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Japan wanted control of southeast asia to exploit asian resources.
Japan continued past conflicts with China and expansion into the Pacific. Eventually they clashed with the US - Pearl Harbour - and had to align with the Axis for some help.
The military began to influence national policy in Japan during the 1930s. Not only did military leaders begin to hold political office, but they began to have a profound influence on the Emperor of Japan. The Japanese began a policy of expansion in Asia. They wanted to take over areas that would provide needed raw materials for the economy of Japan. The United States was concerned with Japanese expansion in the Pacific. It threatened the security of the United States. Japan saw the outbreak of war as an opportunity to continue their expansion and eventually control all of eastern Asia. Only the United States was in a position to prevent the expansion of Japan into East and Southeast Asia. The decision to attack Pearl Harbor was risky. But the Japanese military convinced the Emperor that the Japanese forces could control the Pacific before the US could recover from the attack at Pearl Harbor. For more information about the causes of World War II, see: http://hometown.AOL.com/we4amhis/WW2.htmlhttp://www.teacheroz.com/index.htm

MrV

AnswerJapan did not exactly enter World War 2. If the question is why did Japan attack the US and Great Britain, that is fairly easy. Relations between the US and Japan had been strained for several years as a result of Japan's war of expansion in China. As a result of the breakdown in negotiations between the two countries, the US declared an embargo on exports to Japan including vital raw materials such as metals and oil. Japan had less than a six month supply of fuel oil left and saw the embargo as a direct threat to her economy, the war effort and her survival as a nation, which, in fact it was. Japan realized her only hope was to seize the oil fields to the south. Japan knew this meant war with Britain and the US. The Japanese Navy felt the only hope of success in such a war was to deliver a knockout blow to the US Navy. Japan launched the attack on Pearl Harbor to destroy the US fleet, particularly the US Carriers to allow her time to advance in the South Pacific and protect her source of raw materials. Keep in mind, Japan never intended the attack to be a surprise attack.
This question assumes Japan joined WW2. Japan was already warring with China and other Asian and Pacific Island places long before September of 1939. The USA had placed an oil embargo on Japan because the Japanese military had been invading places which had the Natural Resources they desperately needed. In Manchuria they killed over 100,000 innocent civilians in an area that had some vital natural resources they wanted.

The USA sold Japan millions of barrels of oil before this happened. Since the Japanese officials refused to stop their brutality and murdering the US refused to sell to them anymore until they quit their imperialistic actions.

Japan came up with the idea to destroy the entire US Pacific Naval fleet so they could continue to expand to other nations and islands without the US Navy coming after them. So they chose to bomb the naval fleet as it sat in Pearl Harbor. They declared war on the US 55 minutes AFTER they bombed Pearl Harbor. Thus the US responded with military action and declaration of war.

That is the way Japan became ONE of the nations to start the world to battle worldwide.

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7y ago

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