Was Japan justified in attacking the US at Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941?

Answer 1

The US had, with the treaty of Versailles (that was formed after WWI to try to make sure there was never a repeat of WWI), ensured that Japan was looked down as inferior because it was a small Asian nation.

They had wished to gain more land, so they didnt have to rely heavily on imports of oil, wheat and such from other countries.Instead, they were given a few islands in the pacific.

The land they had received for their service in WWI enraged the japaneese people and government as it was injust and racist.

They had during the discussions tried to include a clause on racial equality, but America managed to keep that from happening.

They needed allies and land, and obviously America wasnt going to be an ally so they looked to Germany and Italy.

The white race still felt superior to the asians and africans and treated them as such.

Since US ships sailed into Tokyo harbour and forced them to open up to trade in 1853 they soon changed their way of life, copying the European way for their way of ruling, army and other things.Not only did they have a 60% unemployment rate, there were many famines as a result of not being able to import enough food to support the population.When the great depression hit in 1929, there were millions more Japanese who fell into unemployment.The people started to look towards the military for help instead of to the weak government officials so in 1931, japan invaded manchuria, china.

The US replied by not exporting as much oil and freezing Japanese assets as "Punishment". the UN decided to have nothing to do with it as it was just another Asian war.

Japan then had the option of pulling out of manchuria or continuing. they decided to continue as it is human nature to not be beaten down with threats and damage but to strike back.The people also envisioned japan to be a strong nation.They continued their invasion of china along the coast, killing millions of Chinese.

The US responded to this by completely cutting off all oil exports to Japan, freezing all assets and encouraging other countries to do the same. the US has successfully backed Japan against a wall. Pride, like in all people, was strong and they would not back down because of the US who had no business in their affairs.They were enraged and if anything, the US's actions resulted in inflaming their resolve to continue invading china.

Japan was, and still is a proud nation so again, they had the option of backing out of the war after 4 years of war, costs and men and being alot worse off than when they started, or tey could continue, most likely improving living conditions for the Japanese population.

Japan, like most of the Asian countries, wanted to get rid of European occupation in Asia.

The American navy moved their base to Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, in range of the japaneese bomber planes and in range for the US to attack Japan.

The Japaneese took this as a threat and decided, after all the suffering and loss the US had caused them, they should strike the US so the US dosent strike Japan.

the result of this, bombing pearl harbour.

As i see it, its like the US was bullying the little kid only to find that the little kid could bite back.

It has been suggested that the US president of the time knew about the attack before it occurred but just used it as a way to gain popularity for the war... who knows what really happened

Another answer:

Yes and No.

The US had painted Japan into a corner by its embargo on oil and steel because of Japan's "johnny-come-late" in seeking colonies (China) much as the Western Powers had after WW-1.

Japan's brutal invasion of China, and our warnings against it with the embargo, seemed to have been the last straw for Japan.

Granted, all they had to do was to pull out of China, live peacefully, and sit tight, and the embargo would probably have been dropped.

Ahhh...but -HONOR- is everything in Asia, and losing face is not very honorable.Japan was like a puma in a small room, and felt that it had no choice but to stike at the US.

It felt if it could expand and create a empire of fortified islands, by the time the US recovered, Japan would be too strong for the US to do anything about it.

Remember...at this time, US-France-BRITIAN-DUTCH, all had some sort of land-holdings in Asia, Japan didn't. There was a sort of ASIA FOR THE ASIANS type of feelings.
they got it bad!