Summary of Ghosts of Honolulu by Mark Harmon: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor

By Willie M. Joseph

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This book does not in any capacity mean to replace the original book but to serve as a vast summary of the original book.

Summary of Ghosts of Honolulu by Mark Harmon: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor

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Ghosts of Honolulu is a gripping account of the world-changing cat and mouse games played between Japanese and US military intelligence agents in Hawaii before the outbreak of World War II. The story follows Douglas Wada, a U.S. naval counterintelligence officer working to safeguard Pearl Harbor, and Takeo Yoshikawa, a Japanese spy sent to gather information on the U.S. fleet. The book explores the high stakes game of naval intelligence and the need to define what is real and what only appears to be real. The story is a must-read for espionage buffs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Willie M. Joseph
• Release date: Nov 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223798187

Willie M. Joseph

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This is an unofficial summary & analysis of Mark Harmon’s Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor designed to enrich your reading experience.

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INTRODUCTION

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) is a fictional television series that focuses on the true history of the agency. The show, which has been a part of the NCIS since its inception in the 1990s, has a rich history of its origins. The book Ghosts of Honolulu tells the story of the city's clandestine history before, during, and after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, primarily through the eyes of a naval intelligence special agent named Douglas Wada. NCIS's roots can be traced back to the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) established in 1882 to collect information on foreign vessels and chart foreign bodies of water. The ONI expanded into spy cases during World War I and covert operations in 1916.

In 1943 alone, NIS personnel investigated 97,000 cases. The book aims to provide a more complex understanding of how NCIS became involved in domestic counterespionage, highlighting the importance of quiet work in the service.

PROLOGUE

DIAMOND HEAD BEACH, HONOLULU

DECEMBER 7, 1941

On a Sunday morning, Douglas Wada, a lifelong resident of Honolulu, and two friends from his Japanese-dominated Kapalama neighborhood are fishing on Diamond Head Beach, a remote spot on the southern edge of Oahu. As they bait their hooks, they notice a mysterious plume and wonder if it's a training exercise. The nearest military facility is the airfield at Bellows Field. The lighthouse keeper, who is a US Navy agent, confronts three Japanese men near the lighthouse. Wada, who works with the Office of Naval Intelligence, has worked on undercover work, including surveilling Japanese ships.

He is informed that the base is under attack and advises Wada to return immediately. This is how Wada, America's only Japanese American naval intelligence agent, discovered that Japan launched a surprise air raid on Pearl Harbor Naval Base.

PART 1

THE BOY FROM HONOLULU

MAUNAKEA STREET, HONOLULU DECEMBER 5, 1922

Kazumasa Wada, a fourteen-year-old Japanese immigrant to Hawaii, was injured in a traffic accident while riding his bicycle in Honolulu. His younger brother, Douglas Toshio Wada, fell ill for days, leaving his family bereaved. His parents, Hisakichi and Chiyo Wada, were miyadaiku carpenters who specialized in building and repairing Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Hisakichi worked as a contract carpenter for the city's public transportation system, and the family moved to a plot of land on Kama Lane, a Japanese-dominated street in the Kapalama district. The neighborhood is an enclave for working-class Chinese, rural Hawaiian, Korean, and Japanese residents, with poverty and desperation but also well-tended home gardens, businesses, dance halls, and healthcare services.

Douglas Wada, a socially active youth, grows up in Honolulu, becoming an enthusiastic Cub Scout and baseball player. He attends McKinley High School, a predominantly Japanese student body, earning it the moniker Tokyo High. His parents try to keep him tied to the family's culture and Shinto religion, but his interest in studying fades before the appeal of playing second base and a new obsession with cars. His parents are trying to keep him tied to the family's culture and Shinto religion.

Douglas attends Japanese language school classes run by a Shin Buddhist association called the West Hongwanji, which teach subjects from Japan's national curriculum to its culture. These schools, known as Kibei, are not havens of nationalism but traditionalism.

Douglas Wada, a young boy from McKinley, is amidst the Americanization of Japan. His strict parents, Chiyo Wada and Douglas, are ready to intervene with help from the West Hongwanji when Douglas is a senior at McKinley in 1928. Chiyo offers Douglas two steamship tickets to Japan to see the coronation of Emperor Taisho, who is now officially enthroned in a Shinto ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. The new Emperor's birthday, April 29, is celebrated worldwide, and crowds flock to Shinto shrines to post their hopes for the next year.

Despite his excitement, Douglas is unaware