Why did the Japanese attacked America?

Answer 1

Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese for several reasons.

1. When the Japanese decided to attack America, they knew that almost all of the immediate forces were naval. Hence, they decided to bomb pearl harbor, as it held the majority of the American naval forces in the pacific. By bombing the navy, they managed to cripple any efforts at an attack force following them immediately to retaliate.

2. Geography. They also decided to attack pearl harbor, but i believe the final decision was not made until approximately 2 to 3 days before the attack. Other targets included San Francisco, large coastal cities, etc. They decided upon pearl harbor because it was closer to japan than the U.S., and they would have less distance to travel. The closer they came to the U.S. coast, the larger the chance of being detected, and forced to turn back. Also, if they attacked the mainland, they would have to pass Hawaii on the way back, and by that time a force would be following them.

3. Deception. While the Japanese navy was steaming towards Hawaii, their ambassadors in D.C. were trying to convince the government that japan would not attack. Unfortunately for them, some people were getting suspicious. The fleet decided to attack then, instead of risking the longer journey to the coast.

More input from Answers.com contributors:

• To knock out the U.S. Pacific Fleet as a significant fighting force so we could not oppose their conquest of South East Asia and the Pacific Islands. They thought that once they had conquered all that territory that we would be unable to dislodge them from it even if we did rebuild the fleet.
• Eventually these feelings translated into the USA leading an international movement to isolate Japan economically and thus force them to withdraw from China. Primarily the USA plan was to cut off credit to the Japanese which would prevent them from being able to purchase petroleum. Japan received petroleum (an absolutely vital economic and military commodity, then as it is now) from three sources: The USA, Dutch east indies (Indonesia) and Burma (British controlled in the 1940's). The USA inspired movement included all three sources. Japan could/would not accept a withdrawal from the Chinese war and instead began planning a first strike against the USA navy. Eliminating or reducing the USA naval forces in the Pacific would make the Japanese navy paramount, and thus Japan would be able to defeat the economic consequences of the USA ultimatum. After eliminating the USA navy Japan planned to occupy the Dutch East Indies and Burma, thus gaining control of enough oil to run their military and economy. The strike on Pearl Harbor did exactly as hoped by the Japanese. The USA fleet was crippled. The Dutch lacked forces to repel the Japanese. The British navy (as ordered by Churchill) sent forces to defend their areas but these were totally inadequate for the job and were decimated quickly. Japan occupied all the oil producing areas and settled down to a war of attrition against the USA, which they hoped would wear down the USA politically and enable them to keep their conquests.
• The Japanese were expecting their results of the attack cripple the U. S. Pacific Fleet for a period of up to eighteen months, preventing aggressive action against imperial forces, with the fleet to later be drawn out into a final battle and destroyed. The Japanese launched a surprise attack on the US Navy and Air force so they could proceed in conquering China. The Japanese believed that if they were successful with bombing the US Ships and Aircraft that they would then have enough time to proceed in conquering China.
• While all the former answers are true, they lack a point of view which is critical in understanding the psyche that lead to such an event, and it is this aspect which stands as a warning in time to all peoples. Understanding the perceptions which lay behind the construction of such a scheme of war against the United States, at Pearl Harbor, is the greatest lesson. All the lives lost in the ensuing holocaust of WWII are in vain and utterly meaningless without understanding the ideas held by ourselves and our enemies about each other, and it is these ideas which hold the ultimate answer to "Why did Japan Attack Pearl Harbor." The Japanese believed that America, as a nation of diverse races of peoples, was a mongoloid mix incapable of acting with a united singular resolve. That perception was fueled by the propaganda of Japan. The Yamato Race were a superior people. America was very alien to the Japanese, and it is not surprising that a homogeneous group of people could not comprehend how such a diverse range of extreme individuals, a prized ideal in America could possibly equate in to a united body. Americans, thought the Japanese, were a collection of trash peoples. Easily dealt with and who should rightly be sub servant to the Yamato Race. Such notions are at the very heart of the belief that Japan could win a war with 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. Thus, they convinced themselves that the Americans would come to accept a new reality of Japanese Superiority. Of course it was much more complex than this. Japan, for instance, was very isolated. R. Francillions book; Japanese Aircraft of the Second World War, opens with an observation taken from Japanese propaganda; "Every Foreigner is A Spy!" So the military of Japan, which ran the nation in almost every sense, denied the people any thing which would encumber their designs, which was to make War. Ultimately, Japan attacked the United States because it was "Hell Bent on War!" It was totally convinced of its superiority as a master race, and believed that it had a right to rule and do what it felt like with all peoples of the world.
• The Japanese and the Americans, two very different people, were in conflict before WWII and the attack on the Pacific Islands and Pearl Harbor. The Japanese were coming to America via west coast in the late 1800's. But mind you that the Japanese were still coming to the country after that too. When this occurred the Japanese then needed (like any person) a job. So they worked just as hard or maybe harder than the average American at the time. Also they worked for less. Japanese=Less Expensive in the 1800's. They were taking other peoples (Americans) jobs away because they were less expensive. The Americans didn't like that. Point #1: Because of this the Americans started to discriminate against the Japanese people. They started with the Japanese children. Point #2: We discriminated against the Japanese children in the San Franciscan Schools. Point #3: We slowed down Japanese immigration to the United States by issuing the Gentleman's Agreement signed by Teddy Roosevelt because he wanted to keep Japan as an Ally. "The U.S. negotiated a treaty with Japan in 1894 that allowed free immigration of Japanese laborers, but as the majority was settling in California, the Japanese were soon victims of the same discriminatory attitudes and actions as the Chinese. By 1900, Japan agreed to deny passports to Japanese laborers intent on immigrating to the U.S. but many continued to enter via Mexico, Canada and Hawaii. By 1906, San Francisco extended its school segregation laws to include all Asians. While the Japanese government was willing to work with the U.S. to control emigration of its laborers, the actions taken by San Francisco inflamed simmering tensions between the two countries. President Roosevelt desired to keep Japan as an ally, especially in light of Russian's expansionist activities. Instead of a legislative act as had been passed against Chinese laborers, Roosevelt negotiated an agreement by which San Francisco would rescind its discriminatory policies toward the Japanese and the government of Japan would deny passports to Japanese seeking to enter the U.S. and recognized the authority of the U.S. to deny entry to Japanese if they successfully reached the US. This gentleman's Agreement signed in 1908, was extended to Korea when Japan annexed that country in 1910."
