What did the Japanese think of the attack on Pearl Harbor?

Answer 1

Chief among the detractors of the attack on the U.S. was the man in overall charge of the operation, Admiral Yamamoto. He knew that the attack would only buy him some time to do what he wanted in the Pacific but that eventually the U.S. would hit them like the proverbial ton of bricks (that's my interpretation :) However, he was duty and honor bound to support his government and ultimately his emperor in their endeavours.

Yamamoto himself said " I feel as if we have awakened a sleeping giant."

Some people speculate that if the Japanese had sent in the fourth wave of attacks, designed to destroy the petroleum storage tanks at Ford Island, that the Japanese would have gained even more time in their efforts to conquer the Pacific Rim.

.

Answer 2

The Japanese just wanted to lower the American striking power through the navy. They wanted to get back at the U.S. because U.S. cut off 90% of their oil and other materials through the embargo act. The Japanese never wanted U.S to be in the war and they knew they wouldn't be because it took about 6 months to rebuild their navy.

Answer 3

All people involved in war come to regret. The Japanese, for example, did regret the attack on the United States on Pearl Harbor because this began the second World War. The attack was judged by Tokyo as a war crime because there was no warning given to the US.

Answer 4

Before Japan did it, it was not a mistake. It was deliberate, well-planned, specifically targeted and expertly executed.

However, in view of the consequences, and with the benefit of hindsight, some in Japan may have concluded that the attack, even if not a 'mistake', was perhaps rather short-sighted.

The key questions are:

1. Who was the aggressor?
2. Who was taking defensive (pro-active) action?
3. From whose perspective should we be considering this matter?, and
4. Is conquest wrong per se?

For more information, see 'Related links' below.

Answer 5

Probably the biggest error the Japanese made was in assuming that the US would go to war with Japan if the Japanese attacked the Dutch East Indies and British Malaya (today's Indonesia and Malaysia). The Japanese planned to do this, because they wanted to dominate Asia. The US had cut off oil sales to Japan, and they were going to run out of oil if they did not come up with an alternative source. There was plenty of oil in the Dutch East Indies. So, the Japanese were going to launch this "southern operation" no matter what. If you draw a line on the map between Japan and the Dutch East Indies at the midpoint are the Philippines Islands. At the time the Philippines were a US possession, and the US had a major Navy base and an Air Force base in the Philippines. The Japanese worried that these US forces could interfere with the "southern operation", and so decided to attack these bases and invade the Philippines, which they did. All these operations were simultaneous - the "southern operation" the attack on the Philippines, and Pearl Harbor.

But it was all based on the assumption that the people of the US would support going to war over any invasion of somebody's Asian colony. This is far from a sure thing. The Japanese militarists in control of their own country could take Japan to war any time they chose to do so, and perhaps did not understand that an American president could not. Isolationist sentiment was high and the people of the US had not demanded war when the Axis powers were overrunning Europe, where many US citizens still had family. It seems highly unlikely the average man in the street would suddenly clamor for war no matter how many Asian colonies Japan invaded.

So Pearl Harbor (and the attack on the Philippines) were the one SURE method of insuring that the people of the US WOULD demand war. A direct attack taking US lives and property was guaranteed to put the US people in the mood for war.

The US would almost certainly have gotten into the war eventually, some way, somehow, but the Japanese decision to attack the US directly led to immediate American belligerency.

Answer 6

No, not at the time. It would take them a few years to understand what a mistake it was to attack the United States (not just at Pearl Harbor).