Why did the Japanese get involved in World War 2 what was their goal???

Question

What were they thinking???? It seems so stupid that they would do a thing like that what were they doing????

Answer 1

you obviously have not studied much history. very well, here goes...

when Mathew Perry visited what is now Tokyo Bay to open up Japanese ports to American trade, he brought four brand new steam-powered warships with him. these vessels, with their heavy guns, impressed and frightened the japanese into doing it. but the japanese realized in the bargain that they had to modernize to make them a world power and prevent japan from being split up into other countries' colonies (this was happening on the east coast of china). so the japanese bought several dreadnoughts from other countries as they began building their own. when the carrier went from concept to weapon, the Japanese were the first to build a large powerful fleet of them.

that was all background information. here's the real answer...

the Japanese had aspirations of being an empire, to essentially rule, if not the world, then a good portion of it. japan is a resourceless country, like britain. to be a powerful nation, you need oil, food, real estate, etc. japan had fish. even britain had its own source of coal; Japan was overcrowded. the problem is, the areas that held these vital resources were owned by other countries; Britain, Denmark, the US, France, etc. the Japanese also forced a gagging stream of propaganda down their people's throats. they corrupted Bushido, and made the Japanese civilians believe it was their heaven-sent right, duty, and destiny to rule the world. they claimed other countries were weak, and that their own people were elite, invincible. they even named the area that they planned to conquer the "East-Asian Co-Prosperity Confluence" or something like that. so they invaded China, the Philipines, French Indochina, the Dutch East Indies, etc. we were the only ones who stood in their way, so they attacked Pearl Harbor, hoping to wipe out our ability to contest their advances long enough for them to become powerful enough to invade us. but Tojo and the other generals never believed that America's industrial might and her citizen's spirit could rally so forcefully or effectively. so there you have it. Japan, blinded by dreams of empire-building, tried to conquer first and ask questions later.

Answer 2

Get involved? The Japanese were involved before anyone else and were at war with China before the Germans invaded Poland. They were after territory and raw materials mainly. Once the Germans invaded Poland and the war in Europe started they moved against the British, French and Dutch territories/colonies in Asia to secure the raw materials. They had a treat with the Germans that made them allies against everyone the Japanese went to war with and everyone the Germans went to war with except the Russians with the Germans, stupid treaty for Germany to sign. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor the Germans kept the treaty and declared war on the U.S.; if they hadn't it is doubtful that Congress would have declared war on Germany and we would not have had a World War just two wars going on at the same time involving some of the same countries.
The Japanese needed the raw material, food and labor to fulfill the Japanese idea of an Asian Empire free of European interference and firmly controlled by Japan.

Answer 3

he Japanese had made an alliance with Germany. Hitler, already stalled against his conquest of Britain thought the Japanese would occuppy America's resources and deprive the British of planes, war materials and even food. Nice try! Hitler and Tojo were suprised that 6 months later the sleeping giant had been awoken and the US began taking back what had been lost. Slowly at first . Yamomoto had been right. He had said he could give Japan a year commanding and conquering the Pacific. By mid 1943 both Germany and Japan knew they would lose. Germany was being hit by 1000 plane raids by the UK and US and knew Europe would be invaded. As for Japan, their navy was mostly in hiding following their defeat at Midway

Answer 4

I'm not sure how to answer your questions as you put them, but here are some facts: The main players were the Allies: Originally Britain (and it's commonwealth, including Australia, India and Canada among others), France vs. Germany and Italy, the Axis Powers in Sept. 1939 when Poland was invaded by the Germans. After a few months, many countries, including parts of France were under German control. Some French officials and others made to to Britain and were called the "Free French" and came back to fight the Germans after D-day,June 6, 1944. Japan was an ally of Germany and Italy and had invaded China and islands in the Pacific before 1939. The war in Europe included the Soviet Union (or Russia) in 1941, and the US joined the war when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec. 7,. 1941. The war was fought in Europe and the Pacific, as well as North Africa and Southeast Asia. On June 6, 1944, as I mentioned the Allies, including the US, Free French, British and others invaded Normandy in Northern France and began to take back Nazi held land. To make a long story short, the Germans surrendered in May, 1945 after Hitler committed suicide. America's war in the Pacific continued until August when we dropped an atomic (nuclear) bomb on Hiroshima, Japan and 3 days later a second on Nagasaki, Japan. Japan surrendered on August 15, a few days later. After the war, the Allies, US, Soviets, French and British divided up the areas they conquered;. This helped start the "Cold War" between the US and it's allies vs. the Soviet Union. That lasted until the 1990's,

Answer 5

Japan had empirialistic ambitions from prior to WWI. In the 1930' they occuppied much of China, Korea and many Pacific Islands. They slaughtered more than a million Chinese in Nanking alone.

