Why did the Japanese want to attack Pearl Harbor .?

Question

What is the reason for their bombing in Pearl Harbor . ?

Answer 1

Billy Mitchell told them it'd be a good idea.

The Japanese knew that if they were going to have a chance of a successful war, they had to quickly and decisively eliminate the USA's Pacific Fleet. If they could do that, it would take years to recover and by then they would occupy much of the islands in the Pacific theater, including the close ally of the USA, the Philippines.

Wayne

Answer 2

The arguments for a surprise attack on the American fleet were strong ones, for basically there was a disparity in numbers of modern battleships between the United States and the Japanese Navies. To Admiral Yamamoto a reduction in American strength was essential to put the two surface fleets on an equal footing. The clinching argument was for the need to keep the war short, thus preventing the United States from mobilizing her industrial might.

Nor had the successful British attack by torpedo bombers on the Italian fleet in Taranto harbour gone unnoticed to the Japanese planners. In fact it put the finishing touches to the long maturing plans for dealing with the American Pacific Fleet.

As everyone now knows the attack on the United States Fleet
based at Pearl Harbor on the 7th of December 1941 was a devastating success. Ninety Japanese Carrier-Bornne 'Kate' bombers of the first wave caught the Americans completely by surprise, and the US Battleships were rapidly put out of action. The USS Arizona blew up, the Oklahoma capsized, and the California and West Virginia sunk in shallow water. The USS Nevada, Maryland, Tennessee and Pennsylvania
were all damaged to a greater or lesser degree.

A second strike by eighty-one Aichi Dive-bombers fell on the
nearby airstrips destroying numerous aircraft on the ground and causing a considerable number of casualties. A third air strike might have inflicted further damage on the ships and instalations but the Japanese commander, Vice Admiral Nagumo, was satisfied with the damage already caused to the American Base and decided to cancel the planned third strike. The Japanese had lost just twenty-nine aircraft.

Without a Battleship fleet the Americans would, for the time
being, be forced to rely on their aircraft carriers for any operations against the Japanese Navy. An arm in which numerically the Japanese held the advantage.

The idea of utilising the Aircraft Carrier as the basis for
offensive action was one that had been considered by the US Navy but had never been implemented as an official doctrine. It is to their credit that, within a few months, the US Navy had learnt the new form of warfare and had suceeded in turning it against their treacherous enemy.

Answer 3

The road to war actually started decades before.

Early on Japan envisioned themselves as a colonial power much like Britain and France. To this end they had wars with China and Russia around the turn of the century (the Shino-Japanese war and the Russo-Japanese War). After WW1 Japan wanting to take advantage of a weakened Europe began building up it military even more (the 8-8 naval plan) to rival any completion (mainly the US).

The only real power in the Pacific that could challenge Japan's might was the USA.

in 1932 Japan again invaded China and war raged there until the end of WW2. During this war the USA tried to intervene using diplomacy and economic sanctions (sound familiar, Iran? Iraq?) to bring Japan and China to the negotiating table to end the war.

Japanese leaders believed they couldn't back out of the war after so many causalities and still remain in power. They feared the populace revolting if they accepted the peace terms and gave the conquered territory back to China.

It was during these negotiations that things deteriorated rather quickly. Europe no longer caring about the Pacific (they had their hands full with Hitler) left it to the US.

I’ve heard the arguments that FDR wanted Japan to attack so he could get involved in the European war, that’s BS! Many Japanese leaders felt that Germany WOULD NOT become involved in a war with the US if Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Many point out the treaty, The Tripartite Pact does not state that the others will help out if one attacks another neutral country, but if a country attacks one of the signers of the treaty (See Article III).


*addition*
It was beleived by many Japanese leaders that Germany wanted Japan at war with the US to turn the USAs attention away from Europe, not towards it.

Answer 4

The Japanese desired their Far Eastern Empire and after the consensus that invading the USSR would be more damaging and not seeking after the goals of the Japanese Army and Navy. They considered the Americans the greatest danger to this goal because of their fleet and resources and territories in the Pacific which belonged to the United States. The Japanese decided to do damage to the US fleet that would cripple them for years and they would have a lajor head start since they had already go rid of the British and the French out of Indochina and the majority of Asia. The USSR had their hands filled with the Germans and if the US fleet was crippled then the Japanese could go practically uncontested to get their empire in the Pacific.

Answer 5

The US and Japan had been at loggerheads since Japan attacked China and threatened southeast asia in the early 30's. The US interests were the raw materials such as rubber, manganese, tin and other "strategic resources" plus the potential threat to the Phillipines (US possession), all cloaked up in the flag of freedom. Japan, at the time, was indeed expansionist and clearly sought to expand its empire, much like Nazi Germany in that same era. The US was literally the only world power in the area with sufficient forces and military bases to prevent Japan from completely overrunning Asia.
The great strategist, Admiral Yamamoto, who strongly urged against any military engagement with the US for fear that once the American military/industrial machine was set in motion, Japan would not be able to stop it. He lived in the US for a number of years and knew that Americans, once riled would not quit until they had total victory.
But the imperial high command insisted on taking on the US. As an officer and a member of an ancient warrior clan, his "die was cast". He drew up the plans to attack Pearl Harbor, but contrary to public opinions, he was seeking the US aircraft carriers as his primary targets and and battleships were relegated to secondary. Many of his innovations in strategies got their genesis while he was in the US interacting with US naval officers back in the 20's.

Answer 6

They thought USA were planning to enter the war so they struck first rather than wait until US mobilised it's navy. In hindsight not very smart but these are the decisions you have to make, sometimes right, sometimes wrong.

People in Nagasaki probably wish they had have left US alone.

Answer 7

To eliminate the US naval force in the Pacific. This would give them the freedom of the sea

Answer 8

to gain control in the pacific and secure their interests in asia

Answer 9

They did not really want to, they had to. FDR had cut off their source of oil in the Phillipines and this left them no choice; they had a war going in china and needed oil for the machinery of war.

Answer 10

This is what I have heard. Japan was worried that the US would eventually try to take them over. Yes, they were paranoid.