Honolulu Ceremony Marks 84 Years Since Pearl Harbor Attack; Attendees Include Atomic Bomb Survivors from Nagasaki Pref., Japan

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:14 JST, December 8, 2025

HONOLULU — Victims of the Japanese Imperial Navy’s attack on Pearl Harbor on Hawaii’s Oahu Island were commemorated in a ceremony in Honolulu on Sunday, 84 years after the attack.

Attendees prayed silently at 7:55 a.m., the time when the surprise attack took place on Dec. 7, 1941 (Dec. 8 Japan time), to mourn the approximately 2,400 people who perished.

The ceremony was organized by the U.S. Navy and others and attended by about 3,000 people, including military personnel and members of the victims’ bereaved families. Following an address by a representative of those in attendance, bouquets of flowers were raised in the direction of the harbor.

According to organizers, none of the survivors of the attack attended the ceremony this year.

World War II veteran Leon Amstead, 102, who visited Hawaii as a Navy repairman during the war, said Japan was an enemy in the past but now the country has built a friendship with the United States. Amstead also said that he hated war.

Among the attendants were members of a hibakusha group in Nagasaki Prefecture who were visiting the United States. Their participation was mentioned in the representative’s speech.

Also present was Tatsunobu Isoda, the mayor of Nagaoka in Niigata Prefecture, the birthplace of Isoroku Yamamoto, the Japanese admiral who commanded the attack.