While we personally know very little about Star Wars, it's shocking how easy it is for someone to
fall to the dark side in the Star Wars universe and in real life. Such was the case with a few
Hawaiians of Japanese ancestry during the Second World War. While we've told this story before,
we've come a long way since then, and it's just one of those stories you wanna hear
time and time again. In this video, we discuss the tragic, incredibly weird Ni'ihau incident.
Before we delve into the incident, let's set the stage. It was the 7th of December, 1941, and if
that date doesn't ring a bell, you really need to watch more of our videos. At eight in the morning,
Imperial Japan delivered a sucker punch to the United States, laying waste to Pearl Harbour on
the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Though, Hawaii isn't as small as you might think, and one of its 137
islands went the entire day without hearing a thing about America's fiery entry into the Second
World War. That island was Ni'ihau, which had a population of just 136 at the time — one less
than the number of Hawaiian islands. In fact, there were so few people living on Ni'ihau that
the Japanese thought the island was uninhabited and designated it as a landing site for aircraft
damaged in the attack on Pearl Harbour; the downed pilots would be picked up later by a submarine.
When Japanese pilot Shigenori Nishikaichi's A6M2 Zero was lit up in the attack, Ni'ihau must have
looked like a pretty sweet deal. However, he probably would have preferred not to crash-land,
just as the residents of Ni'ihau probably came to wish Nishikaichi had died on impact.
As Nishikaichi was coming on, his landing gear clipped a farm fence, and his Zero went
nose-first into the earth. Nishikaichi might have thought he had drifted off into the forever-sleep,
but he soon came to consciousness, being dragged out of the wreckage of his Zero
by a native Hawaiian named Hawilo Kaleohano. While the island of Ni'ihau may have been
blissfully unaware of Pearl Harbour, Kaleohano was no fool. He knew Nishikaichi was Japanese,
and he *knew* that Japan and America weren't exactly schoolyard chums.
He took Nishikaichi's gat and papers, which included some important intel,
and called out for help. It came quick, and with Nishikaichi in surprisingly good condition,
but not speaking a word of English, his Hawaiian helpers called over an elderly Japanese beekeeper
who had immigrated to the island some time prior. The beekeeper was named Ishimatsu Shintani, and
after he had absorbed what Nishikaichi had said to him — that Japan had kicked the bee hive that
was the United States — he left without saying a word. Confused, the locals called for Ni'ihau's
remaining two residents of Japanese ancestry — married couple Yoshio and Irene Harada.
Like Shintani before them, the Haradas fell silent when Nishikaichi broke the news. Inside
their minds, however, betrayal was stirring, and it would soon come to a violent, bloody crescendo.
The local Hawaiians, weren't thinking about getting *lit up* as much as getting *lit.*
On the night Pearl Harbour burned, they got out the rum coconuts and started making piña coladas,
hosting a party for the bewildered Nishikaichi, who only wanted his papers so he could get back
with his crew. It's safe to say that he ruined the vibe when he wouldn't stop harassing
Kaleohano — the man who had dragged him from his Zero — to return his papers. And it's safe to
say that the vibe was well and truly *dead* after the residents of Ni'ihau learned of Pearl Harbour
later that night. Corking the rum, they decided they would detain Nishikaichi for
the night and ship him off to be some *other* Hawaiian island's problem in the morning.
Unfortunately, with Pearl Harbour still smouldering, the US military had banned all
boat traffic between the islands, so Nishikaichi was stuck on Ni'ihau. One of the locals' biggest
mistakes was allowing Nishikaichi to stay with Yoshio and Irene Harada while they figured out
what to do with him. To their credit, however, they *did* post four guards at the property.
Chilling with Yoshio and Irena in their crib, the three of them got to talking — in Japanese.
Nishikaichi, the sly devil, rolled a nat-20 on his persuasion check, and the Harada's agreed to help
him get his papers back and get off the island. On the 12th of December, the beekeeper Shintani tried
to sort it out peacefully, offering 200 doll-hairs to Kaleohano in exchange for Nishikaichi's papers.
