Reprinted from Midweek Oahu - August 12, 2015

by Don Chapman

 

We've long since made peace, both the nations that did the warring and the individual soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines on both sides of the Pacific War who did the patriotic killing. The United States and Japan long ago reconciled and became friends, allies and trading partners, not to mention favored travel destinations for citizens of the other country. And Saturday evening at Pearl Harbor, we put a big, bright exclamation point on all that when Honolulu's sister city Nagaoka gifts us with the most amazing fireworks show this town has ever seen, to celebrate 70 years of peace.

 

   

 

 

"No one has ever done anything like this in Hawaii," says Tom Likos, Grucci Fireworks' executive producer of shows in Hawaii. "We'll be shooting off more than 1,700 shells from Ford Island — 4-inch, 6-inch and 8-inch — in a spectacular choreographed show with music and narration ... Japanese fireworks are amazing."

 

It will happen at the place where the Pacific War began, and in the shadow of the USS Missouri upon whose deck the war ended Aug. 15, 1945, as it anchored in Tokyo Bay, 70 years ago to the day. Who then could have guessed this confluence?

 

The fireworks show is the brainchild of Nagaoka Mayor Tamio Mori — Nagaoka being the hometown of Adm. Isorolcu Yamamoto, who opposed war with the U.S. as suicidal for Japan, but as the loyal head of the imperial navy planned the attack on Pearl Harbor when ordered to make ready for war.

 

"The emphasis will be peace and reconciliation," says Mayor Mori, who actively promotes sports, music and cultural exchanges between young people of the two cities. "We will come full circle."

 

The sister city relationship is based on death and destruction. We were bombed to start the war, Nagaoka was firebombed by American planes on Aug. 1, 1945, two weeks before the emperor's surrender. The following year on the anniversary of the firebombing, Nagaoka town fathers put on a fireworks show they hoped would attract out-of-towners. It has succeeded beyond their dreams. Last August I attended the first of two nights of two-hour fireworks shows in Nagaoka, each night 530,000 people lining either side of the Shinano River (in a town with a population of 250,000). It was one of the greatest — and most colorful — evenings of my life. I recall thinking afterward the displays were so immense, they became intimate.

 

Fireworks to be used in this show were made by three different Nagaoka fireworks makers, for which Niigata Prefecture is known as much as for its fine rice and sakes. They include Tomoki Abe, a fourth-generation fireworks maker who will be here for the show. I spoke with him in Nagaoka, and through an interpreter he said the key to timing so many explosions perfectly is to be "always calm ... 3-2- -go."

 

 

 

Likos is a former Navy pilot of the Vietnam era and later worked as a pilot for a number of Hawaii airlines, including serving as chief pilot for Mid Pacific. Several years ago his wife treated him with a trip to a big pyrotechnic show in LaCrosse, Wis., and the next thing you know we was enrolling in Pyrotechnics Guild International training for display operators."I've also attended the Fireworks by Grucci School for pyrotechnicians, and we do recurrent training at the American Pyrotechnic Association in Las Vegas each February. We employ 35 pyrotechnicians that we train here in Hawaii, both guys and gals, and we're always looking for interested people." Grucci Fireworks is a sixth-generation business that goes back to 1870 when Angelo Lanzetta left southern Italy and immigrated through Ellis Island, bringing with him "secret recipes" for fireworks. His nephew Felix Grucci would eventually take over the company that today is run by fifth-generation Phil Grucci. The company has provided pyrotechnic shows for every presidential inauguration going back to Ronald Reagan, as well as several Olympics. On New Year's Eve 2013, above the skyline of Dubai, Grucci launched 479,651 bursts. Grucci set a Guinness record for "largest pyrotechnic image" with a 600-foot-high by 900-foot-wide American flag that was illuminated over Fort McHenry, Md., as part of the 200th anniversary celebration of the Star Spangled Banner, Sept. 13, 2014.

 

It says something powerful about the universal appeal of fireworks that a company founded by an Italian immigrant will be blasting off fireworks made in Japan in America's 50th state. And that would usually be quite enough significance for one fireworks show. But this is no usual occasion. Not at Pearl Harbor. Not on Aug. 15. Not for these two sister cities. The show will begin, by the way, with the launch of two white chrysanthemum bursts — one for Honolulu's war dead of Dec. 7, 1941, the other for Nagaoka's war dead of Aug 1,1945. And then, having come full circle, the oohs and ahhs begin. [email protected]

Fireworks will be launched from Ford Island starting at 8 p.m., and seen for miles around.

 

Ford Island will open to the public at 4 p.m., and there will be speakers and entertainment leading up to the fireworks, including a Youth Peace Summit Declaration by students from Honolulu and Nagaoka, and a performance by the Nagaoka Boys and Girls Choir and HEARTS Hawaii Choir. Japanese singer/songwriter Ayaka Hirahara also will perform her hit Jupiter ("Every day I listen to my heart"). The Pearl Harbor Visitor Center will open at 5:30 for those wishing to watch from there, but purses, diaper bags, camera bags, fanny packs and other bags are not allowed for security reasons. Picnic items in clear plastic bags are OK. No alcohol. Blaisdell Parkin Pearl City is another prime viewing spot

 

For those not viewing from Ford Island, the fireworks show's accompanying music and narration will be broadcast on 105.1 KINE-FM radio.