Futility Closet

After taking part in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese fighter pilot Shigenori Nishikaichi crash-landed on the isolated Hawaiian island of Niihau. In this episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll recount the six days of escalating drama that unfolded between the desperate pilot and the terrified islanders. We'll also hear a list of open questions from Greg's research and puzzle over why a man can't sell a solid gold letter opener. Sources for our feature on the Niihau incident: William Hallstead and Raymond Denkhaus, "The Niihau Incident," World War II 14:5 (January 2000), 38. Andrew Carroll, "A Japanese Pilot Brings World War II to Hawaii's Farthest Shore," American History 48:5 (December 2013): 29-30. Richard B. Frank, "Zero Hour on Niihau," World War II 24:2 (July 2009): 54-61. "U.S. Won First WWII Victory Just Days After Pearl Harbor," Associated Press, Dec. 27, 1991. One particularly gruesome account of the whipping of Emmanuel Dannan appeared in The Living Age in 1855: Accordingly, the man procu