Born on March 7, 1914 Takeo Yoshikawa graduated at the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy at Etajima at the top of his class in 1933. His naval career was derailed in 1936 when he was discharged due to a stomach ailment. After briefly considering suicide, he decided to learn as much as possible about the United States Navy and studied everything he could on it. His early efforts revealed secrets which, when passed on to the Germans, allowed for the sinking of troop transports that were en-route from the United States to England as part of the Lend-Lease Act.
In 1940 he passed the Foreign Ministry English examinations and became a junior diplomat. Then Yoshikawa was sent to Hawaii under the cover of a vice-consul named Tadashi Morimura (森村 正 Morimura Tadashi), arriving on March 27, 1941. He rented an apartment and walked the streets taking scrupulous notes of Naval Placements and passing them back to the Japanese Consulate. He took rides on the local tugs and listened to gossip, he took short plane rides and even went into the harbor, breathing through a reed, to learn more of the naval placements.
A request was sent to him from Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto requesting specific data on the location he each naval vessel on a grid breaking the land into five key areas. Yoshikawa transmitted twice-weekly reports as requested which helped facilitate the Japanese attach on Perl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Sadly, the message Yamamoto had sent was intercepted but US officials, but there were delays in decoding it and once it was readable it was dismissed as having little consequence.
Yoshikawa did not receive credit for his efforts during the war, and continued to work in Japanese Naval Intelligence for the duration. After the Japanese defeat he went into hiding as a Buddhist monk fearing American retribution. He returned to his wife and two children only after American Occupation ended in 1952. In 1955 the former spy opened a candy business.
In 1960 he told his story, for the first time, to an American audience and became a scapegoat for the war. He was hated by Americans for his role in the war, and hated by Japanese as causing them to enter a war they were destined to lose. His candy business failed as a result and he remained unemployed for the rest of his life, as no one would hire him. His wife supported him as an insurance salesman. He has been quotes as saying, "My wife alone shows me great respect,", "Every day she bows to me. She knows I am a man of history." Yoshikawa passed away in 1993 in a nursing home without any note of his contribution to history.
-Professor Walter
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