(Part 3) Hawaii Without the Beaches: Pearl Harbor!!

- May 21, 2018, Monday.

- My first two days in Hawaii  (click for Part 1 here and Part 2 here) have been light and fun, despite learning about how Hawaii's royalty was dethroned by he Americans through various historical sites in the downtown. However, for a history junkie, one place can certainly not be missed in Hawaii - Pearl Harbor. Now Pearl Harbor is the site where the Japanese did their surprise attack that brought the US to World War 2.

- I arranged our Pearl Harbor tour through the travel desk at our hotel, Ala Moana Hotel, weeks before going to Hawaii. Our agent Malia was extremely helpful in assisting us with all our day tours (including the Polynesian Cultural Center in Part 4, click here). They arranged our day trip with Hoku Hawaii Tours (click here,) and I specifically requested for the "Beyond The Call to Duty" tour which was a full-day tour that included all the must sees in and around Pearl Harbor. The Pearl Harbor is very far from the downtown - almost an hour away with normal traffic - can be easily reached by hopping on the purple line of the Waikiki trolley, but the thing is, it might not be the fastest way (you have to wait for the scheduled trolley to stop and the designated stop, etc.). For the Pearl Harbor, it is best to be there right when it opens, mainly because of the long lines . Other tourists opt to drive a rented car. However, although I normally hate going with tours, I thought that booking a day trip was the best option. At the very least, the transportation to and from the city is covered, as well as lunch, on top of the tours. I also thought that I wanted some person explaining things to me regarding the Pearl Harbor specifically since I am not really good with details about wars, and I've always wanted to know and understand more details about Pearl Harbor and World War II.

- Just a piece of advice/important reminder before I proceed: no bags are allowed inside the Pearl Harbor park, even things as small as purses or camera bags. Also, even if no one checked, it's best if you bring your passport with you as it is one of the "must bring" list.

- We were picked up at our hotel at around 6am, and went to other hotels to pick up other passengers for our tour. We reached Pearl Harbor around 7am, and entered after the gates opened. What I like about the tour was that our guide gave us some time to do whatever we want apart from giving us a background of Pearl Harbor; most of the detailed explanations were given by those working in the national park (yes, the Pearl Harbor is considered as one of the national parks of the USA.) Although the park is small, it does have a lot of exhibits in its small museums. We first went to one of the small museums before watching a film about the surprise attack of the Pearl Harbor inside the theater.

I am here!! Finally!! After reading about you year after year after year in history class since grade school!!

Models of  the USS Arizona battleships used by the US.

Tip of the wing of a Japanese plane.

Old radio, camera, and binoculars.

Code decoder.

Radar plot.

This is what they used to detect incoming vehicles.

Peace cranes for those who perished in the USS Arizona.

A Japanese torpedo.

- After watching the film, we boarded a boat that was supposed to bring us to the USS Arizona memorial. However, due to the strong winds and currents that day, the US Navy advised that we should not set foot on the memorial, and instead, the boat would circle the memorial instead. It was a slight disappointment, but I understand that it was for our safety, and we wouldn't want any of us to be blown off balance while in the memorial and falling to the sea. However. if only the winds and currents weren't too strong that morning, not only would we see the names of around a a thousand men who perished in the sunken USS Arizona ship, but we'd also see the sunken ship through the shallow waters.

USS Emory S. Land paying a visit to Hawaii from Guam.

USS Arizona memorial; the USS Arizona battleship is under that white memorial.

USS Missouri at the back.

That's me with USS Emory S. Land back at the shore. See my military-inspired outfit? I didn't want to overdo it.

- The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 as a way to weaken American military presence in the Pacific. The US forces were all around the Pacific and the Japanese wanted to gain dominance, and in line with that, it will allow the Japanese to hopefully get more resources in the Asia-Pacific once they gain dominance. The "secret attack" was not only well orchestrated, but also a matter of good timing and military error. The Americans were expecting new planes that morning, and they thought that the incoming Japanese planes were the new planes that they were waiting for; the Americans were attacked and it was too late. As it was a Sunday, there was less guard in Pearl Harbor, which also allowed the Japanese to gain the upper hand in the attack. However, even though some men were not in the military bases in Pearl Harbor when the attacks happened, thousands of men died that day - especially those who were on board the USS Arizona, the ship that the Japanese sank, and remains under the shallow waters today.

The USS Arizona's anchor.

- At the other side of the park is the USS Bowfin submarine. This old submarine was used both in World War 2 and the subsequent Korean War in the early 1950s. Currently, it serves as a museum and a National Historic Landmark. I was too excited to visit this submarine because I didn't know that we were allowed to go inside the actual submarine! It was my first time inside a submarine - let alone a battle submarine. As expected, there was little wiggle room inside the submarine, and knowing how Americans typically have bigger body structures, I'm not sure how it was possible for a lot of men to fit inside the submarine, especially if there is an emergency and everyone had to move and go somewhere at the same time.

The USS Bowfin from afar.

Going to the submarine.

My necklace by the way has a tiny pair of binoculars.

This part reminds me of ABBA's "Under Attack.

Tiny kitchen.

Tiny dining room.

Hard to move. To think things were even hotter back then with all the engine running.

Someone's sleeping quarters.

Tiny office.

