Love for others. To us the very ideas are absurd. In addition to trained manpower and modern weapons, Japan had in the mandated islands a string of naval and air bases ideally located for an advance to the south. Americans have never before gone to war with a nation about which they knew so little. On September 27, 1940, Japan concluded a military alliance with Germany and Italy. The mingling of emperor worship with the glorification of war, plus continued victories over half a century, have given the army and navy a popular prestige that will be hard to destroy. On September 18, 1931 the top blew off in Manchuria. Who were the men behind this drive? By mid-1945, however, only the United States had succeeded, and it used two atomic weapons on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to bring a rapid and conclusive end to the war with Japan. Because attrition would rule, U.S. planners assumed that a decisive battle, if one occurred, would be the outcome of years of attrition and would result in a U.S. victory. The Japanese did worry about this, but they assumed it away with the bland comment, “This must be watched…” Japan’s gamble is all the more hopeless in retrospect when one considers how quickly the Pacific War would have been won if the U.S. had not immediately prioritized, in concert with its Allies, the defeat of Germany. The militarists followed up their gains by the occupation of a large slice of north China in 1933, forcing the Chinese government to sign a humiliating truce. The army underestimated Soviet prowess, firepower, and logistical sustainability before Nomonhan in 1939. Can We Find a Punishment that Fits the Crimes? They considered it inconceivable that the landing was anything more than a reconnaissance. There is a cabinet, headed by the prime minister, and a parliament consisting of the House of Peers and the House of Representatives, the latter elected by the people. This is a question historians continue to debate. Doing nothing is a viable strategic option, and oftentimes a good one. Also: Japan: People: By occupation: Academics / Non-fiction writers: Historians. Shall We Destroy Japanese Trade and Industry? The declaration passed with just one dissenting vote. Most of the killers were given light sentences when brought to trial and were regarded as heroes by millions of Japanese because of the “purity” and “sincerity” of their motives. The remaining 200 or so divisions and division equivalents could claim only unsatisfactory to non-existent training. We can pass over the business of descent from the gods and the emperor’s divinity. But they did, advocate a moderate foreign policy to further the expansion of international trade and they realized the value of remaining on friendly terms with the United States. The Japanese estimated that there were two or three infantry companies at Milne Bay on New Guinea, so they landed 1,500 men against 9,458 Australians and Americans. Even big business, since 1937 an uneasy partner in the wartime economy, could no longer offer effective opposition to the fascists in uniform. Japan Before World War I: Until the late 1860s, the Japanese were a backward and isolated country, and as they watched China fall to outside forces, several in Japan began to fear a similar fate. They learned that only making financial contributions (checkbook diplomacy) did not earn Japan international respect. There were many failures of small businesses and serious unemployment among industrial and white-collar workers. Another dangerous feature is the division of control over civil and military affairs. The Navy’s operations division often ignored or did not believe its own intelligence, especially when that intelligence threatened planners’ assumptions. Jesus commanded his disciples to “love one another.” (John 13:34, 35) They would thus form an international brotherhood in which no one would ever wage war against his brother or sister.—1 John 3:10-12. Japan had the best army, navy, and air force in the Far East. They did stumble badly on merchant tonnage, estimating U.S. construction capacity in 1943 at five million tons versus the actual 19.2 million tons. The visit by a squadron of USN ships … Japanese shortfalls in resources influenced their assumptions in planning for World War II. Discontent and revolutionary unrest were seething within the army like a volcano preparing to erupt. Nationalist leaders in Japan desired to unite all of Asia under one emperor, an ideology known as hakkô ichiu. “To our soldiers will fall the grave responsibility for quieting unrest in our agrarian communities—both material and spiritual unrest.” To gain their ends the army extremists developed two characteristically Japanese methods: first, resorting to direct military action in China without authorization by the government; and second, terrorism against their political opponents at home. Nonetheless, in the fall of 1941 Japan was at the peak of its military and naval strength. Why did Japan begin World War II by invading China in 1937 and then widen it by attacking the British and Americans in 1941? In the words of former Ambassador Grew this step meant “a fundamental defeat for the moderate elements in the country and the complete supremacy of the military.”. Concurrently, the Japanese woefully underestimated the length of time it would take the Allies to launch counteroffensives. The outbreak of a large-scale war, in China rallied the people to the support of the militarists. Underestimating the enemy continued in the Philippines where Japanese army officers estimated the strength of General Douglas MacArthur’s 1942 Bataan army at 25,000 men when there were actually 80,000 on the peninsula. The Japanese Army became spoiled by easy access to military intelligence about the Chinese. It was often worse than disdain; it became a virulent, decades-long, government-driven indoctrination of contempt. He is worshiped, but he does not originate either policy or action. To understand why Japan lashed out, we must go back to World War I. Japan had been our ally. Japan - Japan - History: It is not known when humans first settled on the Japanese archipelago. What Sort of Government for Postwar Japan? China could easily be subdued. The working classes had a low standard of living, and big business demanded more raw materials and more markets which could be exploited without meeting European and American competition. It looks like Tokyo ignored its own many military and strategic short comings. These fantastic ideas are based on what they call “history,” in reality a patchwork of fact, legend, and wishful thinking. Japanese estimates of U.S. warship production through December 1945 were close enough for any staff to plan a war. France and Holland were in no position to come to the rescue of their Eastern possessions. The chief result was greater power for the supreme command. Another two or three officers addressed air intelligence. On that basis, they started a war they could not fail to lose, and the same process delayed them finally grasping that they had lost. Japan began the war facing the possibility that every bit of U.S. manpower, matériel, and