The Niihau incident is not particularly well known now. It was reasonably well publicized / known in the early/mid-war period.
There was even a song during WW2 titled "They Couldn't Take Niihau No How" that was pretty popular in the 1944 timeframe.
link
One of those mysterious little events that spawned huge political consequences?
It seems that this is correct, the political consequences were fairly dramatic.
Press mentions of issues related to Japanese-Americans shifted dramatically after the release of the reports of the Niihau incident, both in terms of editorial coverage and letters-to-the-editors.
While I generally hesitate to draw too much cause-and-effect on public sentiment and governmental policies, the timing of events in this case is pretty compelling. There was a decided turn in public opinion that can be traced in time to extensive coverage of the event, particularly on the release of reports from government investigations. Anti-Japanese-American policies including interment followed pretty closely in time.
Eventually, Nishikaichi was killed by Niihauans Benehakaka "Ben" Kanahele and Kealoha "Ella" Kanahele; Ben Kanahele was wounded in the process…
Accounts I have read paint a more colorful picture of this.
For those who are not familiar with the Niihau incident … Nishikaichi was a Japanese pilot who ditched his plane near the small Hawaiian island of Niihau after taking damage during the Pearl Harbor attack.
The whole island was private property, a pineapple plantation at that time, with no regular contact with the outside world beyond a weekly boat from the next larger island. Nishikaichi managed to convince one or two local Japanese-born workers that Japan was going to conquer Hawaii, and they threw their lot in with him and helped him take over the island using his Nambu pistol and a local's shotgun to control the other workers.
Eventually Ben Kanahele, a local native Hawaiian farm worker, became impatient with these antics, and stopped cooperating. Nishikaichi threatened him, and eventually shot him (twice, as I read it) with his Nambu pistol.
Perhaps some of our readers have known some Hawaiians. My exposure is limited to those who I have met at various tourist locations on my vacationing there. But I've had the pleasure of knowing a few other Pacific Islanders over the years, particularly some Samoans. Making an admittedly generalized observation, I have found them to be physically large and powerful people, who are also often extremely patient, not at all particularly excitable. So this story has resonated with me…
Back to the story. Kanahele, the Hawaiian farm worker, who by most reports was well north of 6 foot tall and more than 300 pounds, announces he is no longer going to cooperate. He's done. Nishikaichi, a Japanese fighter pilot, who by most reports was less than 5'6" and weighed no more than 140 pounds, draws his Nambu pistol, threatens him. Kanahele is not persuaded. So Nishikaichi shoots him. Kanahele seems un-impressed. So he shoots him again. This upsets Kanahele, who finally decides he's had enough. So he picks Nishikaichi up and breaks him over a wall. His wife, Ella, also seems to feel that shooting her husband goes beyond the bounds of acceptable behavior. She walks over to Nishikaichi, who is now paralyzed on the ground with a broken back, picks up a big rock, and mashes his head into a pulp.
Nambu pistol = small and under-powered.
Native Hawaiian farm worker = slow to anger, but when angry not small, not under-powered.
-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)
paints up some WWII Soviet aircraft.
