Remebering Pearl Harbor

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Consider the following remarks recorded by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on 7 December (I assume it this is from an evening edition):

Comment Reserved By Kita

Four armored policemen were dispatched at 10:30 this morning to guard the Japanese consulate, 1748 Nuuanu St.    Two uniformed guards patrolled outside the consulate grounds, on Nuuanu Ave. and Kuakini St., and two uninformed men were stationed on the grounds.


___________Nagao Kita, Japanese consul general here, said this morning that he thought the bombing of Honolulu was “maneuvers” by the U. S. forces here. When informed that there were casualties, he remained unconvinced that the bombing by Japanese planes had actually taken place.   
     “I was lazy this morning and didn’t get up until late,” he said, at the Japanese consulate where he was asked for a statement by The Star-Bulletin. “I heard a lot of gunfire but I thought the U. S. army and navy were on maneuvers,” he added. He said he would reserve comments “until I find out what this is all about,” and did not make any statement. Otojiro Okuda, vice consul who was with Mr. Kita and other consulate staff members at the Nuuanu St. consulate, expressed surprise and disbelief when told that “this bombing was serious.”
     “I heard quite a lot of noise this morning but I never imagined that this was a real bombing,” Mr.Okuda said.

Oh. 

I don't imagine those comments were well-received. 

History would later reveal the substance of messages to the Japanese consulates - which Americans code-breakers read. The full implications of the intercepted/decoded messages would not emerge until it was too late.


Recommended further study: At Dawn We Slept; Gordon Prange. Sadly, while a student at University of Maryland, Dr. Prange was a history professor. I never knew it because of the foolish choices I made at the time. Thankfully, his books remain with us.