What were some of Japan's mistakes during World War 2?

Answer 1

The Japanese planned on gaining a great deal of territory to secure raw materials for their industry. They knew that the United States would not sit by and allow them to go on a rampage. They also knew that America's industrial might was formidable, so they felt their best option was to decimate the American fleet in one quick strike at Pearl Harbor and hope that the weakened United States would accept a peace treaty on Japan's terms. Things didn't work out quite as well as planned. * In attacking Pearl Harbor, they failed to ensure that America's aircraft carriers were in port. The carriers were not in port, thus escaped harm. * At Midway, their plan was to grandiose and complicated. Again they failed to ascertain the location of America's carriers and that they could not respond quickly enough to prevent them from taking Midway. * Another vital mistake was going through the entire war without realizing that the American's had broken their codes and could get information on many of their operations in advance. These are just a few of their early and most vital mistakes, there were more.

Answer 2

There were a number of critical errors made by Japan late in the war against the US. One such error centered around the fact that Japan was far too focused on a "continental" war against China. China was not a threat to Japan but advancing US forces were. Instead of sending its many army divisions to support their Pacific Island holdings, they made an error. When it became clear the error was made, US submarines did not allow for Japan to shift troops from the Chinese mainland to islands such Okinawa as one example.