Kaleohano, the baller, declined, and back at Harada HQ, things were taking a turn for the
worse. Without even waiting to see if Shintani had been successful, Nishikaichi decided that, if
he was going to go down, he was going to go down swinging. He and Yoshio attacked one of the guards
while Irene played *Sabaton* on her phonograph, masking the sounds of the struggle. Overpowering
the guard, the men locked him in the warehouse in which Nishikaichi's gat was being stored,
and where there was also a shotgun. Cocking a shotgun shell for no good reason,
the pair made tracks for Kaleohano's crib, near where Nishikaichi's Zero had crashed.
On the way, they took a local captive, ready to leverage them if anyone got in their way.
When they reached Kaleohano's, Kaleohano was in his outhouse taking a dump.
Not thinking to check the crapper, Nishikaichi and Yoshio gave up looking for him and went to the
Zero instead. While the men were busy, Kaleohano finished wiping and gave it legs. As he ran,
he heard a shotgun shell go off behind him. But he wasn't hit. He fled to a nearby village and
started spreading the word that the Haradas had gone mad. People started evacuating, going into
hiding on the island, and Kaleohano snuck off the island on a rowboat to get reinforcements. In the
meantime, Nishikaichi and Yoshio stripped the machine guns from the Zero and then
burnt Kaleohano's house to the ground, trying to *destroy* Nishikaichi's papers now. But Kaleohano
had been about to use them as TP, and had taken them with him when he went to warn his people.
Nearing morning at this point, Nishikaichi and Yoshio continued running around like a pair of
crackheads with chrome, taking more hostages and even sending one hostage out to track down
Kaleohano for them. Instead of doing that, the hostage ran to his mate, and together they stuck
back to wherever Nishikaichi and Yoshio had been chilling and stone their machine guns.
In the morning, Nishikaichi and Yoshio found one of the thieves,
one Benehakaka Kanahele or just Ben, and took Ben and his wife, who we'll just call Ella, hostage.
They should never have frakked with this particular couple.
While Nishikaichi was passing Yoshio the shotgun,
Ben and Ella went HAM. Ben fell on the men, and as Nishikaichi reached for his pistol,
Ella grabbed onto his arm. Yoshio then ripped Ella off of Nishikaichi,
allowing Nishikaichi to bust a cap in Ben's groin. Oh, and he shot him in his belly and leg, too. But
Ben wasn't dead or even down. In his own words, "[...] I got mad. I picked up the [...] [pilot]
and threw him against the stone wall and knocked him cold." While Nishikaichi was unconscious,
Elle seized the initiative and caved in his head with a rock. Maybe overkill, maybe not,
Ben then proceeded to saw open Nishikaichi's throat with a hunting knife. Yoshio did the
only logical thing at that point. He turned the shotgun on himself, blowing out his own guts.
For his bravery, Ben received the Purple Heart and Medal for Merit, but poor Ella, who had actually
scored the kill, got stuff all. Yoshio's wife, Irene, and the beekeeper Shintani were taken away.
While Irene spent around three years behind bars, Shintani was sent to an interment camp
and eventually allowed to settle on Ni'ihau. The beekeeper, after all, was a pretty chill guy.
What is perhaps the most tragic part of this story is just how quickly the Haradas betrayed
their neighbours — a lesson in of itself for the US. Despite showing absolutely
no previous anti-American sentiment, the Haradas were convinced to betray the US
in just a matter of days. With that in mind, how could the US *not* look to other Americans
of Japanese ancestry without suspicion, especially with Pearl Harbour still smoking?
But we want to know what you think. Had you heard about the Ni'ihau incident before today? Why do
you think the Haradas betrayed their neighbours? Also, do you think Ella should have got
the medals instead of her husband? Please share your thoughts in the comments.