Pearl Harbor - A Japanese Perspective

The Americans logic was that without access to goods and money, and other supplies such as oil, Japan would have to put a leash on their imperialism that threatened China. This idea backfired as it only made Japan more determined to stand by their beliefs. American and Japan were in negotiation for months, but neither nation refused to make any changes, which made conflict inevitable. .
             The Japanese believed that this event caused them to realize that war was necessary. Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto began to develop his master plan which would be known as Operation Hawaii. Yamamoto's logic was that if Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, it would get them to have control over the East Indies, and also break the trade embargo that the United States put on Japan. He talked with other officers and came up with the deduction that while an attack on Pearl Harbor would be difficult, it is possible. In October, the Japanese emperor Hirohito gave his approval to attack Pearl Harbor. Although Japan's armed forces were much smaller than the United States, the American ships were spread all throughout the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. As an advantage to Japan, the German U-boat crisis in the spring of 1941 forced the Americans to send a quarter of their navy to the Pacific Ocean. This gave Japan the opportunity to strike. .
             America never thought that Japan would start a war with an attack on American soil. American officials were assured that a Japanese attack would be at one of the European colonies in the South Pacific such as Singapore, Indochina, or the Dutch East Indies. Because of this belief, the naval base Pearl Harbor was quite exposed. A large number of the ships and airplanes were stationed around Ford Island at the harbor, which made Pearl Harbor an easy target for the Japanese. They had a simple plan, destroy the Pacific Fleet. If they accomplished this, the Americans would be unable to retaliate as Japan's military spread across the South Pacific.