Before I jump into this week’s topic, I thought I’d take a moment to welcome my Friday Money section readers to the new Honolulu Star-Advertiser Sunday Magazine. I hope you enjoy my column in its new home here.

This December marks the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and dozens of events and activities are planned. “Rearview Mirror” will examine several aspects of this pivotal event in world history in the weeks leading up to Dec. 7. Commemoration event organizers expect many Pearl Harbor survivors to make this their last trip, as most are in their 90s.

One of the things I came upon in my research is a 1952 interview with Capt. Mitsuo Fuchida of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, who led the air attack. We often think of the war from America’s point of view. Fuchida gives us insight into the attack from the Japanese perspective.

The first thing that struck me in his interview, published in the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings magazine, was that Dec. 8 — not Dec. 7 — was the date the Japanese had in mind for their air assault. It took me a while to realize Japan is on the other side of the International Dateline, and Dec. 8 there would be Dec. 7 here.

Fuchida said the choice of Dec. 8 was made because Sundays were the most likely day to find U.S. battleships in port. A spy from the consulate had noted ship movements for months and reported that “the fleet returned to harbor on weekends after training periods at sea, so there was great likelihood that it would be in Pearl Harbor on Sunday morning.”

“Favorable moonlight was also a major consideration, three or four days after the full moon being the most desirable time,” Fuchida said, “and on 8 December the moon was 19 days old” — five days past full.

“All things considered, 8 December was the logical day for the attack.”

The main target

Next, Fuchida said U.S. aircraft carriers were not the main target, and neither was Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese knew American carriers were not in port. Eight U.S. battleships were the main target, and the Japanese hoped they would be anchored off Lahaina or Maalaea on Maui, near where they often trained. There would be less anti-aircraft defense there, Fuchida noted.

The day before the attack, a Japanese submarine reported the American fleet was not in the Lahaina anchorage. “If the Pacific Fleet was there, it would have offered our best chance for success, and we had hoped accordingly,” Fuchida said. “Receipt of the negative information, however, blasted our hopes for such an opportunity.”

Figuring that all eight battleships would be at Pearl Harbor, Chief of Staff Ryunosuke Kusaka recommended the attack on Pearl Harbor the following day.

On Sunday, Dec. 7, the first wave of 183 fighters, bombers and torpedo planes took off from the six Japanese carriers by 6:15 a.m.

Fuchida said he picked up an Oahu radio station and heard the weather report: partly cloudy and good visibility with 10 mph tradewinds.

“What a windfall for us! A more favorable situation could not have been imagined,” he said. “Weather conditions over Pearl Harbor had been worrying me greatly, but now with this information I could turn my attention to other problems.”

The air strike leader said they had one plan if the attack was a complete surprise and another if U.S. forces were somehow alerted. In the case of the former, he would fire one signal pistol from his aircraft; for the latter, two signal pistols.

However, after opening the cockpit’s canopy and firing one pistol, he realized one bomber group had not seen it. He fired a second signal pistol in their direction, but “this second shot was taken by the commander of the dive bomber group as signifying a nonsurprise attack, which would mean that his group should attack first, and this error served to confuse some of the pilots who had understood the original signal.”

Radio communications

In Fuchida’s interview, he says he knew that Adms. Nagumo and Yamamoto, and the General Staff in Tokyo, were anxious about the attack, and he decided that they should be informed as the battle progressed.

He ordered the following message sent to the fleet: “We have succeeded in making a surprise attack. Request you relay this report to Tokyo.” The radio man acknowledged that the message had been received by the carrier Akagi.

Explained Fuchida, “The code for a successful surprise attack was ‘Tora, tora, tora.’ There is a Japanese saying, ‘A tiger (tora) goes out 2,000 miles and returns without fail.’”

Before the Akagi radio operator could relay the message to Japan, it was received by Gen. Nagata in Hiroshima Bay and the General Staff in Tokyo, directly from Fuchida’s plane.

“This was surely a long-distance record for such a low-powered transmission from an airplane,” Fuchida speculated.

Americans jump into action

The aviator was surprised at how fast Americans opened fire on them. “As my group made its bomb run, enemy anti-aircraft (guns) suddenly came to life. Dark gray bursts blossomed here and there until the sky was clouded with shattering near misses which made our plane tremble.

“Shipboard guns seemed to open fire before the shore batteries. I was startled by the rapidity of the counterattack, which came less than five minutes after the first bomb had fallen.

“Were it the Japanese Fleet, the reaction would not have been so quick, because although the Japanese character is suitable for offense, it does not readily adjust to defense.”

Upon returning to the Akagi, Fuchida found 21 large anti-aircraft flak holes in his plane. One important cable was nearly severed.

He reported to Adm. Naguma and urged a third wave be launched as planned to hit a fuel depot, submarine base and dry docks. Naguma called off another attack, thinking the possible gains were small and the risk great. It was a crucial mistake, because U.S. forces were able to refloat and repair all but two battleships and attack the Japanese less than six months later at Midway. Our victory there turned the tide of the war in the Pacific.

After the war, Fuchida moved to the United States and became a Christian missionary. He died in 1976.

Upcoming events

The Pearl Harbor 75th-anniversary organizing committee has nearly 50 events planned during Dec. 1-11, and most are free and open to the public. The full schedule can be found at pearlharbor75thanniversary.com.

Bob Sigall, author of the “Companies We Keep” books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@yahoo.com.