• A complex set of reasons, as is often the case with these seemingly straightforward historical questions. Basically, because those that made such decisions (the Japanese) decided, on balance, it was the best course of action in pursuit of their own objectives. Two principal reasons stand out though; oil and preemptive war: 1 Japan needed oil to prosecute its war in Asia. The US had stopped providing oil but, if defeated, could be a good source of this vital resource. 2 At the time of the attack, the US had come under persistent pressure (from the British and from many within political and military circles in the USA) to join the war. US supplies to Britain and its Commonwealth allies had increased steadily and there was no longer any pretext of US independence. In fact, the full participation of the US in the war on the side of Britain, its allies and its empire seemed increasingly likely and would have brought the US directly into conflict with Japan. Given this apparent inevitable war with the US, why not attack the US Pacific Fleet when they least expected it and while mostly at anchor in Pearl Harbor.
• Before Japan tried to capture all of the pacific and the Dutch East Indies. America was on very good terms with them. We traded everything from oil and scrap metal to food and other goods. America viewed Japanese Culture as being beautiful and intriguing. In fact we where on such good terms with Japan that they had given every state in the united states Friendship Dolls. (Which almost every state smashed afterwards. I believe out of 50, only 5 sets remain. One of which being in my state of South Dakota.) However once Japan started to invade China FDR said, that it would be morally wrong for him to support the Japanese's War Machine's With Isolation still being strongly footed into America we didn't want to go to war and thus did little to stop that machine otherwise. However Japan was convinced that it could get America to break it embargoes against them. Thus they set out on many peace missions to America in order to try and get us to start trade with them again. It is Important to note that Japan had a limited oil supply and with them being at war it would only last about a year. Why FDR, for the time being, would not budge on his embargoes he was still for keeping Japan and America on good term. In fact all the way up to December 7th, Japan and America were still on negations to settling their differences and we where working on lifting the embargoes to some degree. However our embargoes did little to slow Japan down. They decided if they could not get America to trade with them they would just take over areas that where rich with raw material. So they swept across much of Asia securing places with the greatest supply of raw Material. The place they considered to be their most prized possession was the Dutch East Indies and many historians believe that with out them Japan would have been crushed under the United States Embargo. So the effects that America's Embargo's had on Japan where great in one aspect but where ineffective. It just help speed Japan up in their conquering of other places. Japan choice to attack America was in part of their taking and controlling the pacific. They had plans of invading and controlling the British Malay, the American Philippines, Dutch East Indies and the southern lands of Australian and New Zealand. However at the time leading up to Pearl Harbor FDR was blind sighted to Japan's true intentions and was more concerned with negations. Part of the reason America never stopped the Japanese Fishing Boats from entering Pearl Harbor. Even after Patton had warned about the dangerous of this. America in all foolishness truly believe that Japan would not attack us. So these Japanese fishing boats where allowed to fish around the Harbor make detailed maps of Pearl Harbor showing exact locations of airstrips, ships and other military locations. In Reality Japan's plan was to catch America off guard and attack their forces that where closest to them before America viewed them as being to big of a threat and continue on with their already powerful campaign. So come December 7, 1941 Japan swiftly and carefully carried out an attack on Pearl Harbor leaving America Navel Force devastated. 8 hours later on December 8th, because of The International Dateline, Japan struck a devastating blow on the Philippines as well. Thus December 7th, 1941 will be a day that shall live in infamy as a day when America woke up and realized the serious threat of the Japanese forces.
• Japan attacked pearl harbor in a gamble to knock America out of a future war the military government knew was inevitable from strong American disagreement to their actions of taking over East Asia and the atrocities performed there such as the "Rape of Nanking's Through the bombing of Pearl Harbor, japan did not hope to defeat America yet simply bide enough time to dominate the Pacific to gain a strategic advantage so America could not push through, this failed however as the two aircraft carriers that were stationed there were on routine maneuvering practice so they were not destroyed leading to the eventual downfall of the Japanese Empire
• There are many reasons as to why Japan attacked Pearl harbor but there is only one major reason which is to do with American intervention in Japanese affairs. One of these was where the U.S. prohibited exports of steel, scrap iron and fuel to Japan because of the takeover of northern Indochina. Another reason was when Japan took over the rest of Indochina and the US once again took action. This time they made oil unavailable to the Japanese, making both their air force and navy completely useless. Because of all of this invention by America, the Japanese military decided that they had to get rid of the Pacific fleet because the Americans would surely intervene and cause them more trouble. Once this was done they could start their war plan to take over Burma, Malaya, the East Indies, and the Philippines.
• It is also worth mentioning that both America and Japan had joined the war effort on rival sides prior to Pearl Harbour, though America had not of course declared war. Japan signed a mutual defensive pact with Germany and Italy in September 1940 and the Lend-Lease Act tied America to the Allies from March 1941.
• The Japanese were expecting their results of the attack cripple the U. S. Pacific Fleet for a period of up to eighteen months, preventing aggressive action against imperial forces, with the fleet to later be drawn out into a final battle and destroyed. The Japanese launched a surprise attack on the US Navy and Air force so they could proceed in conquering China. The Japanese believed that if they were successful with bombing the US Ships and Aircraft that they would then have enough time to proceed in conquering China.