resolve (and a little of Britain’s) would be aimed at Japan alone. "War of the Year of the Yang Earth Dragon"), sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution, was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the Imperial Court.. The U.S., on the contrary, always assumed that a war with Japan would be a war of attrition. Why did Japan do it? Actually they succeeded in assassinating only three high officials. It appeared to be a huge success however, what the Japanese under estimated was what the Americans were able for. Also, high tariffs in the United States and other countries barred Japanese goods from some of the world markets. When we study it reasonably well, and so acquire some usable habits of mind, as well as some basic data about the forces that affect our own lives, we emerge with relevant skills and an enhanced capacity for informed citizenship, critical thinking, and simple awareness. For the next fifty years Japan’s conquest and absorption of Asia and the Pacific islands has continued, step by step, with time out to consolidate the gains and gather strength for the next move. Its officers regard themselves as heirs of the old samurai. The First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) was Japan's first overseas war after she came out of isolation in the 1860s, and saw the rapidly modernised Japanese armed forces inflict an embarrassing defeat on less successfully modernised Chinese forces. The Japanese assumed away their enemy’s capabilities and underestimated their enemy’s quality, quantity, bravery, and strategic grasp, partly and no doubt subconsciously because Japan realized it could not defeat strong enemies. Why did japan enter world war 2? Economic resources were at a low ebb; this was the chief weakness. The Japanese constitution of 1889 provided the framework of a nineteenth-century monarchy modeled on Prussia. But that was not the starting point of Japanese aggression. Since 1941 the people of this country have been too busy fighting Japan and the other Axis partners to spend much time investigating their history and politics. By the beginning of 1941, for all practical purposes the army and the state were one. In July of that year Japanese naval guns fired on Chinese ships without warning. Britain and Russia faced victorious Axis armies in Europe and Africa, and the British navy was fighting the Battle of the Atlantic. Why did Japan invade Asia ? The modern Japanese army admired and imitated the German. When many Westerners look at Japan during World War II, they think that this era was an aberration of Japanese history, and that ideas of Zen Buddhism historically promoted peace in the region. From EM 15: What Shall Be Done about Japan after Victory? No Japanese planner could have dreamed of an aerial supply line of such magnitude in such difficult conditions. Historians agree Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 for two main reasons: ideology and natural resources. But there is proof. No Other Choice: Why Truman Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Japan "Truman and his advisers made the only decision they could have made; indeed, considered in the context of World War II, it … A day will come when Japan will lie stricken and harmless. America was now drawn into a global war. As an example, they did not understand the breadth of the U.S. educational infrastructure and did not believe that the U.S. could train the officers, noncommissioned officers, and specialists needed to take back Japan’s conquests. The government of Japan during the ten years before Pearl Harbor has been aptly described as “government by assassination.”. It looks like Tokyo ignored its own many military and strategic short comings. For the purposes of this pamphlet the principal causes of Japanese aggression may be summarized as follows: The Japanese actually believe that they are descendants of the gods, that their emperor is divine, and that they have a heaven-inspired mission to rule the world. For centuries the imperial power has been in the hands of a few nobles, soldiers, or statesmen who had the strength to use it. There is nothing to be gained by reproaching ourselves for not having read the future correctly. This is no new idea to the Japanese mind. At the head of the state is the emperor, assisted by his privy council. However, Japan did make a financial contribution of $10 billion and sent military hardware. “Soldiers have always saved Japan,” said fire-eating General Araki. But there is good reason to suspect that some of the highest ranking generals were in sympathy with the mutineers. generalists-historians concerned, for instance, with the Truman ad-ministration, with World War II in general, or even with the history of air power-depends heavily on the archival digging and analysis of the first circle. Therefore, they believed Soviets must be similarly hobbled. The Army ignored its own counter-intelligence practices, from its peacetime organization through training and into combat. After more than six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces and the loss of the port of Weihaiwei, the Qing government sued for peace in February 1895. Japan's inability to send troops was regarded as a big humiliation. Their estimates of U.S. aircraft production through the end of 1943 were almost exactly in line with actual production. By a combination of bluff and bloodshed Japan’s warlords, in less than half a century, had increased their holdings from 147,669 square miles to more than 1,000,000. Yet, in the summer of 1941, when their plan for conquest was officially published in The Way of the Subjects, the so-called “bible” of the Japanese people, many foreigners still did not take it very seriously. Settled by migrants from the Asian mainland back in the mists of prehistory, Japan has seen the rise and fall of emperors, rule by samurai warriors, isolation from the outside world, expansion over most of Asia, defeat, and rebirth.One of the most war-like of nations in the early 20th century, Japan today often serves as a voice of pacifism and restraint on the international stage. Before the rise of modem Japan, the nobles and their fighting men (samurai) formed the ruling class. Because Japan could not successfully fight a long war, planners assumed it would be short—in accordance with the decisive battle doctrine. Step by step, the Japanese people were prepared for a “unified,” that is, a military-fascist government. The Army war college gave only superficial intelligence training to its students, and neither the war college nor the air officers training school gave any special intelligence courses. Dangerously ignorant of the world outside Japan, they dislike foreigners and regard prosperous Japanese businessmen and politicians who have absorbed Western culture with a mixture of envy and suspicion. The conventional view, going back to the initial press coverage in 1945, was that the use of atomic weapons was justified as it ended a long and very costly war. They knew that they must strike soon, or give up forever their dream of conquest. 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