Happy Change the Pearl Harbor Thread Title Day!

Re: Happy Pearl Harbor Day!

I could be wrong, but I'm almost sure my family and Ivisited the Pearl Harbor Memorial on Pearl Harbor Day in 1983. My dad was running the Honolulu Marathon and I know it was in December and I remember reading a story about Pearl Harbor day in the newspaper. Would seem to make sense that we visited the memorial on the anniversary.

I wish I'd visited it when I was older and could appreciate it more. I do remember my dad being more somber and serious than usual at the Memorial.

 

Oh, I'm all that, and more.

 

Honolulu could be renamed East Tokyo.
I saw enough Hello Kitty shirts to last a lifetime. The ABC Stores (the main convenience store chain in Waikiki) sell as many Japanese products as American, ever try Shrimp-flavored Tayko chips?
I admire the Japanese that come to PH, because they're showing respect to those who perished.
They do keep the US and Japanese groups separate though.

 

So perhaps in 40 years or so Iraq will be the leading auto manufacturer of the world and Achmed Bin Laden will be closing for the Yankees.

 

That's interesting, Patchs.

But unlike us, with our apology for the shameful and abhorrent way we treated Japanese Americans on the West Coast with the internment camps, Japan has never apologized for Dec. 7, 1941.

 

Shouldn't the world's longest fragment be followed by an "or what" statement of some kind?

 

Forget it, he's rolling...

 

That was one of their best anniversary year special issues. It was titled "I wish I was there." The author said there were P.A announcements running every few minutes calling all of the generals and politicians away from the game. I don't think Marshall could have known about it beforehand. The attack occurred around 7 a.m. Hawaii time which translated to noon East Coast time (I think) did games start later?

 

I've listened to two books on tape about this within the last two months. One was by William Manchester, who served in the Marines, and the other was an overall book about Japan from 1853 to 1964.

The Japanese regarded the embargo on oil and scrap metal by the US as a belligerant action. Now, they were negotiating with the US but the military leaders in Japan weren't going to keep the diplomats fully in the know.

Japan had been at war in China since 1937, which explains their need for oil and metal. In the 30s and early 40s, there were something like 16 different governments and all but three or four were led by military leaders. There was some disagreement among military leaders in Japan about what to do. There were some Japanese who wanted to occupy Hawaii, but this was vetoed.

Did FDR know? I read From Here to Eternity (granted it's a novel set right before the war) and that gave you an impression soldiers in Hawaii fully expected a war. The question was where and when. There were warnings, but communications in 1941 weren't like today. The other fact is that before 1941 and even through 1944, the main focus was on Europe. Americans didn't think Japan was capable of pulling something like the Pearl Harbor attack. A lot of the maps they used for bombing raids on Japan in 1942 and later were from photographs that Moe Berg took when major league players toured Japan. Just like Americans never thought to figure out the Japanese, the Japanese apparently never questioned why a catcher who couldn't hit a lick was on a team of All-Stars.

And as goalmouth undoubtedly knows, Moe Berg was from Newark, New Jersey.

 

It still pisses me off when I think of the job Michael Bay did on Pearl Harbor. Those vets deserved so much better.

 

I heard a guy on a radio show talking about this a year or so ago. Everybody mentions the oil seeping to the surface at the memorial. The radio guy mentioned all the Japanese tourists there and he wondered what they think about this. He admitted he didn't have the nuts to ask.
It's a good question, what do Japanese people think about Pearl Harbor? I don't think I've ever heard any discussion on this.

 

According to Manchester, Japanese tourists visit many of the islands where WW2 Pacific battles were fought. Like Americans who visit Pearl Harbor, I'm sure it is to remember those who died and say a prayer that there is peace.

Also, a large portion of Hawaii residents are of Japanese ancestry, so there are probably local people who visit.