Allan Beekman (b. January 16, 1913, d. October 29, 2001) was the author of The Niihau Incident , Crisis, The Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor and Southeast Asia and Hawaiian Tales . Fluent in the Japanese language and a scholar in Japanese immigrant history, he was the first to uncover the details of the true story of a Japanese fighter pilot, who, while trying to return to his ship after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, crash-landed on the American territory of Niihau, Hawaii and terrorized its residents.

Several of the stories in Hawaiian Tales, published in 1972, dealt with pre-, post-, and wartime experiences of Japanese immigrants.

The Niihau Incident was about the crash-landing of a Japanese Zero on Niihau in 1941.

Born in Utica, New York, Beekman moved to Hawaii in the early 1950s and never left, also wrote features for more than 20 years at Pacific Citizen , a weekly newspaper directed to those of Asian descent, particularly Japanese.

The self-taught man also wrote a weekly book review for the Honolulu Star Bulletin.

"Study is my hobby," Beekman told the Star-Bulletin in a 1974 interview. Though he never went to college, Beekman was a voracious reader, a diligent researcher, and a student of the Japanese language.

Beekman married Take Okawa , a former Japanese-language schoolteacher educated in Tokyo and Hawaii, who collaborated with her husband on many Japanese immigrant stories.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Beekman also worked as a security guard at Queen's Medical Center .

"I enjoy talking to all the different people," Beekman told the Star-Bulletin in 1974. "A writer shouldn't isolate himself from people but be where people are."

Beekman championed the rights of Japanese and Okinawan Americans with articles and several letters to the editor to Honolulu dailies. He died on Oahu, Hawaii on October 29, 2001.

The Niihau Incident

Crisis: The Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor and Southeast Asia