Hope shines on waves of Ehime Maru tragedy

A year ago today, the USS Greeneville submarine shot out of the ocean off Diamond Head like a breaching whale and inadvertently rammed a Japanese fishing trawler, sending nine crew members to a watery death.

Today, survivors of the shipwreck, like 17-year-old Daisuke Shinoto, continue to navigate waves of grief and depression. But as staff writer Tanya Bricking's poignant article on the Ehime Maru survivors illustrates, time doesn't wash away the memory, but it can heal the deepest wounds.

In the case of Shinoto, an orphan from southwest Japan who is about to graduate from the Uwajima Fisheries High School, college beckons, and he hopes to return to Hawai'i one day as a ship's engineer.

That's a testament to the recovery efforts that have taken place since the ill-fated collision on Feb. 9, 2001.

Ill feelings remain

Of course, anger and frustration are still fresh for many of the wreck's survivors and relatives of the victims. Some, for example, are still bitter that the Greeneville's former skipper, Cmdr. Scott Waddle, did not receive a court-martial and was allowed to retire at full rank and pension.

They also don't understand why Waddle won't come to Japan to apologize to the victims' families. Waddle's lawyer has advised his client against such a trip for fear that Japanese authorities might arrest him.

That's a shame; perhaps those authorities could assure him otherwise.

That and other controversies in the wake of the collision have taught us much about the Japanese culture of apology. They want formal demonstrations of remorse, and the United States is concerned about lawsuits.

That cultural gap will be hard to bridge. But we can rest assured that Hawai'i and the U.S. Navy took great measures to help ease the pain of those who lost loved ones, and that U.S.-Japan relations have not suffered unduly as a result.

The U.S. Navy spent more than $60 million on a remarkable recovery effort. Navy and Japanese divers retrieved the bodies of all but one of the nine victims, allowing their families to perform Buddhist funeral rites.

And as staff writer Mike Gordon reports, the Navy has learned valuable lessons. Now more than ever before, submarine crews must follow strict navigation protocol when surfacing and are expected to speak out against any potentially dangerous move, even if it means risking the appearance of insubordination.

As a result, officials say, performance standards in the submarine force are higher than ever, and nuclear warships operate more safely. It's just sad that it took nine lives to reach that point.

Memorial unveiling

Today, officials at Kaka'ako Waterfront Park unveil a memorial dedicated to the nine men and boys who died. The names and ages of the victims are engraved on granite blocks.

Shinoto isn't quite ready to see it yet, but maybe later. "Someday I want to visit Hawai'i, either on vacation or as a ship's engineer, and go to the memorial," Shinoto said.

We hope he doesn't wait too long.