Takeo Yoshikawa
Takeo Yoshikawa | |
---|---|
Native name | 吉川 猛夫 |
Born | Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, Empire of Japan | March 7, 1912
Died | February 20, 1993 Japan | (aged 80)
Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
Service/ | Imperial Japanese Navy Naval Intelligence |
Years of service | 1933–1936 (Naval) 1937–1945 (Intelligence) |
Rank | Ensign |
Battles/wars | World War II
|
Takeo Yoshikawa (吉川 猛夫, Yoshikawa Takeo, March 7, 1912 – February 20, 1993) was a
Early career
A 1933 graduate of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy at Etajima (graduating at the top of his class), Yoshikawa served briefly at sea aboard the armored cruiser Asama as well as submarines. He had begun training as a naval pilot near the end of 1934 when a severe stomach ailment prevented his completing his training. He was subsequently discharged from the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1936. As a result, he briefly contemplated suicide.[1]
A year later he began a career in Naval intelligence, being assigned to Navy Headquarters in
A spy in Hawaii
Because of his expertise on the U.S. Navy, Yoshikawa was sent to Hawaii posing as a vice-consul named Tadashi Morimura (森村 正 Morimura Tadashi), arriving on March 27, 1941, with
According to Yoshikawa, although some 160,000 persons of Japanese ancestry lived in Hawaii at that time, he never tried to make use of this resource in his espionage activities. He and Seki agreed that, while Hawaii should be the "easiest place" to carry out such work in view of the large Japanese population, both looked upon the locals with disdain. "[T]hose men of influence and character who might have assisted me in my secret mission were unanimously uncooperative...."[6] Instead he made "regular use of a Japanese-American military veteran, a driver in the employ of the consulate general for over 20 years, whom he valued for his being “trusted by the Americans.” Another Japanese-American working at the consulate general bought at least one airplane ticket in his own name for Yoshikawa, who wished to avoid suspicion by buying too many tickets himself. He also turned often to a favorite taxi driver, an immigrant with Japanese military experience, who on at least one occasion hid his taxi outside the consulate general to help Yoshikawa avoid surveillance at the beginning of his route."[7]
Although he had no knowledge of a planned attack on
When he heard the "East wind, rain" code phrase on the short wave radio bringing the news from Tokyo to signal that an attack against the United States was to proceed, Yoshikawa destroyed all evidence of his activities. When the FBI picked him up on the day of the attack, there was no incriminating evidence of his espionage. He eventually returned to Japan in August 1942 in a diplomat prisoner exchange. It was not known for some time that he was the chief Japanese agent in Hawaii.[4][5]
Return to Japan and later life
Yoshikawa continued to work for naval intelligence during the remainder of the war. When the war ended and
Yoshikawa never received official recognition of his services during the war. In 1955, he opened a candy business but it failed as word spread of his role in the war. The locals blamed Yoshikawa for the war. "They even blamed me for the atomic bomb," he declared in one interview.[9] Penniless and jobless, he was supported by his wife for the rest of his life via her position selling insurance. "My wife alone shows me great respect," said the old former spy. "Every day she bows to me. She knows I am a man of history."[4] He died in a nursing home.
Over the years, the mysterious spies of
Sources
- ^ a b Will Deac. "Takeo Yoshikawa: World War II Japanese Pearl Harbor Spy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- OCLC 940281153.
- ^ O'Neal, Michael J. "Pearl Harbor, Japanese Attack on". Retrieved 2006-12-18.
- ^ a b c Ron Laytner. "The Last Samurai". Archived from the original on 2006-12-07. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
- ^ a b David Wallechinsky & Irving Wallace. "Pearl Harbor and the Japanese Spy Family Part". Retrieved 2006-12-18.
- U.S. Naval Institute.
- ^ Stephen C. Mercado: Studies in Intelligence", Vol 64, No. 2 (June 2020). Review of: "Japan’s Spy at Pearl Harbor: Memoir of an Imperial Navy Secret Agent. Takeo Yoshikawa, McFarland, 2020", retrieved December, 4, 2023.
- ^ a b "Remember Pearl Harbor". Time Magazine. December 12, 1960. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007.
- ^ a b "The Pearl Harbor Spy, Part II" by Miss Cellania in The Bathroom Reader, History, Weapons & War, Dec 6, 2010.