Leading Up to the Day of Infamy

December 7, 1941 is a date that most Americans know. This is the day that most Americans consider the beginning of World War II. At dawn, Pearl Harbor was under attack by Japanese dive bombers from the air and torpedo bombers from the sea. Most of us know the aftermath of that day, the destruction of the battleship Arizona, the American lives lost, and the United States’ entrance into the war. But why did Japan attack the United States at Pearl Harbor? What were its ultimate goals and policies that led Japan to the point of attacking? What was Japan trying to accomplish? This website will survey the background behind the attack and try to answer these questions.

Early Conflicts

The relationship between Japan and the United States dates all the way back to the 1850s. It was during this decade that Japan was opened to the West by the United States. In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Edo Bay and demanded that Japan be open to the United States. He gave the Japanese a year to agree to this demand and in 1854 he returned. The Japanese shoguns had no choice but to give in to Perry and the United States. The Japanese knew that there was no way of keeping the United States from trading with them and reluctantly allowed it to happen. They learned from India, the Philippines, the East Indies, and Southeast Asia that Japan would “have to pretend to accept the white man, learn his ways, and when the time was ripe, eject him from Asia.” (Hoyt). One of the hardest issues for Japan to swallow during this time was extraterritoriality, which meant that the Westerners had to be tried in their own courts for crimes committed in Japan. (E100 notes from Professor Eno)

“The year 1905 marked a turning point for the worse in Japanese-American relations.” (Hoyt). President Theodore Roosevelt tried to end the Russo-Japanese War with his “good offices.” This “remedy” seemed to favor the Russians to prevent the Japanese from securing a cash payment from the Russians if the Japanese were to win the war. Roosevelt justified this through his rationale that the Japanese shouldn’t receive cash for a war they started. This upset the Japanese as they were planning on using that cash to further expand their military. Instead, the Japanese government was left virtually bankrupt. (Hoyt)

Tempers in Japan escalating even more a couple decades later when the Japanese sought to even the playing field with the United States and Britain in the naval category. The Japanese were upset when they were denied equal rights to naval ships as the other two countries, for they felt they were a “natural policeman of Asia” (Albright). The Japanese were denied this right at the Washington Naval Conference of 1921, and again in the London Conferences of 1930 and 1934. After this final failure, Japan decided to secretly build a naval program. (Albright)

Disagreement Over China

The biggest disagreement between Japan and America was over the status of China. Both countries argued that they had a special relationship with China and they deserved to be in control. America insisted on an “Open Door” policy in China, which would give equal treatment to American business. The Japanese did not agree with this policy and desired monopolies and cartels. (Slackman)

The incident at Marco Polo Bridge began the greatest confrontations between the two. The Japanese pushed further into China and on December 11, 1937 the Panay incident brought Japanese-American tensions to a new high. The Japanese Navy set out to support the Army by destroying Chinese ships on the Yangtze. They did this by attacking every ship that they came across, including three tankers of the Standard Oil Company, the American gunboat Panay, and four British gunboats. This resulted in the sinking of three American tankers and the Panay. (Hoyt)

Further tension broke out over the confrontations Japan had with Chiang Kai-shek in China. They originally thought they could force Chiang to accept a pro-Japanese policy, but this never happened. Japan decided to continue forward with the military action against China by cutting Chiang’s lifelines to the West. The American’s response to this was to announce its intentions to terminate its trade treaty with Japan in the summer of 1939. this would cut off Japanese supplies of oil and steel.

In September, 1940, the Japanese marched into Indochina where they planned to continue their attack on China. “The American reaction to the march into Indochina was to accelerate the closure of American markets, to cut off oil supplies, rubber, and steel. Without these essentials the Japanese are machine would come to a stop.” (Hoyt)

On September 27, 1940, Japan, Germany, and Italy signed the Tripartite Pact. The signing warned America of the Japanese intentions.