• The Japanese felt that they were a superior race and by defeating the US they would have a chance to become a Super Power.
• Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because the U.S. enacted an embargo on all oil supplies to Japan. The reason for the embargo is because Japan was invading China. The U.S. embargo cutoff 90% of Japans resources, which crippled their economy and most importantly military. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor for another important reason. 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. Additionally, an attack on the Pacific Fleet would take the U.S. six months to recuperate and rebuild the Navy.
• Technically, they didn't invade it. They attacked it with bombs from airplanes and a few small submarines. For information on why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor see the links to the right.
• America had been declaring neutrality since World War One as that war was so devastating that citizens wanted to just stay out of world affairs. Yet America was still a superpower and a threat to the Axis powers (Japan, Germany, etc.) At the time, Japan was one of the largest naval powers if not the most powerful. About the only country that Japan had anything to worry about was America, who was still not involved officially in the war. America at this time was teetering on the edge of entering the war so Japan had the plan to attack first and destroy our naval fleet quickly. Hence the attack on Pearl Harbor. Luckily for our side, a general (forgotten the name) had just moved several air craft carriers out of Pearl Harbor or the Japanese would have succeeded. That is all I know, I am probably missing a few details but it should give you a start.
• Because the knew war was inevitable and that a surprise attack on such an important naval base would give them control of the pacific.
• To destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet so the United States would be unable to prevent Japan from conquering most of the Pacific and South-East Asia.
• To destroy our fleet but also because we (Britain America and Russia) boycotted them for invading china. we also made it impossible for them to get oil which hurt their economy.
• Japan is dependent on trade. Japan is an island and needs raw materials. The US used to trade oil and many other things Japan's economy needed. When the war started, the US closed it's trade with Asia. Japan was desperate. They need raw materials. Because the united states had cut of their supply of raw materials, Japan wanted to strike the US for what had happened to Japan.
• Perhaps because the Japanese wanted to conquer the Pacific, starting with the Indies, which Britain controlled along with Australia. The U.S was allied with Britain. If the Japanese didn't want U.S retaliation when Japan tried to conquer the Indies, they would have to cripple or destroy the major U.S Naval/Air powers in the Pacific, such as Pearl Harbor, Midway, and others.
• The Japanese were worried about America striking them first, so they pulled a preemptive strike first...Look, the U.S. have planned to get the Japanese to attack the U.S. since the before the 1920s. There is congressional records in U.S. that will show that they were getting the Japanese to attack the U.S. for almost 20 years before the implementation. There were a lot of efforts by the Japanese to avert the war with the U.S. even a month before the Pearl Harbor but the U.S president refused to talk with the diplomats. There is presidential records of this plan decades before implementation, but I am sure you can find it. To incite the Japanese to attack U.S. the U.S. used U.S. army personnel stationed in China to send their men under the guise of a Chinese company to rape and kill innocent Japanese so that the Japanese will be angry enough to incite war. This was the real reason why the diplomats were so desperate to negotiate with U.S. only a month before war. At least this is what I learned when I lived in Japan! Now when you study your history lessons in U.S. Yes, I studied U.S. history in U.S. the history books told me that the Japanese want to expand their empires, that is why they attacked the U.S. however, reading foreign history books a very different history of U.S. So I guess it depends on what side of the Pacific you were on! Therefore I refrain from further any more arguments. History is written to please the present regime. So it won't be fair no matter whose side you are on. But winners will always write the history books anyway, at least the dominant versions, since the looser is always dead. Dead people can't write history books. Just my opinion, but -- Since the Japanese history books do not mention many things that were published, even bragged about, in Japanese newspapers during the 1930s and 1940s, I wouldn't have a lot of faith in their version. The Congressional Records are public domain, so someone in the "Blame America First" media would surely find this information if it existed.
• The Japanese were cut off from oil products and equipment. Moreover, the Japanese did not like the threat of Pearl Harbor attacking them.
• What led up to that Day in Infamy? War itself generally makes little sense, but the attack on Pearl Harbor has always sparked the imagination. 3,500 Americans were killed or wounded in the attack on December 7, 1941.
  • Before The Attack
  • September 1940. The U.S. placed an embargo on Japan by prohibiting exports of steel, scrap iron, and aviation fuel to Japan, due to Japan's takeover of northern French Indochina.
  • April 1941. The Japanese signed a neutrality treaty with the Soviet Union to help prevent an attack from that direction if they were to go to war with Britain or the U.S. while taking a bigger bite out of Southeast Asia.
  • June 1941 through the end of July 1941. Japan occupied southern Indochina. Two days later, the U.S., Britain, and the Netherlands froze Japanese assets. This prevented Japan from buying oil, which would, in time, cripple its army and make its navy and air force completely useless.
  • Toward the end of 1941. With the Soviets seemingly on the verge of defeat by the Axis powers, Japan seized the opportunity to try to take the oil resources of Southeast Asia. The U.S. wanted to stop Japanese expansion but the American people were not willing to go to war to stop it. The U.S. demanded that Japan withdraw from China and Indochina, but would have settled for a token withdrawal and a promise not to take more territory.
  • Prior to December 1941, Japan pursued two simultaneous courses: try to get the oil embargo lifted on terms that would still let them take the territory they wanted, and ... to prepare for war.
  • After becoming Japan's premier in mid-October, General Tojo Hideki See Books about Tojo secretly set November 29 as the last day on which Japan would accept a settlement without war.
  • The Japanese military was asked to devise a war plan. They proposed to sweep into Burma, Malaya, the East Indies, and the Philippines, in addition to establishing a defensive perimeter in the central and southwest Pacific. They expected the U.S. to declare war but not to be willing to fight long or hard enough to win. Their greatest concern was that the U.S. Pacific Fleet, based in Pearl Harbor could foil their plans. As insurance, the Japanese navy undertook to cripple the Pacific Fleet by a surprise air attack.

