Reminisce - JACAR: How a Japanese-language newspaper in Hawaii traced the path to Pearl Harbor

On December 8, 1941, the Japanese Navy’s “Mobile Force” (an aircraft carrier group) attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, triggering the Pacific War. Hawaii was then home to a significant population of Japanese immigrants and their descendants. How did the Nippu Jiji, a Japanese-language newspaper in Hawaii, report on the jolting surprise attack and the events that led up to it? JACAR’s new video explores that dynamic, utilizing a narrative approach.
The characters in the video are fictional. Their conversation is based on materials available on the JACAR database and other references.
The materials featured in the video are accessible via the JACAR website:
▼Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (official website)
www.jacar.go.jp/
Below are the links to the individual materials featured in the video.
(Corresponding timestamps are given in parentheses.)
(Click the link to access the page for the corresponding material. Once there, click “Browse” to view the image of the data on the digital archives of the Hoover Institution [Stanford University] or National Archives of Japan.)
(01:18) Feb. 16, 1935, “Commemorating 50 Years of Government-Sponsored Immigration to Hawaii” (Beginnings: Half a Century Ago)
www.jacar.arch...
(01:36) Feb. 16, 1935, “Commemorating 50 Years of Government-Sponsored Immigration to Hawaii” (Present-day Honolulu and the Japantown in Palama)
www.jacar.arch...
(01:54) Apr. 5, 1941, “Commemorating Completion of New Waianae Japanese School Building”
www.jacar.arch...
(02:05) Apr. 12, 1938, “Expanded and Renovated Photo Department at Headquarters”
www.jacar.arch...
(02:20) May 4, 1936, “Kane no Mori Makes a Grand Opening: Sumo Event Draws 4,000 Spectators in Rousing Success”
www.jacar.arch...
(03:30) Dec. 1, 1937, front page
www.jacar.arch...
Sep. 11, 1939, front page
www.jacar.arch...
(03:53) Sep. 27, 1940, front page
www.jacar.arch...
Feb. 14, 1941, front page
www.jacar.arch...
(04:03) Sep. 17, 1941, US Defense Savings Stamps
www.jacar.arch...
(04:17) Dec. 1, 1941, “Yomatsu”
www.jacar.arch...
(04:48) Dec. 17, 1941, Shashin Shūhō 199
www.jacar.arch...
(06:18) Dec. 8, 1941, front page
www.jacar.arch...
(07:16) Jan. 8, 1942, front page
www.jacar.arch...
About the Nippu Jiji
The Nippu Jiji was a Japanese-language newspaper with an extensive readership among Japanese immigrants in Hawaii.
About the Hoover Institution’s Hoji Shinbun Collection
The Japan Center for Asian Historical Records, in a collaborative arrangement with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, has been working to expand its links to the Hoover Institution’s digital collection of Japanese-language newspapers. The ongoing effort has recently made substantial progress by offering access to Hawaiian Japanese-language newspapers like the Nippu Jiji. The video serves to highlight some of the materials now available.
▼Official X account
/ jacararchivesjp
▼Official Facebook page
/ jacararchivesjp
Materials
Courtesy of the Hoover Institution (Stanford University)
Main references
Shimada, Noriko. Sensō to imin no shakaishi: Hawai Nikkei Amerikajin no Taiheiyō sensō [A social history of war and migration: Japanese Americans in Hawaii during the Pacific War]. Gendaishiryō Shuppan, 2004.
Inouye, Daniel K. Translated by Yukio Morita. Danieru Inoue jiden [The autobiography of Daniel Inouye]. Sairyūsha, 1989.
Mizuno, Takeya. “Hawai no Nikkeijin to Nihongo shinbun ni kansuru rekishiteki haikei: Shimen bunseki ni muketa senkō kenkyū no rebyū” [Historical background on Japanese Americans in Hawaii and Japanese-language newspapers: A review of prior studies for newspaper analysis]. Seikei Ronsō 89, nos. 1-2 (January 2021).
Mizuno, Takeya. “Nichibei kaisen zen’ya no Hawai no Nihongo shinbun: 1941-nen-chū no ‘Nippu Jiji’ to sono ronchō” [Japanese-language newspapers in Hawaii on the precipice of the Japan-US war: The tone of the Nippu Jiji in 1941]. Seikei Ronsō 89, nos. 3-4 (March 2021).
Yaguchi, Yūjin. Hawai no rekishi to bunka [The history and culture of Hawaii]. Chūōkōron Shinsha, 2002.
Yaguchi, Yūjin, Kyoko Nakayama, and Shigeo Morimoto. Nyūmon Hawai: Shinjuwan no kioku [An introduction to Hawaii: The memory of Pearl Harbor]. Akashi Shoten, 2007.
Video
Produced by RCIfrontnet
Voice: VOICEVOX Nemo
Music: BGMer
#PacificWar #PearlHarbor #Hawaii #Japanesedescent #WWII #History