Every Grain of Rice

Every Grain of Rice is the 2004 winner of the Hawaii Book Publishers Association's prestigious "Aloha from Beyond Hawaii" category which recognizes excellence in books about Hawaii or with a Hawaiian theme that are published outside the state of Hawaii.

The 240-page hardcover book chronicles the life of the Japanese-American community on Maui, beginning with the arrival of Sentaro Ishii:

“In 1915, Acting Consul General H. Arita sent word to Emperor Yoshihito that he had found the oldest living Japanese in Hawaii – an eighty two year old fellow named Sentaro Ishii, who had been born in Japan in 1834…. According to an article in the July 21, 1916 Maui News, Ishii arrived in the islands around 1855 aboard a Spanish vessel commanded by an American captain. When the ship made port at Maui, Ishii went ashore, and lost his way. He had no idea what part of the world he was in, and could find no one who spoke Japanese to direct him. By the time he found his way back to the harbor, the ship had sailed.”

The book tells the stories of the Japanese laborers who came after Sentaro Ishii, followed by the turbulence of World War II, and the heroics of the Japanese-American soldiers. It includes the personal recollection from one of the most heart-wrenching episodes in US Army history: the Rescue of the Lost Battalion:

“Suguru Takahashi, in I Company, remembered being sent into action on a night “so damned dark, we grabbed each other’s belt in the back. Came daylight, now we can let go of each other. We were close to the Lost Battalion, and see stragglers from the 36 th walking back. We ask them, “Where you going?” But they said, “They’re lost!”

“How you think we felt, seeing the 36th walking away from the Lost Battalion? You know, if one of our 442nd got trapped, the other battalions would kill themselves to the last man to rescue them….

With the 100th on their right and the 2nd on their left, the 3rd Battalion advanced, I Company taking many of the casualties.

We broke through. Barney Hajiro led the charge. We went down, contact the Lost Battalion. First guy I come to is in tears. Portuguese name. He thought they would all be killed. I gave him my water, ration, cigarettes. We rescued two hundred men, and ours – killed and wounded – was over eight hundred. Lots of my friends died.”

The book continues through the post-war years as Japanese-Americans helped to carve the political, educational and business landscape throughout the State of Hawaii.