• The Warnings
  • The U.S. had broken the Japanese diplomatic code and knew an attack was imminent. A warning had been sent from Washington, but it arrived too late. Early warning radar was new technology. Japanese planes were spotted by radar before the attack, but they were assumed to be a flight of American B-17s due in from the West Coast.

• The Attack
  • On December 7th 1941, on an otherwise peaceful Sunday morning on a beautiful Hawaiian island, the first wave of Japanese airplanes left 6 aircraft carriers and struck Pearl Harbor a few minutes before 8 AM local time.
  • In two waves of terror lasting two long hours, they killed or wounded over 3,500 Americans and sank or badly damaged 18 ships - including all 8 battleships of the Pacific Fleet - and over 350 destroyed or damaged aircraft. At least 1,177 lives were lost when the Battleship U.S.S. Arizona More about the Arizona exploded and subsequently sank.
  • However, they did not sink any of our Pacific aircraft carriers and they left most of the fuel that was needed to win the war in the Pacific.
  • In one stroke, the Japanese navy scored a brilliant success and assured their ultimate defeat.
  • The Japanese attack brought the U.S. into the war on December 8 and brought it in the war determined to fight to the finish.

• A good question. Japan was expanding it's territory nicely throughout Asia, and if they had refrained from an attack on Pearl Harbor, perhaps America would never have entered the war. The truth is, however, somewhat different. Japan had it's eyes on the trading ports of Singapore and the Philippines...areas where British and American interests ran high. Japan knew it could never invade these countries without becoming involved in a war with both Britain and America. Geographically, the biggest threat was America, which had a huge Pacific Naval Fleet. Consequently, Japan devised an absolutely genius plan...to wipe out the entire American Navy in one blow, after which it would have been able to advance unopposed through the far east. A hiccup occurred however. While the Japanese destroyed most of America's heavy combat vessels at Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor, the USA's carrier fleet was out at sea on maneuvers. The survival of the carriers enabled America to fight back, and hold the Japanese up long enough for military mobilization back home to take place, and more ships and men to be sent out the the pacific.
• Maybe Japan preemptively attacked the U.S.A. because the "source and center of evil" threatened them with a massive economic war (steel- and oil-embargo) and was actively developing "weapons of mass destruction" which would later in fact kill 220.000 innocent civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Or maybe they wanted to "liberate" the Philippines from their oppressor?
• The Japanese were going hungry and they were using there money to build up their military forces and their naval forces.
• Let us not forget that in the 1850's Admiral Perry of the United States sailed into Japans' harbor to establish trade. Perry being rejected returned a year later with a demonstration of technological force and convinced the Japanese that they needed to become modernized in their development of military strength to compete on the world stage. Japan having the philosophy of Bashido (The Way of the Warrior) and living under the rule and time honored influence of Shogun authority, took the path of a militaristic doctrine and pursued modernization. In time Japan felt they needed to expand their territories and looked to Chinese Manchuria to flourish industrially. Japan became confused when the United States embargoed them from essential oil from the Dutch Indies and reduction of steel exports from the US. Japans' thinking was, "why are you hindering us, when you the United States in regards to your own expansion segregated and eliminated the indigenous American Indian". In regards to the bombing of Pearl Harbor itself, the Japanese felt that if they could demoralize the US with a show of strength that the US would renegotiate the embargo. Remember that US showed signs of isolationism in regards to the current European war and only supported the British at first with a "Lend Lease Act" of military supplies. The Japanese also thought that the US was not a unified country of mixed nationalities. Again the thinking of the Japanese proved incorrect, and as the Japanese Admiral stated, "We will awake a sleeping giant". There were two major flaws on the attack on Pearl Harbor, one being that two American Aircraft Carriers where not in port, leading to the bombing of Japan by Doolittle (insignificant, but physiologically effective), and second the cancellation of a second bombing raid that would of destroyed the storage petrol installations. However to a degree the bombing assault plan worked because it gave time to Japan to expand and literally "dig in" throughout Asia. With great conjecture it seemed with the atomic bombing of two major cities in Japan, and the possible onslaught of the Russian Army, Japan agreed to surrender.
• They were paranoid. And for once, no, this isn't a sarcastic answer. We scared them, and they took a preemptive strike.

