Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor

The narrative nonfiction book Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese-American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor follows the contributions of two spies to their nations amid the backdrop of WWII. Unlike fictional military and espionage thrillers, the book does not sensationalize the battle between these two spies, who in fact never meet or interact with one another except in paper trails. Unlike the fiction world, this book does not end with justice. Many of the villains of WWII survive the war to live out their lives without every facing repercussions for their heinous deeds. Such is the case with the majority of the spies introduced in Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese-American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor. The book explores these miscarriages of justice, ultimately highlighting how those behind the attack on Pearl Harbor escaped justice while many innocent Japanese Americans were incarcerated without due cause or due process.

Douglas Wada labors in US naval intelligence as the only Japanese American interpreter and spy. Throughout the buildup to war and during WWII, Wada helps the US navy monitor his Japanese American community, hoping his work will reveal that the majority of Nisei in Hawaii are loyal to the United States and pose no threat. The real danger to America is not from within, but an external threat based out of the Japanese consulate. Wada understands that while it is unjust for the Nisei to be labelled as Japanese collaborators without evidence, he must also strive to collect a preponderance of evidence against the real spies at the Japanese consulate. Once they succeed, the Roosevelt administration refuses their request to arrest or expel the staff of the consulate. When the facts were not present, judgement against the Nisei was levied. When the evidence of espionage in the Japanese consulate was proven, no action was taken against the spies. For Wada, justice soon became an imaginary thing.

The other spy in Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese-American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor is a low-ranking Japanese former naval ensign named Takeo Yoshikawa, now under diplomatic cover at the Japanese consulate in Hawaii. His role is to map and monitor the US naval fleet. Yoshikawa goes about his work in Hawaii with little fear of being caught or of reprisal. He hardly hides his actions as he frequents tea houses with views of the harbor and drives and walks around Hawaii taking photos and notes. His drivers quickly figure out his goals and assist. He does little to conceal his work or his presence. When the consulate is arrested en masse after the December 7 attack on Pearl Harbor, Yoshikawa’s alias remains intact, and although he is labelled a spy and officials uncover his role, his identity is safe and he is exchanged along with his handler consul-general Kita for American prisoners. Yoshimoto is never charged and faces no retribution for his role in providing invaluable intelligence to the Japanese Imperial Navy. After returning to Japan, Yoshikawa acts as an interrogator in a unit known to torture and kill captured Allied forces. Though Douglas Wada looks for Yoshikawa while in Japan after the war, he is unsuccessful, and the Japanese spy responsible for Pearl Harbor survives the era of post-war tribunals hiding under another alias.

Yoshikawa’s driver, Richard Kotoshirodo, who assists with photography, surveillance, and mapping, is never prosecuted: “He confessed his involvement in Pearl Harbor to the FBI and an internee hearing board. Yet, he’s never been charged with any crime, even after much investigation and deliberation by the military investigators and the FBI” (207). When Kotoshirodo reappears in Hawaii in 1948, Douglas Wada files a report that leads nowhere, and Kotoshirodo lives out his life in Hawaii without repercussions for his brazen acts of espionage against the United States.

While in Japan, Douglas Wada learns of the scope of the tribunal’s prosecution, which will not include Minoru Genda, the officer who helped plan and launch the attack on Pearl Harbor from the Akagi. He avoided punishment in the military tribunal and went on to lead in Japan’s Self Defense Force before running for political office as a far-right candidate and winning, holding office for many years. He fought against nuclear non-proliferation in Japan, and asserted that Japan would have used nuclear weapons during WWII if they could have. He avoided all responsibility for the attack that left over 2,000 Americans dead and brought the US into WWII.

Japan’s Emperor Hirohito does not abdicate the throne after Japan’s defeat and is not tried. He escapes all connection to the war tribunals, war crimes, and Japan’s expansionism at large. He serves as Emperor for 62 years, the longest reigning Japanese monarch in history.