The US imposed an embargo on Japan for its atrocities. This was most importantantly so with oil. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan had less than a 3 month of oil remaining. They would have ceased to be an industrial power, their planes and ships no fuel.

Just prior to Pearl Harbor. the Japanese had made an alliance with Germany. Hitler, already stalled against his conquest of Britain thought the Japanese would occuppy America's resources and deprive the British of planes, war materials and even food. Nice try! Hitler and Tojo were suprised that 6 months later the sleeping giant had been awoken and the US began taking back what had been lost. Slowly at first . Yamomoto had been right. He had said he could give Japan a year commanding and conquering the Pacific. By mid 1943 both Germany and Japan knew they would lose. Germany was being hit by 1000 plane raids by the UK and US and knew Europe would be invaded. As for Japan, their navy was mostly in hiding following their defeat at Midway. And new American carriers, battleships and subs being launched. And Japanese cities hit by 1000 plane raids. We didn't use an atom bomb on Tokyo because we had already destroyed it with 1000 plane raids. Killed more there than with both atom bombs. WWII is said to have cost 60 million lives.

Answer 6

They meant to form the "East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere", or a region completly controlled by the Japanese consisting of Southeast asia, Manchuria, China, and the Pacific Islands. In order to do this they would have to go to war with the French (who controlled most of southeast asia), Britain (who controlled Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong), the Dutch East Indies (controlled by the Dutch), and China (which happened to be controled by China). They had been fighting China since the late 1930's, and when France fell to Germany in 1940 and '41 the Japanese invaded southeast Asia.
These campaigns that the Japanese were waging required a great deal of resources, especially oil, which could be found in the Dutch East Indies, which was why Japan soon invaded those islands.
Now, to explain how the U.S. was involved, first, the U.S. was allied to all of these nations, so Japan considered them likely to join the war anyways if Britain and France were threatened, secondly, America had established a trade embargoe of military resources against Japan, so America was playing a major role in depriving Japan of resources.
In summary, Japan knew they were outmatched by the U.S., however, they needed the resources that the U.S. was blocking, and they believed that the U.S. would join the war in a little while anyways. So, Japan decided to try to launch a devastating suprise attack on the hope that the United States would be frightened out of the war and make peace on Japan's terms. Unfortionatly (for them), the suprise attack backfired and enraged America, causing it to go into World War 2 with all it's might.

Answer 7

It wasn't called WWII until after Pearl Harbor, so to rephrase your question, "Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor?" From about 1935, under the leadership of General Tojo, Japan had been engaged in an effort to expand its empire over ALL of Asia. This would have included British colonies in China, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines, to mention a few. We made it clear that further expansion would be met with military resistance after Gen. Tojo rejected an offer by the U.S. to give up this goal and exit China, Burma, etc. in return for "monetary compensation". (The Japanese people were in favor of it.) Gen. Tojo thought that if he could seriously damage our naval assets at Pearl Harbor, it would be years before we could "regroup", and by that time he would have been able to secure nearly all of Asia and appear so formidable that we would not attempt armed resistance no matter what he did. Hope this helps.

Answer 8

The Japanese, who began World War II by invading China in the early 1930s, were attempting to establish something they called the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere," a consortium of East Asian Nations to be created and led by Japan, which was intended to help Japan establish its own dominance over the economy of that part of the world.

Japan originally attempted to portray this initiative as an attack on the stranglehold that colonial powers such as the UK, France, Belgium, and Holland had exercised over that part of the world for decades.

The United States, which objected strongly to the initial Japanese invasion of China, placed itself squarely in the way of Japan's intentions and plans by interdicting or otherwise interfering with the free flow of natural resources such as crude oil and iron ore from other parts of the world to Japan until Japan felt so inhibited, thwarted, and frustrated by these actions that it finally in desperation called upon Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to plan the attack on the United States Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands on December 7, 1941. The attack was a huge mistake on the part of the Japanese that redounded not only to their enormous detriment but ultimately torpedoed the ambitions of their fellow Axis partners in Germany and Italy as well.

Answer 9

aside from taking over Asia, they also wanted the rice fields of Indonesia. They would have owned the Pacific and controled access around the world. The Nazi's were losing the war and they felt the US and allies could not keep a war going on all fronts so they allied themselves with the Japanese. Japan thought that the US was too involved with Germany and was more of 'paper tiger' writing more decrees and sanctions against an enemy rather than fight.

Answer 10

In some ways, it could be argued that the Japanese instigated WW2 as they had been infiltrating into China since the early 1930's, they wanted to expand their territory to accommodate their growing population and they also needed to secure a supply of raw materials especially oil as Japan has no natural supply.But most of what they were up to went unnoticed in the vastness of Asia, and gradually events in Europe took center stage and occupied most peoples attention until it was to late.