Answer 2

Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese for several reasons.

1. When the Japanese decided to attack America, they knew that almost all of the immediate forces were naval. Hence, they decided to bomb pearl harbor, as it held the majority of the American naval forces in the pacific. By bombing the navy, they managed to cripple any efforts at an attack force following them immediately to retaliate.

2. Geography. They also decided to attack pearl harbor, but i believe the final decision was not made until approximately 2 to 3 days before the attack. Other targets included San Francisco, large coastal cities, etc. They decided upon pearl harbor because it was closer to japan than the U.S., and they would have less distance to travel. The closer they came to the U.S. coast, the larger the chance of being detected, and forced to turn back. Also, if they attacked the mainland, they would have to pass Hawaii on the way back, and by that time a force would be following them.

3. Deception. While the Japanese navy was steaming towards Hawaii, their ambassadors in D.C. were trying to convince the government that japan would not attack. Unfortunately for them, some people were getting suspicious. The fleet decided to attack then, instead of risking the longer journey to the coast.

More input from Answers.com contributors:

• To knock out the U.S. Pacific Fleet as a significant fighting force so we could not oppose their conquest of South East Asia and the Pacific Islands. They thought that once they had conquered all that territory that we would be unable to dislodge them from it even if we did rebuild the fleet.
• Eventually these feelings translated into the USA leading an international movement to isolate Japan economically and thus force them to withdraw from China. Primarily the USA plan was to cut off credit to the Japanese which would prevent them from being able to purchase petroleum. Japan received petroleum (an absolutely vital economic and military commodity, then as it is now) from three sources: The USA, Dutch east indies (Indonesia) and Burma (British controlled in the 1940's). The USA inspired movement included all three sources. Japan could/would not accept a withdrawal from the Chinese war and instead began planning a first strike against the USA navy. Eliminating or reducing the USA naval forces in the Pacific would make the Japanese navy paramount, and thus Japan would be able to defeat the economic consequences of the USA ultimatum. After eliminating the USA navy Japan planned to occupy the Dutch East Indies and Burma, thus gaining control of enough oil to run their military and economy. The strike on Pearl Harbor did exactly as hoped by the Japanese. The USA fleet was crippled. The Dutch lacked forces to repel the Japanese. The British navy (as ordered by Churchill) sent forces to defend their areas but these were totally inadequate for the job and were decimated quickly. Japan occupied all the oil producing areas and settled down to a war of attrition against the USA, which they hoped would wear down the USA politically and enable them to keep their conquests.
• The Japanese were expecting their results of the attack cripple the U. S. Pacific Fleet for a period of up to eighteen months, preventing aggressive action against imperial forces, with the fleet to later be drawn out into a final battle and destroyed. The Japanese launched a surprise attack on the US Navy and Air force so they could proceed in conquering China. The Japanese believed that if they were successful with bombing the US Ships and Aircraft that they would then have enough time to proceed in conquering China.
• While all the former answers are true, they lack a point of view which is critical in understanding the psyche that lead to such an event, and it is this aspect which stands as a warning in time to all peoples. Understanding the perceptions which lay behind the construction of such a scheme of war against the United States, at Pearl Harbor, is the greatest lesson. All the lives lost in the ensuing holocaust of WWII are in vain and utterly meaningless without understanding the ideas held by ourselves and our enemies about each other, and it is these ideas which hold the ultimate answer to "Why did Japan Attack Pearl Harbor." The Japanese believed that America, as a nation of diverse races of peoples, was a mongoloid mix incapable of acting with a united singular resolve. That perception was fueled by the propaganda of Japan. The Yamato Race were a superior people. America was very alien to the Japanese, and it is not surprising that a homogeneous group of people could not comprehend how such a diverse range of extreme individuals, a prized ideal in America could possibly equate in to a united body. Americans, thought the Japanese, were a collection of trash peoples. Easily dealt with and who should rightly be sub servant to the Yamato Race. Such notions are at the very heart of the belief that Japan could win a war with 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. Thus, they convinced themselves that the Americans would come to accept a new reality of Japanese Superiority. Of course it was much more complex than this. Japan, for instance, was very isolated. R. Francillions book; Japanese Aircraft of the Second World War, opens with an observation taken from Japanese propaganda; "Every Foreigner is A Spy!" So the military of Japan, which ran the nation in almost every sense, denied the people any thing which would encumber their designs, which was to make War. Ultimately, Japan attacked the United States because it was "Hell Bent on War!" It was totally convinced of its superiority as a master race, and believed that it had a right to rule and do what it felt like with all peoples of the world.
• The Japanese and the Americans, two very different people, were in conflict before WWII and the attack on the Pacific Islands and Pearl Harbor. The Japanese were coming to America via west coast in the late 1800's. But mind you that the Japanese were still coming to the country after that too. When this occurred the Japanese then needed (like any person) a job. So they worked just as hard or maybe harder than the average American at the time. Also they worked for less. Japanese=Less Expensive in the 1800's. They were taking other peoples (Americans) jobs away because they were less expensive. The Americans didn't like that. Point #1: Because of this the Americans started to discriminate against the Japanese people. They started with the Japanese children. Point #2: We discriminated against the Japanese children in the San Franciscan Schools. Point #3: We slowed down Japanese immigration to the United States by issuing the Gentleman's Agreement signed by Teddy Roosevelt because he wanted to keep Japan as an Ally. "The U.S. negotiated a treaty with Japan in 1894 that allowed free immigration of Japanese laborers, but as the majority was settling in California, the Japanese were soon victims of the same discriminatory attitudes and actions as the Chinese. By 1900, Japan agreed to deny passports to Japanese laborers intent on immigrating to the U.S. but many continued to enter via Mexico, Canada and Hawaii. By 1906, San Francisco extended its school segregation laws to include all Asians. While the Japanese government was willing to work with the U.S. to control emigration of its laborers, the actions taken by San Francisco inflamed simmering tensions between the two countries. President Roosevelt desired to keep Japan as an ally, especially in light of Russian's expansionist activities. Instead of a legislative act as had been passed against Chinese laborers, Roosevelt negotiated an agreement by which San Francisco would rescind its discriminatory policies toward the Japanese and the government of Japan would deny passports to Japanese seeking to enter the U.S. and recognized the authority of the U.S. to deny entry to Japanese if they successfully reached the US. This gentleman's Agreement signed in 1908, was extended to Korea when Japan annexed that country in 1910."
