A Letter to an Emperor

Prior to Pearl Harbor, Japan started to create an empire that especially did not want to be manipulated by the United States. Steven Hook, the author of “U.S. Foreign Policy: The Paradox of World Power,” mentions that “With French and Dutch colonies in East Asia up for grabs, Japanese leaders knew that only the United States stood in the way of their plan to create a Japanese-led ‘co-prosperity

Manifest destiny is the U.S.’s idea that god wants them to expand all the way to the ocean. They did, but they set their eyes on Hawaii, Cuba, and the Philippines. At the time, Cuba was under Spanish control. Cuba wished to be independent from the Spanish. America had interest in Cuba due to economic interests. Not every American wanted to have Cuba join, neither did Cuba want to join. The Spanish were doing cruel things to the natives. The U.S. went to war against the Spanish. Americans did not appreciate that troops had to go to war to free another country. Hawaii before annexation was a harbor for ships. The U.S. wanted Pearl Harbor for the Navy. When American settlers came, they devastated the economy there. In addition, they brought diseases

Much like in Japan when Matthew Perry of the United States came in and insisted in having Japan open up its ports to diplomatic and commercial relations with the US, and since the shogun felt he had no other option, he complied with Perry’s order. As the westerners had their way with both east Asian nations, the threat of western industrialization became a reality, and due to the amount of hunger and economic depression in their societies, their people began to crave industrialization seeing the amount of success in the western societies that were industrialized. There began to be an increased amount of rebellion, and a fight for change in these two nations, but the results that came from these rebellions and the main argument for these rebellions differed.

Over the span of a few decades, the Japanese and Americans were as is, heading towards war due to a varying amount of disputing between the two. In the 1930’s, Japan invaded China. This caused an uproar between the two countries at the time. This was one of the first few sparks to the flame. In order to create the perfect Yamato race, the Japanese felt that there was more validity if there were no one to stop them, (Document A). Destroying the Pacific fleet was the goal so they could expand and imperialize the world around them. America, being one of their main oil producers, made them the perfect target. Leading up to the attack, America placed an embargo on Japan, (Document C). Japan wanted to destroy the Pacific Fleet to gain oil and continue imperialization to obtain the perfect Yamato

The novel when the emperor was divine by Julia Otsuka shows the lives of a Japanese family during World War II, and the struggles they endure. These struggles were shared among many Japanese families in the U.S. during this time. The hardships this family faces change their personalities drastically and plays with there grasp on the real world.

Manifest Destiny means clear or obvious future or fate, therefore; the United States believed that it was their Manifest Destiny to expand Westward and to gain more land, this is how they came to war with Mexico. The expansion westward/ Manifest Destiny would change their standings economically, socially, and geographically. It changed them economically by making them money by working different jobs, mainly in factories, it changed them socially by having different views than Mexico; which made them develop new laws, and government it changed them geographically because of more and more land was being farmed, factories being built.

It is hard to read anything about the history of the United States without coming across the term “Manifest Destiny”. Manifest Destiny is a term, which was first coined by John L. Sullivan in the summer 1845 issue of the Democratic Review. “Hence it was carried into the debate on the Oregon question in the House of Representatives and proved to be such a convenient summing up of the self-confident nationalist and expansionist sentiment of the time that it passed into the permanent national vocabulary.” (Pratt, 798). The term voiced the idea that God had destined America to spread westward to the pacific. “It meant expansion, prearranged by Heaven, over an area not clearly defined.” (Merk, 24) Expansion westward seemed perfectly natural to many Americans in the mid-nineteenth century as they saw it was their destiny to expand their thriving country. This attitude that it was Americas destiny to expand helped fuel the drive to push west and begin the removal of Native Americans. Manifest Destiny is an extremely important aspect of American History and has ultimately helped to shape The United States into the successful country that is today.

The retaliation of the Japanese had the world concerned by the oppression of military actions and to reveal power during the modern era (1900’s). The strategy of the Japanese

During the Imperial Conference of December 1, 1941, Prime Minister Tojo announced that “The United States not only refused to make even one concession” but that “At the same time, the United States, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and China increased their economic and military pressure against us” (87). This gave Japan no choice but to begin a war with the U.S., Japan, and the Netherlands. Additionally, Foreign Minister Togo emphasized that Japan could not accept the proposal made by the U.S. because the conditions would hinder and put at risk the success of the Japanese Empire. In order for Japan to not only continue working towards establishing a New Order for East Asia, but to also maintain their position on an international level, war was the necessary step to take because if they continued to try to negotiate then they would most definitely have regressed.

The United States began to reach outward for trade, showing interest in Japan. Almost forcing the country to begin to trade with the U.S.

wanted to declare war on japan. American attitudes about the war changed increasingly and so

in the region. America’s presence in Guam and the Philippines and its support of China posed

During 1941, despite President Roosevelt wished to stay neutral in WWI; on December 7th, Japan established an unexpected, (though perhaps to be foreseen) assail upon Pearl Harbor, hence the next day war was declared. Prior to Japan’s attack on the U.S; Japan had been struck by an Immigration Policy, embargos on aircraft and parts, a freezing of all its assets and bank accounts, and eventually an embargo on oil and petroleum shipments. The Immigration Act was a forge of shame and humiliation against the Japanese, causing them to become unable to purvey the Yamato race; thus began the first surge of aversion towards the U.S (first-page doc). Embargos on aircraft, parts, and oil would lead to believe Japan to become a third- class nation within two to three years if no action on the U.S policy was taken (as stated in document E). The propositions which were taken by the U.S preceding the attack on Pearl Harbor led Japan to hold a surge of execration, which became a wound Japan sought out vengeance for.

Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States was destined to expand from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean; it has also been used to advocate for or justify other territorial acquisitions.

The reason for this reflection is to review what has happened in a deeper level than just summarizing what has happened over the course of this project. During the weeks learned some things, not just from the book that I was reading, but also from participating in a group. The lessons I learned led to my group being successful in the few goals that were created. All of the goals were met in different ways whether it would be just finishing the book or us getting up in front of the whole class to present the google slides that we created.