One of my favorite rooms: the engine room!!

I CAN FIT I CAN FIT.

Again, ABBA's song, "Under Attack."

Big canon!!

This giant gun is powered by two men, one on each side.

- Right outside the USS Bowfin submarine is the Pearl Harbor visitor center, where there are more exhibits on objects, clothes, and other equipment used by soldiers, both Japanese and American, during World War 2. It was really nice to see and know more about how people were and how things were more than 60 years back. 

Commanding officer's coat.

Navy jacket.

Newspaper from way back when. 

Sailor's outfit.

Things from a Japanese soldier.

Uniform and hachimaki of a captured Japanese soldier.

Heavy diver's gear.

A bid and long bomb!!

- From the main park, we were driven to the Pacific Aviation Museum, which was established in 1999. We had a special buffet lunch (that is, only for those joining tours) inside the museum, and the food was pretty much like my traditional Hawaiian lunch at the Bishop Museum (click here to see.) The museum itself was nice since it had replica or actual models of some planes used by both USA and Japan during World War 2, but the more interesting exhibit is right outside the main museum, inside hangar 79.

Inside the Aviation Museum!!

Japanese plane.

I like this bright yellow plane.

I have a best bud who loves airplanes, and I think he'll appreciate this museum more.

On the way to Hangar 79. That's the lighthouse/observation tower.

More planes outside the hangars.

- Hangar 79 is where plane restorations are done, but the bigger and more "badass" planes are displayed inside this hangar. Some planes were contributions by neighboring countries or those that were repurposed and used in wars outside America like the Korean and Vietnam Wars during the Cold War Era.

Hangar 79!!

A good museum for airplane junkies.

A monster of the sky.

Taiwanese plane.

Korean plane.

Australian plane.

An old battle plane.

Make America great again.

So this is what the back of a battle jet looks like!!

Ready to fly (or not, it's really just parked there.)

Let's pretend I'm in a movie.

I like the subtle and retro color palette here.

- Finally, after visiting the Pacific Aviation Museum, we went to visit the USS Missouri, which is one of the ships used during World War 2, but is now a floating museum. The best part? The basement level (where the main museum is) is air conditioned.

- We started our visit with a guided tour around the main deck before we were left alone to go around the museum-ship. What is most significant about USS Missouri is that this is the place where the Japanese signed the surrender documents after World War 2. Although they did it on USS Missouri, the did the surrender in Tokyo, not Hawaii; the USS Missouri sailed to Japan. While seeing this bit of the ship, I was reminded of my visit to Singapore 2 years ago, where I visited Fort Canning, the place where the British surrendered to the Japanese during the start of World War 2 (click here) and Fort Siloso, which had exhibits on the Japanese surrender and a replica of the surrender chamber where Japanese dignitaries signed surrender documents in Singapore (click here) during one of the surrender ceremonies across the Pacific territories.

Hello USS Missouri.

This whole thing can rotate!!!!

A photo of the Japanese surrender. Look at the top almost-right side of the photo, see the two squares and the latter? Then look at the photo below.

Here I am, the exact place where the Japanese surrendered.

Signed surrender documents.

Another set of signed surrender documents.

- Another traumatizing gallery is the one dedicated to the "kamikaze," or suicide pilots of Japan. These pilots were normally young and idealistic, and normally taught how to fly a plane, but not how to land properly. The main reason for this is because their end goal is to fly and zero in on a target, killing them in the process.

Kamikaze gear.

Kamikaze pilots' goodbye letters to their families.

More goodbye letters to their families.

What a typical kamikaze pilot would look like.

- Even though I am not too interested in battleships or wars, I was impressed by the grandeur of the ship, and especially how well preserved the ship was. There was also a nice view of the USS Arizona memorial from the open area outside USS Missouri.

Look at me, I'm Santa.

I love the pop of color.

I was too scared to touch it.

With the bow of USS Missouri.

The USS Arizona memorial from the USS Missouri.

A majestic shot of me and the majestic ship.

Trolling two statues kissing.

- After our visit to the USS Missouri, we had a long ride back to the downtown, where our guide/driver drove us around some spots in the downtown without getting off the bus. The downtown was on the way to our hotels anyway.

- We arrived at our hotel around 4pm, and had a lot of time to spare before dinner, so I mom and I went around Walmart and Don Quixote (the Japanese department store) before strolling around Ala Moana Center again. We all met at the food court and I had a big bowl of do-it-yourself Poke Bowl. In my opinion, the salmon's silkier taste made my poke my flavorful than tougher ahi/tuna slices/cubes. Traditionally though, ahi meat is used.

Perhaps the best Poke bowl I've had, well, mainly because I got to choose the ingredients. Hahahaha. It had salmon sashimi slices, brown rice, kani salad, goma wakame (Japanese seaweed salad), some dried fish (the red sticks), cucumber slices, and spicy sauce.

- That evening, we had to rest again because of our second pre-arranged day trip to one of the places that I longed to visit in Hawaii: the Polynesian Cultural Center! Although tour services to the Polynesian Cultural Center are normally not until around noon, since the center opens at noon, we took advantage of our visit in Hawaii and also booked a morning island tour of Oahu before spending the rest of the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

- Don't forget to read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 4 here and Part 5 here!!