Hiroshi "Hank" Takahashi was the elder son of Jiro Takahashi. Like his brother Kenzo, Hiroshi had been immersed in American culture, and felt himself to be American, rather than Japanese. Hank didn't take the family business seriously. The family was aboard their fishing sampan, the Oshima Maru, when word came that the Imperial Japanese Navy had attacked Pearl Harbor. Hiroshi and Kenzo were horrified by the attack, and by their father's expressions of pride and excitement at the attack.