plane, and from there they travel by sea to Nihau by ship.

December 7, 1941 is the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, when the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, killing nearly 2,500 US military personnel. And, despite the fact that the Japanese attack is often said to be planned as a one-sided attack by suicide pilots whose return no one expected, this is not true. Japanese Navy officials realized that many of their aircraft would be so damaged that they would not be able to safely return to their carriers. Niihau Island (shown in red in the photo above) was chosen as the meeting place for everyone involved in the operation after it was completed. A stop at Niihau made sense: the island is only a 30-minute flight from Pearl Harbor, and it's tiny (180 sq. km), making it a safe hiding place for those waiting for rescuers there. In addition, it was uninhabited, which reduced the risk of attack or capture by local residents. The pilots were told to fly to Niihau and wait there until a submarine surfaced and picked them up.

It was certainly a good plan, but it went horribly wrong. As a result, it turned out that from Pearl Harbor to Niihau was not as easy to get as expected, and only one Japanese pilot was able to land safely off its shores. More importantly, Niihau was not uninhabited.

At the time, Niihau was owned (yes, someone can own an entire island) by a man named Aylmer Robinson. (His ancestors acquired it from King Kamehameha V and the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1864). Although Robinson did not live there, he ran it from Kauai, itself large island east of Niihau. Robinson rarely allowed outsiders into his territory. It so happened that, other than a handful of Hawaiians on Niihau, few visitors knew anything more than that the island was “uninhabited.”

As planned, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Japanese pilot named Shigenori Nishikaichi crash-landed on Niihau. Nishikaichi's plane landed just a few meters from one of the Niihau residents, whose name was Hawila Kaleohano. Kaleohano, like other residents of the island, was unaware of the events that occurred that day, but knew that the threat of war had been looming between Japan and the United States for months. Kaleohano, based on this information, took the pilot's weapons and documents until Nishikaichi came to his senses. But then they both found themselves in a difficult situation as they were unable to communicate with each other. Nishikaichi spoke only Japanese. But Kaleohano, and most of the islanders for that matter, are not. They only spoke Hawaiian.

However, a caveat must be made here. Specifically on the island were Yoshio and Irene Harada, a husband and wife of Japanese descent, both of whom spoke Japanese. Nishikaichi told the Harada family about the attack on Pearl Harbor, and they decided not to share this information with the non-Japanese islanders. But within a few days after the island's residents decided to throw a party for Nishikaichi, many of them heard the radio and learned of the real reason why the Japanese had come to Niihau. Robinson was scheduled to visit Niihau the very next day (as he or his representative did every week), and the islanders decided that Nishikaichi should be handed over to Robinson's guards, who were returning from Kauai with its owner. But Robinson never showed up. Unbeknownst to the people of Niihau, the US military had cut off all naval traffic in the area, and Robinson was stranded on Kauai. When he did not arrive, the Haradas offered to keep Nishikaichi in their hut, to which the rest of the population agreed (but only on the condition that five people would stay in the hut, rotating from time to time and thus acting as temporary guards).

But they probably shouldn't have introduced a shift change. Harada and Nishikaichi beat up the guards and took two pistols from a nearby warehouse. On the evening of December 12, as the villagers went into the bush and onto the beaches, combing the entire island in search of fugitives, three Japanese decided to obtain Nishikaichi's documents and therefore find Kaleohano. But they couldn't find anything or anyone. Kaleohano gave the documents to one of his relatives and then left the island on a ten o'clock boat to find Robinson. Nishikaichi burned his house to the ground and, with Harada's help, captured a woman named Ella Kanahele. Using her as his bargaining chip, Nishikaichi ordered her husband, Ben, to track down Kaleohano and bring him to them. Ben Kanahele knew that Kaleohano had left the island, but he did not return to the Japanese for as long as he could. When he returned empty-handed, Harada told him that Nishikaichi planned to kill everyone before Kaleohano returned.

Therefore, Ben Kanahele attacked Nishikaichi first and knocked him to the ground. Nishikaichi fired his gun at Ben, hitting him three times, but Ella jumped in between them to save her husband. Harada then dragged Ella away from Nishikaichi, but by then Ben had managed to lift the pilot and slam him into a wall and eventually slit his throat with a knife, after which Ella hit Nishikaichi in the head with a rock. Harada turned the gun on himself and committed suicide. Robinson arrived the next day and Irene Harada was taken into custody as only person of Japanese origin on the island.

The Niihau incident, as it is now called, made headlines across the country. Ben Kanahela was commended for his bravery and, despite being a private citizen, was awarded the Purple Heart. Irene Harada was jailed for two and a half years.

Additional fact: the Robinson family still owns Niihau. According to Wikipedia, the two brothers who now head the family were offered $1 billion to sell the island to the US government, but they repeatedly refused the offer.

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