• A complex set of reasons, as is often the case with these seemingly straightforward historical questions. Basically, because those that made such decisions (the Japanese) decided, on balance, it was the best course of action in pursuit of their own objectives. Two principal reasons stand out though; oil and preemptive war: 1 Japan needed oil to prosecute its war in Asia. The US had stopped providing oil but, if defeated, could be a good source of this vital resource. 2 At the time of the attack, the US had come under persistent pressure (from the British and from many within political and military circles in the USA) to join the war. US supplies to Britain and its Commonwealth allies had increased steadily and there was no longer any pretext of US independence. In fact, the full participation of the US in the war on the side of Britain, its allies and its empire seemed increasingly likely and would have brought the US directly into conflict with Japan. Given this apparent inevitable war with the US, why not attack the US Pacific Fleet when they least expected it and while mostly at anchor in Pearl Harbor.
• Before Japan tried to capture all of the pacific and the Dutch East Indies. America was on very good terms with them. We traded everything from oil and scrap metal to food and other goods. America viewed Japanese Culture as being beautiful and intriguing. In fact we where on such good terms with Japan that they had given every state in the united states Friendship Dolls. (Which almost every state smashed afterwards. I believe out of 50, only 5 sets remain. One of which being in my state of South Dakota.) However once Japan started to invade China FDR said, that it would be morally wrong for him to support the Japanese's War Machine's With Isolation still being strongly footed into America we didn't want to go to war and thus did little to stop that machine otherwise. However Japan was convinced that it could get America to break it embargoes against them. Thus they set out on many peace missions to America in order to try and get us to start trade with them again. It is Important to note that Japan had a limited oil supply and with them being at war it would only last about a year. Why FDR, for the time being, would not budge on his embargoes he was still for keeping Japan and America on good term. In fact all the way up to December 7th, Japan and America were still on negations to settling their differences and we where working on lifting the embargoes to some degree. However our embargoes did little to slow Japan down. They decided if they could not get America to trade with them they would just take over areas that where rich with raw material. So they swept across much of Asia securing places with the greatest supply of raw Material. The place they considered to be their most prized possession was the Dutch East Indies and many historians believe that with out them Japan would have been crushed under the United States Embargo. So the effects that America's Embargo's had on Japan where great in one aspect but where ineffective. It just help speed Japan up in their conquering of other places. Japan choice to attack America was in part of their taking and controlling the pacific. They had plans of invading and controlling the British Malay, the American Philippines, Dutch East Indies and the southern lands of Australian and New Zealand. However at the time leading up to Pearl Harbor FDR was blind sighted to Japan's true intentions and was more concerned with negations. Part of the reason America never stopped the Japanese Fishing Boats from entering Pearl Harbor. Even after Patton had warned about the dangerous of this. America in all foolishness truly believe that Japan would not attack us. So these Japanese fishing boats where allowed to fish around the Harbor make detailed maps of Pearl Harbor showing exact locations of airstrips, ships and other military locations. In Reality Japan's plan was to catch America off guard and attack their forces that where closest to them before America viewed them as being to big of a threat and continue on with their already powerful campaign. So come December 7, 1941 Japan swiftly and carefully carried out an attack on Pearl Harbor leaving America Navel Force devastated. 8 hours later on December 8th, because of The International Dateline, Japan struck a devastating blow on the Philippines as well. Thus December 7th, 1941 will be a day that shall live in infamy as a day when America woke up and realized the serious threat of the Japanese forces.
• Japan attacked pearl harbor in a gamble to knock America out of a future war the military government knew was inevitable from strong American disagreement to their actions of taking over East Asia and the atrocities performed there such as the "Rape of Nanking's Through the bombing of Pearl Harbor, japan did not hope to defeat America yet simply bide enough time to dominate the Pacific to gain a strategic advantage so America could not push through, this failed however as the two aircraft carriers that were stationed there were on routine maneuvering practice so they were not destroyed leading to the eventual downfall of the Japanese Empire
• There are many reasons as to why Japan attacked Pearl harbor but there is only one major reason which is to do with American intervention in Japanese affairs. One of these was where the U.S. prohibited exports of steel, scrap iron and fuel to Japan because of the takeover of northern Indochina. Another reason was when Japan took over the rest of Indochina and the US once again took action. This time they made oil unavailable to the Japanese, making both their air force and navy completely useless. Because of all of this invention by America, the Japanese military decided that they had to get rid of the Pacific fleet because the Americans would surely intervene and cause them more trouble. Once this was done they could start their war plan to take over Burma, Malaya, the East Indies, and the Philippines.
• It is also worth mentioning that both America and Japan had joined the war effort on rival sides prior to Pearl Harbour, though America had not of course declared war. Japan signed a mutual defensive pact with Germany and Italy in September 1940 and the Lend-Lease Act tied America to the Allies from March 1941.
• The Japanese were expecting their results of the attack cripple the U. S. Pacific Fleet for a period of up to eighteen months, preventing aggressive action against imperial forces, with the fleet to later be drawn out into a final battle and destroyed. The Japanese launched a surprise attack on the US Navy and Air force so they could proceed in conquering China. The Japanese believed that if they were successful with bombing the US Ships and Aircraft that they would then have enough time to proceed in conquering China.
