Stephan: Hawaii Under Rising Sun Pa (/ CD Special and and and and and and and)

For many years, the view was widely held that Japan's Midway Operation in June 1942 was limited to two major aims. The first was to extend Japan's eastern defensive perimeter to the Midway Atoll, and thereby deprive the United States of its last island outpost west of Hawaii. The second aim was to draw the aircraft carriers of the United States Pacific Fleet to a decisive battle off Midway where they could be destroyed by the Japanese Navy. Powerful historical evidence now indicates that Admiral Yamamoto had a third aim when he launched his Midway Operation. He did not intend simply to capture Midway Atoll and garrison it. The Japanese knew that it would be impossible to supply, maintain and hold a tiny atoll so far from Japan. It was too small to develop into a stronghold. Moreover, it was within range of B-17 heavy bombers based on Oahu. If he succeeded in destroying the carriers of the US Pacific Fleet at Midway, Yamamoto intended to use Midway Atoll as a stepping stone to attack Hawaii. At the highest levels of Japan's Combined Fleet, the plan to attack Hawaii was known as "Eastern Operation". New light was thrown on the full scope of Japan's Midway Operation by Professor John J. Stephan in his book "Hawaii under the Rising Sun: Japan's Plans for Conquest after Pearl Harbor" (1984), University of Hawaii Press. At the time he wrote that book, Dr Stephan was Professor of Modern Japanese History at the University of Hawaii. Professor Stephan speaks and reads Japanese fluently, and he has lectured at the National Defence College at Tokyo and major Japanese universities (including Tokyo and Waseda). Based upon extensive research and documentation, including the combing of Japanese archives and discussions with Japanese military historians, Professor Stephan claims in his book that the aims of Japan's Midway Operation were not limited to destruction of the US Pacific Fleet and the capture of Midway Atoll as an end in itself. He claims that the capture of Midway Atoll was intended to be the first stage of a more ambitious plan that would culminate in a major Japanese attack on Hawaii. The next step would be the occupation of America's Johnston Island (710 miles south-west of Pearl Harbor), and then establishing bases on Hawaii, the largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. Having established air and naval bases on Hawaii, Stephan claims that the Japanese intended to launch air and naval attacks on Oahu from those bases. Professor Stephan claims that the planned operations against Johnston Island and Hawaii were aspects of what was known collectively at the highest levels of Japan's Combined Fleet as Eastern Operation, and that Eastern Operation was predicated on the destruction of the carriers of the US Pacific Fleet at Midway. As Admiral Yamamoto saw it, the placing of a Japanese noose around Oahu, and relentlessly tightening it, offered the best prospect of drawing the United States into peace talks that would lead to recognition of Japan's c

. Equipped with Japanese language skills and academic experience in Japan, Dr. Stephan conducted exhaustive research into military and civilian sources in order to develop the full story of Japan's designs upon Hawaii in the early stages of WWII. His book reveals a serious intent to actually invade and occupy the islands, primarily to deny the U.S. Navy its natural springboard for challenging Japanese advances in the Pacific. The kicker in that regard was the Doolittle Raid in April 1942, which convinced the Japanese Army that Hawaii was a threat that had to be neutralized. . A secondary goal was to liberate the "Asian" poplace of Hawaii (which to Imperial Japan was everyone there except Caucasians) and bring them into their Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. Some Japanese even advocated annexing Hawaii outright, as a natural extension of their own island nation. . One surprise to this reviewer was learning the extent to which many of Hawaii's ethnic Japanese citizens directly participated in the mother country's war, at least before Pearl Harbor. Many served in the Imperial armed forces (i.e., in China) and others returned to Japan before Pearl Harbor to support the war through academic or jounalistic pursuits. There is no suggestion, though, that Japanese-Americans in Hawaii (after Pearl Harbor) engaged in any such activities. . The book also reveals that a Japanese attempt to take and hold Hawaii was most likely doomed to failure; a potential calamity on a grand scale. By late 1942 (the proposed time frame for the invasion) U.S. forces on Oahu alone were far superior, at least in numbers, to the proposed Japanese invasion force. Ghastly attrition of invasion troops would have been unavoidable, even if the campaign was ultimately successful. And once in control of Hawaii, Japan clearly didn't have the logistic capacity to sustain themselves there--there's no way their merchant marine could have replaced the necessary constant flow of supplies coming from the U.S. Both conquerers and conquered would have faced cruel deprivation in a few short months. . Clearly, Hawaii would have been Japan's "Bridge Too Far." Everyone--Japanese, Hawaiians, and other Americans--were far better off because the Battle of Midway put an abrupt end to the whole idea. . In summary, this is a fascinating topic that will hold the interest of any serious student of WWII in the Pacific. Dr. Stephan's treatment of it is highly detailed, thoroughly researched, and presented in a manner that holds the reader's interest from cover to cover.

This is true scholarship in service of a great question. A distinguished historian at University of Hawaii, Stephan analyzes the place of Hawaii in Japanese military strategy in WW II. Obviously, this raises the question of the fate of Japanese-Americans during World War II. The issue has received illumination in recent books by Greg Robinson and Eric Muller. Stephan offers a politically incorrect interpretation that indicates that the Japanese military thought they could rely on using American Japanese for their purposes following a successful invasion of Hawaii. The prospect cannot be denied. With internal national security issues more vital than ever, Stephan's book should be on the minds of all serious students and citizens today.