Reasons Japan Did Not Need to Attack

America had remained true to their position of neutrality for the first several years of World War II. It was not until after the signing of the Tripartite Pact that America truly began to prepare for a possible war. Although they prepared for a war, their battle plan was primarily defensive and Plan Orange was devised. The United States realized that the Japanese navy was superior in both size and power and did not seek a naval battle with Japan. In March of 1941, it was decided that the war was certainly coming and the primary American and British effort must be made to defeat Germany. America also decided to remain defensive in Asia. (Albright)

Even though America did not want to engage in a battle with Japan, Japan had already begun to devise a plan to attack the United States. Not everyone was in agreement with the need to attack America. In fact, Admiral Yamamoto, the very man in charge of the attack, felt that Japan would lose if they were to fight America. When Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoye asked Yamamoto what he thought might happen if Japan were to force war on America, Yamamoto responded, “I can run wild across the Pacific for six months or a year after war beginnings, but after that the American productive capacity will begin to show. We will almost certainly lose a war against America.” (Hoyt)

Why Japan Decided to Attack

So despite the facts that the United States was not interested in fighting with Japan and that the Admiral in charge of the war efforts did not think that his own country would be victorious in a war against America, why did Japan still attack?

Ultimately, Japan wanted to have control over most of Asia and the Pacific. They believed that they were the strongest force here and that they had the right to this area. They desired to create the “Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere.” They believed that when the Germans beat Great Britain and Russia, and Japan controlled the Pacific, it would create “three major spheres of influence: 1.) The Empire of Japan controlling East, Southeast, and South Asia and the entire Pacific Ocean. 2.) The combined powers of Germany and Italy controlling Great Britain, all of Europe, Western and central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. 3.) The United States, controlling North and South America.” (http://www.ccdemo.info/PearlHarbor/PearlHarborDayRemembered.html)

Japan also believed that attacking America at Pearl Harbor was a defensive strategy. They assumed that if they were to destroy the American fleet, it would neutralize American power in the Pacific Basin for at least six months. “During that time they planned to occupy the East Asian and West Pacific regions with such firmness that the Allies would be forced to negotiate a settlement.” (http://www.wtj.com/articles/pacific_war/articles/pearl_harbor.htm)

Cumulatively, the best reason that I can give for Japan’s decision to attack comes from a rather long excerpt from Edwin P. Hoyt’s book, Pearl Harbor: “Here is the justification by the Japanese government and army for their decision for war, as written down by the secretaries of the liaison conference, as aides memoires for the prime minister to answer questions that might be propounded in behalf of the Emperor: Question: Is war with Great Britain and the United States inevitable? Answer: Our Empire’s plan to build a New Order in East Asia – the central problem of which is the settlement of the China Incident – is a firm policy based on the national principle of hakko ichiu (eight corners of the world under one roof). The building of the New Order will go on forever, much as the life of our State does. However, it appears that the policy of the United States toward Japan is based on the idea of preserving the status quo; in order to dominate the world and defend democracy, it aims to prevent our Empire from rising and developing in East Asia. Under these circumstances, it must be pointed out that the policies of Japan and the United States are mutually incompatible; it is historically inevitable, that the conflict between the two countries, which is sometimes intense and sometimes moderate, will ultimately lead to war. It need not be repeated that unless the United States changes its policies toward Japan, our Empire is placed in a desperate situation, where it must resort to the ultimate step – namely, war – to defend itself and assure its preservation. Even if we should make concessions to the United States by giving up part of our national policy for the sake of temporary peace, the United States, its military position strengthened, is sure to demand more and more concessions on our part, and ultimately our Empire will have to lie prostrate at the feet of the United States.”

"Our navy has lost the war by "battling" instead of "warring." This fatal confusion was due in my judgment to our erroneous education. To point out what should have been the right education is idle effort. Our navy is no more. The verdict was severe. In conclusion I wish to mention just one thing. And that is that education is important, really very important."

Masataka Chihaya, March, 1946

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