• The Japanese felt that they were a superior race and by defeating the US they would have a chance to become a Super Power.
• Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because the U.S. enacted an embargo on all oil supplies to Japan. The reason for the embargo is because Japan was invading China. The U.S. embargo cutoff 90% of Japans resources, which crippled their economy and most importantly military. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor for another important reason. 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. Additionally, an attack on the Pacific Fleet would take the U.S. six months to recuperate and rebuild the Navy.
• Technically, they didn't invade it. They attacked it with bombs from airplanes and a few small submarines. For information on why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor see the links to the right.
• America had been declaring neutrality since World War One as that war was so devastating that citizens wanted to just stay out of world affairs. Yet America was still a superpower and a threat to the Axis powers (Japan, Germany, etc.) At the time, Japan was one of the largest naval powers if not the most powerful. About the only country that Japan had anything to worry about was America, who was still not involved officially in the war. America at this time was teetering on the edge of entering the war so Japan had the plan to attack first and destroy our naval fleet quickly. Hence the attack on Pearl Harbor. Luckily for our side, a general (forgotten the name) had just moved several air craft carriers out of Pearl Harbor or the Japanese would have succeeded. That is all I know, I am probably missing a few details but it should give you a start.
• Because the knew war was inevitable and that a surprise attack on such an important naval base would give them control of the pacific.
• To destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet so the United States would be unable to prevent Japan from conquering most of the Pacific and South-East Asia.
• To destroy our fleet but also because we (Britain America and Russia) boycotted them for invading china. we also made it impossible for them to get oil which hurt their economy.
• Japan is dependent on trade. Japan is an island and needs raw materials. The US used to trade oil and many other things Japan's economy needed. When the war started, the US closed it's trade with Asia. Japan was desperate. They need raw materials. Because the united states had cut of their supply of raw materials, Japan wanted to strike the US for what had happened to Japan.
• Perhaps because the Japanese wanted to conquer the Pacific, starting with the Indies, which Britain controlled along with Australia. The U.S was allied with Britain. If the Japanese didn't want U.S retaliation when Japan tried to conquer the Indies, they would have to cripple or destroy the major U.S Naval/Air powers in the Pacific, such as Pearl Harbor, Midway, and others.
• The Japanese were worried about America striking them first, so they pulled a preemptive strike first...Look, the U.S. have planned to get the Japanese to attack the U.S. since the before the 1920s. There is congressional records in U.S. that will show that they were getting the Japanese to attack the U.S. for almost 20 years before the implementation. There were a lot of efforts by the Japanese to avert the war with the U.S. even a month before the Pearl Harbor but the U.S president refused to talk with the diplomats. There is presidential records of this plan decades before implementation, but I am sure you can find it. To incite the Japanese to attack U.S. the U.S. used U.S. army personnel stationed in China to send their men under the guise of a Chinese company to rape and kill innocent Japanese so that the Japanese will be angry enough to incite war. This was the real reason why the diplomats were so desperate to negotiate with U.S. only a month before war. At least this is what I learned when I lived in Japan! Now when you study your history lessons in U.S. Yes, I studied U.S. history in U.S. the history books told me that the Japanese want to expand their empires, that is why they attacked the U.S. however, reading foreign history books a very different history of U.S. So I guess it depends on what side of the Pacific you were on! Therefore I refrain from further any more arguments. History is written to please the present regime. So it won't be fair no matter whose side you are on. But winners will always write the history books anyway, at least the dominant versions, since the looser is always dead. Dead people can't write history books. Just my opinion, but -- Since the Japanese history books do not mention many things that were published, even bragged about, in Japanese newspapers during the 1930s and 1940s, I wouldn't have a lot of faith in their version. The Congressional Records are public domain, so someone in the "Blame America First" media would surely find this information if it existed.
• The Japanese were cut off from oil products and equipment. Moreover, the Japanese did not like the threat of Pearl Harbor attacking them.
• What led up to that Day in Infamy? War itself generally makes little sense, but the attack on Pearl Harbor has always sparked the imagination. 3,500 Americans were killed or wounded in the attack on December 7, 1941.
  • Before The Attack
  • September 1940. The U.S. placed an embargo on Japan by prohibiting exports of steel, scrap iron, and aviation fuel to Japan, due to Japan's takeover of northern French Indochina.
  • April 1941. The Japanese signed a neutrality treaty with the Soviet Union to help prevent an attack from that direction if they were to go to war with Britain or the U.S. while taking a bigger bite out of Southeast Asia.
  • June 1941 through the end of July 1941. Japan occupied southern Indochina. Two days later, the U.S., Britain, and the Netherlands froze Japanese assets. This prevented Japan from buying oil, which would, in time, cripple its army and make its navy and air force completely useless.
  • Toward the end of 1941. With the Soviets seemingly on the verge of defeat by the Axis powers, Japan seized the opportunity to try to take the oil resources of Southeast Asia. The U.S. wanted to stop Japanese expansion but the American people were not willing to go to war to stop it. The U.S. demanded that Japan withdraw from China and Indochina, but would have settled for a token withdrawal and a promise not to take more territory.
  • Prior to December 1941, Japan pursued two simultaneous courses: try to get the oil embargo lifted on terms that would still let them take the territory they wanted, and ... to prepare for war.
  • After becoming Japan's premier in mid-October, General Tojo Hideki See Books about Tojo secretly set November 29 as the last day on which Japan would accept a settlement without war.
  • The Japanese military was asked to devise a war plan. They proposed to sweep into Burma, Malaya, the East Indies, and the Philippines, in addition to establishing a defensive perimeter in the central and southwest Pacific. They expected the U.S. to declare war but not to be willing to fight long or hard enough to win. Their greatest concern was that the U.S. Pacific Fleet, based in Pearl Harbor could foil their plans. As insurance, the Japanese navy undertook to cripple the Pacific Fleet by a surprise air attack.

