Longtime Big Island residents recall aftermath of Pearl Harbor

KAILUA-KONA — Miki Izu, 92, was 17, working in the family farm in Honaunau when news of the attack on Pearl Harbor reached Kona.

He didn’t remember his mother having any reaction to the news. If she did, he said, she never shared it.

As for himself, he said, “we didn’t know what war was.”

After the attack, the military set up camp at Konawaena School, where Izu was a senior, so for the next few months, he attended the Japanese Language School in Honaunau.

Once Konawaena reopened about three months later, he said, school went on just about as normal, except for the occasional air raid drill. But even then, the war was never much a topic of conversation.

“If we knew what war was, we might have different feelings,” he said. “I don’t even think our friends had feelings.”

Nor did life change much at home. In fact, the news about the attack at Pearl Harbor was about the only news they got about the war.

“We didn’t have radio, we didn’t have newspaper, so all we heard was the man came up and said that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor,” he said. “After that, nothing much.”

Norman Sakata said he was just 13 or 14 at the time of the attack and was living with his parents in Holualoa when the news came over the family radio.

“I remember I asked my father what happened,” Sakata said. “He said, ‘I don’t know why Japan had to attack America.’”

“That’s about all he said.”

The war brought new changes to Kona, Sakata said.

Any lights after dark were prohibited and Japanese residents were restricted to staying indoors after nightfall.

“We were more confused than anything else,” Sakata said.

Some of the restrictions had an impact on family life. Non-citizens, for instance, couldn’t leave the district in which they lived.

Most of the time, Izu said, it wasn’t a big deal, but on occasion it could be an issue. When Izu graduated, the ceremony was held at Aloha Theatre in North Kona. His mother, who was classified as an alien, lived in South Kona.

“So my mother couldn’t go to my graduation,” he said. “And it wasn’t only me, a lot of parents, so-called ‘immigrant parents,’ they weren’t able to attend the graduation ceremony.”

The attacks also brought an influx of military troops to Kona.

Sakata said he remembered a fleet of ships out at sea from Kailua to Keauhou, all of them lighting up the sky with spotlights.

It was a whole new world.

“We didn’t experience war before,” he said. “So we didn’t know all these things.”

But the relationship between the military and residents was always positive, said the two men. Sakata said his family befriended quite a few of them and his mother would often do laundry for them.

“They were nice people, all young people,” he said.

He said he corresponded with them until they left and tried to stay in touch even after he grew up.

Izu said the influx of troops even brought some unexpected benefits.

He often played a lot of baseball and the troops would often play against local teams.

“But you know,” he said, “we didn’t have much money to buy balls but these military guys had a lot — a lot of baseballs, you know?”

“So that’s one thing,” he added. “We had a lot of balls to play with.”

Despite the changes, families continued to live their normal lives.

“As far as food and living, I don’t think we suffered,” Izu said.

Because his family farmed, they were able to avoid the impacts of some of the food shortages that affected other families.

Izu said he remembered eating a lot of pumpkin during those years.

“We ate pumpkin a million one ways,” he said, laughing.

They were also able to eat sweet potato and plenty of taro, given that it practically grew wild. The family also shared their produce with others.

“I remember our neighbors, the man was interned, so we shared with them,” he said.

Izu said he remembered it was often the leaders in the community — Buddhist priests and Japanese school teachers — who were targeted for arrest and internment.

“Some people were interned but I don’t know why they were interned, you know?” he said.

They were often leaders in the community and people who tried to help the often uneducated immigrants. Community leaders, he said, would often read and write letters on workers’ behalf.

“I don’t know if the government thought these guys were corresponding with the Japanese government, I really don’t know what,” he said. “The ones I see who were interned, … they were really active in community affairs.”

He said what happened to the families of those interned often varied.

Some of the families ended up moving to the internment camps while others stayed back, he said.

The neighbor’s family with whom Izu’s family shared their vegetables had about five kids, he said, with the wife taking care of them by herself.

“I remember she joined the husband later on,” he said.

Some of them came back to Kona eventually, he said, but for others, they stayed and made their lives in the mainland.