The Hawaii Hochi is still in business today and also publishes the English semi-monthly Hawaii Herald. They were later allowed to resume publication, but under censorship. Shortly after the attack and declaration of martial law in Hawaii, military authorities closed the Hochi and other Japanese language papers. The day after Japan attacked Hawaii, the Hawaii Hochi, Hawaii’s leading Japanese language newspaper, published “This is Our War” an editorial encouraging loyalty to the United States. Fred Kinzaburo Makino founded the Hawaii Hochi in 1912 to campaign for social justice, and he was an early critic of Japanese imperialism. By the afternoon of December 7, martial law had been imposed for the first time on U.S. Estimates of civilian deaths range from 48 to 68, almost all of them caused by wildly fired U.S. sailors, soldiers and marines died that day. Military personnel were ordered to report to their duty stations. Navy shell killed several people there, including a 3-month-old girl, her mother and aunt. View enlargement here HONOLULU, December 7, 1941: Wreckage of buildings at McCully and King streets after a U.S. The paper printed three extras that day and sold 126,000 copies in all, triple its normal circulation. The front page of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin’s first extra edition Sunday, December 7, 1941. Yet Japan’s December 7, 1941, attack on Oahu shocked the 423,000 civilians and 50,000 military personnel in the Islands and thousands more on ships. Navy photo)Įurope and Asia were already aflame, and many wondered how long America could remain neutral. Sixty-four Japanese attackers were killed in the strike, which was launched in two waves that morning from aircraft carriers north of Oahu. One thousand, one hundred and seventy-seven sailors and marines were lost aboard Arizona that day. Phone: (808) 847-3511 website: HARBOR, December 7, 1941: The battleship USS Arizona, its forward superstructure crumpled, lies burning after a Japanese bomb exploded in its forward magazine. $22.95 adults $19.95 adults with military ID $19.95 seniors $14.95 ages 4-12 free for ages 3 and younger. The exhibit can be seen on the first floor of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Portico Hall in the Hawaiian Hall Complex, 1525 Bernice St., Honolulu. The exhibit quotes resident Manual Lemes as saying: “If I were asked what was the worst experience I had all through this war, my answer would be: martial Hawaii” DIRECTIONS In 1946, the Supreme Court ruled that the suspension of civilian courts had not been justified by law. Some aspects of martial law were eased in 1943, with civilian government agencies resuming control of many functions and trial by jury resuming for local and federal laws. victory at the Battle of Midway in June 1942, after which a Japanese invasion of Hawaii became unlikely. While most Hawaiians experienced the same feeling of common cause as mainlanders in defeating the Axis threat, opposition to martial law began to grow in the wake of the U.S. Doors and windows of residences were required to be covered car headlights had to be painted a dark color to dim them. Nights were dark indeed during that period because a “blackout” order required all civilian lights - whether bulbs or flames - to be extinguished at nightfall. One photo shows beachgoers at Waikiki cavorting near a 10-foot-tall barbed-wire fence spanning the length of the beach. Photographs at the exhibit show men digging trenches in downtown Honolulu. Islanders were ordered to construct bomb shelters. and people of Japanese descent had to be in their homes by 8 p.m. Those rights remained suspended for almost three years and were reinstated only after numerous challenges in court.Ī strict curfew barred anyone from being on the streets between 9 p.m. It was believed that the surprise attack was just the prelude to a full-scale invasion of Oahu, and the military and citizenry set about fortifying the island for such an onslaught.īut martial law was also a reaction to the perceived threat by the presence of roughly 150,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans living in the territory, which represented about 35 percent of the population.ĭespite that suspicion, fewer than 2,000 of them were ultimately sent to internment camps, a ratio far less than were imprisoned in mainland states.įreedom for Hawaiians not placed in camps, however, was severely curtailed by the suspension of constitutional protections in order to “discourage concerted action of any kind,” the military governor said at the time. Poindexter, Hawaii’s territorial governor, declared martial law, and National Guard members took control of the cities. “Homefront Hawaii,” a simple exhibit at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, provides a glimpse into that post-attack period with photos, artifacts and a dose of music from the day by way of a 1940s-era radio.
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