• The Warnings
  • The U.S. had broken the Japanese diplomatic code and knew an attack was imminent. A warning had been sent from Washington, but it arrived too late. Early warning radar was new technology. Japanese planes were spotted by radar before the attack, but they were assumed to be a flight of American B-17s due in from the West Coast.

• The Attack
  • On December 7th 1941, on an otherwise peaceful Sunday morning on a beautiful Hawaiian island, the first wave of Japanese airplanes left 6 aircraft carriers and struck Pearl Harbor a few minutes before 8 AM local time.
  • In two waves of terror lasting two long hours, they killed or wounded over 3,500 Americans and sank or badly damaged 18 ships - including all 8 battleships of the Pacific Fleet - and over 350 destroyed or damaged aircraft. At least 1,177 lives were lost when the Battleship U.S.S. Arizona More about the Arizona exploded and subsequently sank.
  • However, they did not sink any of our Pacific aircraft carriers and they left most of the fuel that was needed to win the war in the Pacific.
  • In one stroke, the Japanese navy scored a brilliant success and assured their ultimate defeat.
  • The Japanese attack brought the U.S. into the war on December 8 and brought it in the war determined to fight to the finish.

• A good question. Japan was expanding it's territory nicely throughout Asia, and if they had refrained from an attack on Pearl Harbor, perhaps America would never have entered the war. The truth is, however, somewhat different. Japan had it's eyes on the trading ports of Singapore and the Philippines...areas where British and American interests ran high. Japan knew it could never invade these countries without becoming involved in a war with both Britain and America. Geographically, the biggest threat was America, which had a huge Pacific Naval Fleet. Consequently, Japan devised an absolutely genius plan...to wipe out the entire American Navy in one blow, after which it would have been able to advance unopposed through the far east. A hiccup occurred however. While the Japanese destroyed most of America's heavy combat vessels at Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor, the USA's carrier fleet was out at sea on maneuvers. The survival of the carriers enabled America to fight back, and hold the Japanese up long enough for military mobilization back home to take place, and more ships and men to be sent out the the pacific.
• Maybe Japan preemptively attacked the U.S.A. because the "source and center of evil" threatened them with a massive economic war (steel- and oil-embargo) and was actively developing "weapons of mass destruction" which would later in fact kill 220.000 innocent civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Or maybe they wanted to "liberate" the Philippines from their oppressor?
• The Japanese were going hungry and they were using there money to build up their military forces and their naval forces.
• Let us not forget that in the 1850's Admiral Perry of the United States sailed into Japans' harbor to establish trade. Perry being rejected returned a year later with a demonstration of technological force and convinced the Japanese that they needed to become modernized in their development of military strength to compete on the world stage. Japan having the philosophy of Bashido (The Way of the Warrior) and living under the rule and time honored influence of Shogun authority, took the path of a militaristic doctrine and pursued modernization. In time Japan felt they needed to expand their territories and looked to Chinese Manchuria to flourish industrially. Japan became confused when the United States embargoed them from essential oil from the Dutch Indies and reduction of steel exports from the US. Japans' thinking was, "why are you hindering us, when you the United States in regards to your own expansion segregated and eliminated the indigenous American Indian". In regards to the bombing of Pearl Harbor itself, the Japanese felt that if they could demoralize the US with a show of strength that the US would renegotiate the embargo. Remember that US showed signs of isolationism in regards to the current European war and only supported the British at first with a "Lend Lease Act" of military supplies. The Japanese also thought that the US was not a unified country of mixed nationalities. Again the thinking of the Japanese proved incorrect, and as the Japanese Admiral stated, "We will awake a sleeping giant". There were two major flaws on the attack on Pearl Harbor, one being that two American Aircraft Carriers where not in port, leading to the bombing of Japan by Doolittle (insignificant, but physiologically effective), and second the cancellation of a second bombing raid that would of destroyed the storage petrol installations. However to a degree the bombing assault plan worked because it gave time to Japan to expand and literally "dig in" throughout Asia. With great conjecture it seemed with the atomic bombing of two major cities in Japan, and the possible onslaught of the Russian Army, Japan agreed to surrender.
• They were paranoid. And for once, no, this isn't a sarcastic answer. We scared them, and they took a preemptive strike.