Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor?

Answer 1

The reason for Japan's attack (on the US, the British Empire & the Dutch) was the Japanese Army's obsession with their on-going brutal conquest of China. The United States had been taking diplomatic and economic steps against Japan for several years to convince (or force) the Japanese to end their war of conquest in Asia. The Japanese Army actually controlled the Japanese Government since the early 1930's. The Japanese Army refused to end its war of conquest & extreme brutality in China.

Beyond China, the Japanese Army had plans to take advantage of the weakness of the British, French, Dutch & Soviet Union in Asia because of Hitler's conquests in Europe. The Japanese wanted to be free of American interference, and create a vast Asian empire that would have eventually included China, eastern Siberia, Mongolia, Korea, Formosa, Indo-China, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, & New Guinea; and possibly India.

The Japanese military thought that the best way to keep the United States from interfering in their plans in Asia, was to deliver a surprise attack on various US bases throughout the Pacific to do as much damage to the US military capability in the Pacific. At Pearl Harbor, they intended to sink as many battleships, cruisers & aircraft carriers as possible. At Manila they intended to follow-up with an invasion and capture of the Philippines. At Wake Island they intended to seize the island. The Japanese also attacked the bases, ships & troops of the British Empire. All this was intended to persuade the United States & Britain to negotiate a settlement giving the Japanese most of the western Pacific territories, and most of Asia. They hoped that the US & Britain would not want to fight a prolonged & costly war in Asia to liberate what territory the Japanese could capture in the first six months of the war.
Because the American fleet resided there the japanese goal was to sink the two american aircraft carriers at Pearl Harbour and stop the american fleets from fighting. Theses statistics show a japanese tactical victory but a failure to destroy the American carriers which were out at sea training that day.

US Losses:

4 battleships sunk

3 battleships damaged

1 battleship grounded

2 destroyers sunk

1 other ship sunk

3 cruisers damaged[nb 1]

1 destroyer damaged

3 other ships damaged

188 aircraft destroyed

159[3] aircraft damaged

2,402 killed

1,247 wounded[4][5]

Japanese losses:

4 midget submarines sunk

1 midget submarine grounded

29 aircraft destroyed

64 killed

1 captured[6]
The jap's attacked because america cut off trading because japan was attacking some other countries,and they needed oil to fuel their ships and aircraft.
Short answer: To cripple the US aircraft carrier fleet and battleships and delay the rebuilding of offensive naval ships while Japan invaded the Philippines for it's oil resources.


The Long answer:

Japan had been building an Empire in Asia since 1931 when they invaded Manchuria in China to mine raw iron ore. They also invaded French Indonesia (Vietnam) and the US cut off oil exports to Japan.

To obtain oil, Japan planned to invade the Philippines which was a rich source of oil in the region. The Philippines were a US Territory and Japan thought that such an invasion would have meant open war with the US.

The attack on Pearl Harbor was planned to destroy the US carrier fleet and battleships and delay the US from being able to defend or retake the Philippines. The attack was unsuccessful from this aspect because the US had sent their carrier fleet on military exercises outside of the Hawaiian Islands.
The Japanese have been planning this attack on a model of Pearl Harbor until they hit an 80% hit rate. It took until December, 1941 for that to happen.
To destroy the American fleet of the Pacific, especially the aircraft carriers.
Pearl Harbor was the military base for the United States.....it was valuable to them so the Japanese bombed it.
To try and cripple the U.S. Navy To try and cripple the U.S. Navy
The Americans were expecting an attack somewhere, but were unsure where. And, Americans didn't think Japan would attack right after signing a peace treaty. Japan, however, was deceitful and planned to destroy the US Pacific Fleet and leave the Pacific entirely open to Japanese expansion. Japan succeeded in destroying most of the Pacific Fleet. But, they also failed because the attack unified Americans and propelled America to enter World War II. As the first major attack on US soil by an overseas nation, Japan had shook the primary beliefs of safety and liberty.
The sneak attack on the American Pacific fleet's main base, was a pre-emptive strike to destroy U.S. naval power in the Pacific, thus enabling Japan to conquer and colonize just as the European nations had done previously, without American interference.
The reason for Japan's attack (on the US, the British Empire & the Dutch) was the Japanese Army's obsession with their on-going brutal conquest of China. The United States had been taking diplomatic and economic steps against Japan for several years to convince (or force) the Japanese to end their war of conquest in Asia. The Japanese Army actually controlled the Japanese Government since the early 1930's. The Japanese Army refused to end its war of conquest & extreme brutality in China.

