Dr. Kaoru "Kay" Ueda, curator for the Japanese Diaspora collection and research fellow at the Hoover Institution, reflects on the importance of the Mitsuo Fuchida papers. Historians increasingly recognize the need to study materials from all sides of World War II and the Fuchida papers show a Japanese perspective. Fuchida's personal account has contributed significantly to how we remember Pearl Harbor today and provides an insider’s view of the Japanese naval operations.
Fuchida’s papers are housed at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives at Stanford University. Explore the finding aid for the collection here.
Search some of the digitized materials here.
Visit our digital story to read more about the Ketsugo Air Force Operation Plan.
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>> Kaoru Ueda: What role do memory and media play in the popular understanding of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor? There is an epic film from 1970 called Tora Tora Tora which dramatizes the first wave of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. And showcases a charismatic and outspoken airman who led that mission.
He was Captain Mitsuo Fuchida. Trained as a naval airman, Fuchida was deeply involved in the planning and execution of the Pearl Harbor attack. We are fortunate to be the new home for Captain Fuchida's entire private collection, his family generously gifted to Hoover, which includes photographs, journals, Japanese Imperial Naval maps and Navy Academy training material.
After the Japanese surrendered, but before the allies landing in 1945, the Japanese Imperial Navy and Army systematically destroyed war documents for fear of them being captured and used as evidence against the Japanese in war trials. As a result, when the Allies desperately wanted historical documentation of the Pacific War, they found very little left in Japan.
Interviews and testimonies from Japanese officials have thus become an important part of the historical record. Fuchida, being one of the few Japanese high official survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack, was interviewed numerous times by Gordon Prang, the Chief Historian in General Douglas MacArthur's staff. Although devoid of official documents, his personal account contributed significantly to how we remember Pearl Harbor today.
And provided an insider's view of the Japanese naval operations. This is part of the naval crew of the aircraft carrier Akagi before departing for Pearl Harbor. Most of the photos in Fujita's papers are well-captioned. This is a dream situation for archivists and historians. We often deal with fantastic-looking photos, but without caption, they become somewhat meaningless.
On December 7, 1941, 183 planes departed from the Akagi and five other carriers to execute the first wave attack. At 07:49, Fuchida gave his pilot, Lieutenant Mitsuzaki the attack signal to. Then he ordered the radioman Fast Flying Petty Officer Mizuki to transmit the order to all pilots.
Fuchida shouted Tora, Tora, Tora. The code word signifying that they had achieved a surprise attack. Historians increasingly recognized the need to study materials from all sides of the war. The Fuchida papers show a Japanese perspective. Fuchida had a direct audience with Emperor Hirohito and Fuchida proudly wrote the calligraphy, we succeeded at the surprise attack, accompanied by a cartoon mocking President Roosevelt.
We all know how the Pacific theater of World War II ended, but this map reminds us history has consequential moments. This Ketsugo, or decisive Operation Map, the Imperial Japanese Navy prepared for the possible final battle on mainland Japan against the Allies, illustrates this point. We translated every airbase and aircraft on this map and collaborated with military historian Richard Frank.
According to Dr. Frank, the figures on this chart appear to be the total number of available aircraft of the Imperial Navy in the Japanese archipelago. 3680, well below the calculation of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey. The aircraft deployment is heavily concentrated in southern Japan, Kyushu island, but painfully sparse in the north for a possible Soviet landing from the sea of Japan.
Dr. Frank points out that a shortage of aviation fuel would have made it impossible to have an alternative northern network for the aircraft to rearrange if the Soviets had landed in northern Japan. What if doesn't exist in history? But we've been looking at a vastly different geopolitical situation if the Soviets had landed in Hokktaido in 1945.
We are excited to bring the Fujita Papers to the public to reveal his reflection on the Pearl Harbor attack. His contribution to the history of the Pacific theater of World War II that remains in our popular memories and his post-war spiritual journey.
