Why Japan attacked the US in World War 2?

Answer 1

Very wrong first answer: depends what time period your talking about like 1978 or 1367.

Who ever wrote this are you serious? the US didn't even exist in 1367, and Japan doesn't have a military after World War 2.

Japan did not want a war with the US. Japan had over multiple occasions tried to diplomatically solve its differences with the US, but the US did not give an audience. Instead, the US created a blockade cutting off raw materials such as steel and oil from reaching Japan. Japan only had supplies for 6 months of production. the modernized Japan was dependent on its industry. without industry Japanese people had no jobs. If the industry shut down, then their economy would crash with no prospect of recovering. Basically the country of Japan would cease to exist as it did then.

Japan had two options. One was to abide by the blockade and cease to exist. The other was to somehow break through the blockade to continue to exist.

Japan attacked the US to break the blockade. Japan decided to exist.

Answer 2

Well there was a bunch of reasons but they mainly wanted the oil in the Dutch East Indies and the Japanese knew that they couldn't invade them with out pissing the US off and they thought the world was going to controlled by a few powerful countries and they wanted to be one of them. The US and Japan were two tow main pacific powers at the time, so they attacked pearl harbor trying to destroy the USPF in one attack but they underestimated the US's industrial capabilities and there carriers and they lost.

Answer 3

The overriding & primary reason for Japan's attack (on the US, the British Empire & the Dutch) in December 1941 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.

Answer 4

To give it time to conquer large portions of Oceania and Southeast Asia to obtain essential raw material.