Beyond China, the Japanese Army had plans to take advantage of the weakness of the British, French, Dutch & Soviet Union in Asia because of Hitler's conquests in Europe. The Japanese wanted to be free of American interference, and create a vast Asian empire that would have eventually included China, eastern Siberia, Mongolia, Korea, Formosa, Indo-China, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, Indonesia, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, & New Guinea; and possibly India.

The Japanese military thought that the best way to keep the United States from interfering in their plans in Asia, was to deliver a surprise attack on various US bases throughout the Pacific to do as much damage to the US military capability in the Pacific. At Pearl Harbor, they intended to sink as many battleships, cruisers & aircraft carriers as possible. At Manila they intended to follow-up with an invasion and capture of the Philippines. At Wake Island they intended to seize the island. The Japanese also attacked the bases, ships & troops of the British Empire. All this was intended to persuade the United States & Britain to negotiate a settlement giving the Japanese most of the western Pacific territories, and most of Asia. They hoped that the US & Britain would not want to fight a prolonged & costly war in Asia to liberate what territory the Japanese could capture in the first six months of the war.
The Japanese attacked the Americans because Japan's goal was to stop our U.S Naval Fleets from assisting our troops in Japan.
The nation of Japan does not have raw materials and oil on their islands. They are dependent on getting those resources from other nations. The Japanese came up with the idea to invade other nations that did have those resources and to expand their Empire of Japan.

The Emperor Hirohito authorized his military to invade other nations to get those resources. The bad part of their invasion was the murdering of innocent civilians by the thousands. The US placed an oil embargo against Japan.

There were negotiations going on between Japan and the US. The Japanese wanted the embargo lifted. The US wanted the Japanese to get out of China and other places and then they would lift the oil embargo so Japan could again by oil from the US. (OPEC did not exist then.)

While the negotiations were being conducted the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor Hawaii on 12-7-41. The US had not declared war on Japan nor had they fired on Japan in hostilities. The Japanese clerical errors failed to get a declaration of war to the US BEFORE they bombed Hawaii.

Therefore the US was forced into World War 2.
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in the winter of 1941 to neutralize America's Pacific fleet so that the United States would not be able to defend it's islands in the Pacific and Japan would have free reign of the seas. Since Japan was planning on taking the US controlled Philippines they needed to protect their interests.
Japan attacked Pearl Harbour to draw attention away from Japan invading China

Answer 2

This person explains the reasons for the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor better than I can.

The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor for different reasons:-

• President Roosevelt had banned all exports of scrap iron, steel and oil to Japan. The reason for the embargo was the Japanese invasion of China. Japan had lost more than 90% of its oil supply. This crippled their economy and military.
• The belief that Western powers were hostile to Japan.
• The United States wanted Japan to withdraw from Indo-China.
• The US opposed Japanese expansion and Japan's demands were not being achieved by diplomacy.
• The Japanese were keen on expanding their empire and had to make a decision between surrendering or going to war with the United States.
• They wanted the US to acquiesce to their expansion into Asia.
• Pearl Harbor was the home of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Japan did not want the U.S. in the war because the U.S at this time had the greatest Naval force. They concluded that if the Pacific Fleet was destroyed, Americans would feel demoralized and not want to fight.
• The belief that Japan could defeat the United States. They convinced themselves that a devastating attack would dishearten the Americans and lead to cracks in the fabric of the American society that would threaten its stability.

By Prabhakar Pillai

Published: 5/24/2008

Answer 3

They wanted to destroy the American Pacific Fleet.