Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy

On October 9th, 1941, President Roosevelt approved the formation of the secret National Defense Research Committee that would plan and execute America's massive effort to build the atomic bomb. Less than a month later, on November 5th, 1941, Japan's cabinet ended 7 months of secret deliberations by recommending to Emperor Hirohito that the nation go to war with the US.Although Japan's leaders could not have known the immensity of the risks they were courting, they fully understood the military and industrial might they faced. Many members of the cabinet, and the emperor himself doubted that Japan could prevail in a war with the US. Yet, the recommendation for war was unanimous.What were they thinking?Eri Hotta answers this question in dramatic, penetrating detail. Building on seldom-explored original sources, she traces the roots of Japan's decision from the humiliation at the hands of Perry's gunboats in 1854 to the final hours before Pearl Harbor. In her suspenseful retelling, many streams of Japanese history and culture flow together: centuries of Samurai leadership, a dream of national resurgence against western imperialism, bureaucratic rivalries between Army and Navy, a tradition of collective decision-making that encouraged bravado and absolved everyone of responsibility. Spurred to action by worries that the country might soon run out of oil due to the American embargo, Japan's leaders figuratively held hands and jumped off a cliff.Even though we know the outcome, this book is hard to put down. As artificial deadlines loom (set by military planners), the pace of the narrative accelerates. Much like the Japanese cabinet, the reader is swept along in a quickening current of last-ditch meetings and missed opportunities. By November, what was entirely avoidable has become entirely inevitable.Hard as it is to put down, this book is also painful to read. Time after time Hotta cites moments when it seems that a single courageous individual might have called a halt to the rush to doom. None did. And though we may imagine that Japan's deferential culture made it uniquely at risk of making bad, "group-think" decisions, the truth is that there is nothing unusual about Japan's rush to war in 1941. Collective initial enthusiasm for war - among both policymakers and the public - is a recurrent theme in history, recently including the US. Indeed, the year 1941 was arguably the last time in the 20th century when the US might be said to have been a reluctant belligerent. Since then, America has repeatedly been quick pull the military trigger abroad, for reasons that sometimes seem less than compelling in retrospect.In the first chapter of Japan 1941, Hotta describes the public euphoria in Tokyo following the Pearl Harbor victory. "When news of the attack arrived at 11:30 a.m., the nation was electrified ... Strangers congratulated each other on the street. Others gathered at the public square outside the Imperial Palace in the heart of Tokyo, falling to the ground and thanking the Emperor for his divine guidance of their nation."This book is history at its best: detailed, exciting, profoundly informative, relevant to the present.

Everyone knows that, on December 7th, 1941, the Japanese Navy attacked the American base at Pearl Harbor. Numerous ships were sunk or damaged, scores of planes destroyed, and over 2,000 people were killed. But what led Japan to take such a drastic step to start a war that they had no hope of winning? Eri Hotta attempts to answer this question in "Japan 1941".One could argue that World War II began when Japan invaded China in 1931. From that point forward, Japan was under scrutiny from the rest of the world, including the United States. By 1941, Japan was suffering from sanctions, including an embargo on oil and scrap metal from the United States. War with the United States was a distinct possibility.But what of the preparations for this war? Hotta argues, rightly so, that the Japanese were unprepared to fight a successful war against the United States. The industrial might of the United States would overwhelm Japan. Japan, in the words of Winston Churchill, would be ground into dust.Despite the vast difference in industrial might, many Japanese felt that war was the only answer. Others believed that success could be achieved through negotiation. It was this constant bickering and interservice rivalry that ultimately doomed Japan. Hotta states that none of Japan's top leaders had sufficient will, desire, or courage to stop the momentum for war. The attack on Pearl Harbor can be viewed loosely as a tactical success for the Japanese. But the result was a strategic nightmare, for only 6 months later, the Japanese advance was stopped at Midway.I found this book to be an informative narrative about Japan's preparations for war in 1941. The narrative encompasses all major aspects of what the diplomatic and military situation was like for Japan from the time of the invasion of China up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Although somewhat difficult to read due to all of the names, the book nonetheless contains a wealth of information about Japan's preparations for war.

A chilling read and opens up some intriguing question's, about the pitfalls of a culture of conformity and group think. Revealing some of the moral and more often egotistical contortions of the key Japanese figures of the day. It’s an intriguing insight into the mindset into a clique of people, who were often rivals, who launched Japan on a war that they all deep down knew they couldn’t win.

This book shows the contradictions of Japan policies when it was on the verge of triggering the Pacific War : almost none of the politicians wanted a war though, none of the key figures did confront the few prowar advocates because of political frivolity.As for the prowar faction, mainly the head of Army and Navy General Staff, even though they received numerous alarmant reports stating that Japan could not withstand a war against UK and the US, they kept sticking to their disillusions : the odds were slim but winning a war againt the US was not impossible. Basically, even if the chances of winning a war were of 1%, just because they were not 0% was enough for them to push for war. They didn't of course studied the details of how to win such a war because doing so would have showed them how impossible it was for Japan to secure a victory.As for the book itself, it goes with a chronological narrative from 1931 to 1941 with a focus on the year 1941. It is really easy to read and the frequent small stories about side characters help building a broader view of Japan's political and social atmosphere in the late 1930'.

Habe das passende Geschenk gesucht und gefunden, die Lieferung dauerte nur Ewigkeiten. Sonst bin ich sehr zufrieden.

Great story - present old data in a readable and convincing manner.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable account of the behind-the-scenes intrigues and machinations of Japan's military and political leadership during the lead-up to Pearl Harbor. It helps to shed light on the perplexing question behind the catastrophic decision of Japan to go to war against the U.S.