6.2 Pearl Harbor Genesis

Slim Novel 6 - See Homepage http://adventuresofkimi.blogspot.com - See Homepage


2. Hotel Yamatomoto 
(From here Kimura's diary)

2 May 1942, Saturday: Boarding Admiral Yamamoto's flagship Yamato. Beautiful North Pacific morn! I knew about the ship but am unprepared for its actuality. Approaching by launch one word dominates: “Gigantic!” The ensign escorting me calls it World's Biggest Battlewagon. Built to Yamamoto's specifications it displaces 70,000 tons, mounts 18-inch guns, and has a 12,000 kilometer range. Its sailors call it Hotel Yamatomoto. As we pull alongside I note the super-deck's unusually guns. “Rocket guns,” explains the ensign noting my puzzlement, “but that is off record.”

   Instead of usual ladder climb to deck we are wafted heavenward on portable elevator. The Admiral himself thought it up, I am told. An inventor too! Leonardo, move over!

   Captain Yasuji Watanabe, Yamamoto's confidante meets us top deck. Seems a smooth fellow and according to sources is nicknamed “Yamamoto's gambling foil” due to skill at losing to the Admiral in exciting games of poker. He welcomes me with a set speech hoping my reportage will reveal to the public the major role of the Navy in winning the war. Am shown to cabin by charming 18-year old kimono lass Miss Ocho who has been conscripted along with other geisha to serve the Admiral.

   Now I see why Hotel Yamatomoto.

   Cabin is plush: wall-to-wall rug, deep red and soft, and thick enough to make love on comfortably, with indirect overhead light activated automatically on entering; and modernly designed functional furniture. Apparently the Admiral, who himself did the interior decor, is devotee of Le Corbusier's the house is a machine for living in.
   Rest of afternoon spent at lunch; then delightfully bathed and massaged by Miss Ocho.

   At 5 an orderly brings invitation to Captain Kureto Kuroshima’s cabins. Yamamoto's operations officer; he is rumored to be a planner of the 8 December Pearl Harbor. Kuroshima greets me in his vestibule. Unusually young for a Navy captain, due, I am told, to his eccentric brilliance. In untidy dressing gown, dribbling cigarette ashes on carpet, Kuroshima contrasts to Captain Watanabe who is spic & span example of modern military mores. The evening is fruitful.
   After several drinks rapidly downed, Kuroshima expands on Operation Glenn, which was the code word for the secret plan of the Pearl Harbor, an allusion to the American big band leader's String of Pearls. Like most of Yamamoto’s advisors, Kuroshima wants recognition. One wonders whether, when the war ends, he will still feel that way? Here is his version:

   In 1920 Yamamoto was Naval Attaché in Washington and his thinking was influenced by an event that sewed the seed which was to sprout & flower on the December 8^th. The event was the court martial of American General Billy Mitchell, early proponent of air power at sea. Military history buffs may recall that Mitchell staged a war game in which his aircraft bombers demonstrated how obsolete a naval task force would be in the coming war. But Mitchell went beyond his authority, used real bombs instead of duds and sent the battle wagons to bottom. The US Navy infuriated at his demonstration of its becoming obsolete, especially by an Army man, demanded court martial. Yamamoto attended, read everything he could of Mitchell's writings and even managed to obtain news film of the destruction of the fleet which he watched over and over.

   A second stimulus was a book of 1925 The Great Pacific War in which Hector Bywater envisioned a surprise Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor with the destruction of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The book became Yamamoto's favorite bedtime reading. He had it translated for use as curriculum for the students of the Naval War College.

   Yamamoto first broached such an attack during Spring Naval Maneuvers 1940 as he watched his carrier-based planes simulate Billy Mitchell's gambit on hulks of Russian vessels from the 1905 Russo-Japanese war. As the old war ships were being blown apart, Yamamoto turned to Kuroshima. “Wouldn't this be interesting at Pearl?” he mused. “You are my in-house genius, Kuroshima, or are you?  Prove it by drawing up a plan!”

   The following week, Kuroshima wandered about ship leaving a gray trail of cigarette ash. He closeted himself in cabin several days emerging with Operation Glenn.

   So Kuroshima says.
   Now he begins verbally trashing in harshest terms the efforts of Commander Genda and Admiral Onishi who are also credited with Operation Glenn. I shall spare the invective which confirms for me that Navy conceives the war primarily as vehicle for certain officers’ personal glorification with little thought to ultimate consequences for our nation.

   Kuroshima downs his 7^th saké and is just starting an anecdote about Genda's alleged cowardice in China when his eyes lose focus and he falls on face. The two geisha who have been pouring for us, dump him on a sofa. I am later informed that the geisha in addition to tucking him in each night, accompany him under covers and receive his conjugal blessings several times. Truly, Hotel Yamatomoto is heaven on water.
   Being quite knocked out myself, I am led to bed by the delightful Miss Ocho who gives sweet delight all night. (Continue next by clicking 6.3 The Clock Set Ticking )