Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor | Teen Ink

Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor

January 22, 2015
By aftycakes BRONZE, Mesa, Arizona
aftycakes BRONZE, Mesa, Arizona
4 articles 0 photos 0 comments

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Many insist the attack on Pearl Harbor was unnecessary conduct and unjustified, but they don’t have the facts. The Japanese should still be condemned for the discrepancy, yet they had vast reasons to commence the attack on Hawaii. The US limited Japan on a lot of goods, potentially threatened Japan, and Japan is just too nationalistic to withdraw from the war, plus the US was already going to join the war anyways, so Japan felt they must attack them first so they could be one leg up.

   

First of all, the Unites States basically cut off Japan on everything. Petroleum went down 380-88, and that’s not even the worst. Steel went from 409 to 6! Plus, scrap iron exports also went 178 to 11. (Doc C)
Petroleum, steel, and scrap iron exports from the US were drastically decreased 1937-1941. In addition, “the US begins an embargo of aircraft and aircraft parts against Japan in 1939.” (Doc D) The US just keeps cutting them down. If that’s not enough, “the US freezes Japanese assets and bank accounts” in July 1941, then in August, the US cuts off oil shipments to Japan! (Doc D) Where is Japan supposed to get her recourses? Seriously, that’s a lot of recourses taken away.
   

Also, Japanese see potential threats from the US. The US moved its military fleets from California to Hawaii (Doc E), which is considerably closer to Japan. Then, the US passed the Naval Expansion Act, and tripled their fleet. (Doc D) It’s obviously seen as a threat because they made their military larger. On top of that, the US passed the Selective Service Act (SSA), to get more men to register for the military! Clearly they were preparing for war.
   

Japan is also a very Nationalistic country. They are loyal to their Emperor in disregard to themselves (Doc A), which only defines their nationalism. Withdrawal of their troops would be considered a retreat (Doc B),but they can’t retreat because Nationalistic and proud countries don’t do that. Their nation looks up to them. The Japanese also had a fear of becoming a 3rd class nation, especially if they just sat tight (Doc B), so they had to go out and act!
   

Clearly the Japanese had good reason and were justified in making their attack on Pearl Harbor. Of course that was still a very sad day, but did the US not set themselves up for it? In conclusion, the Japanese had perfectly sane reasons for doing what they did and there’s really no argument, that’s it. Honestly, you can still believe that the US is innocent and the Japanese are just bullies, but thats all a lie. Just face the facts and realize the Japanese were right.
 



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