Japan's Role In Ww2

World War II was a very historic period. It lasted from 1939 to 1945, almost 6 years. During this period the Allied nations, consisting of Britain, France, America versus the Axis power, consisting of Germany and Japan. The Australia/ America Alliance was solidified due to Japan’s involvement in war. The key events that solidified this alliance is the: attack on Pearl Harbour, the relationship between Australian Prime Minister John Curtin and US General Douglas MacArthur and the

After World War II, new influences and ideals started to make an impact on Japan like never before. Japan’s defeat resulted in westernization, and the country started to transform into what it is known for today—modern manufacturing for countries all over the world. Many traditionalists disapproved of this idea of transitioning into being iconic for materialistic and bourgeois ideologies and now felt isolated within their own country because their views were extremely different from the new views generated from this change. Yukio Mishima’s discomfort with Japan’s conversion to westernization, lack of military and political influence is evident as his main point in The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea. Traditional Japanese beliefs had been built off of the ideas of honor, death, and glory, and Mishima believed that, with this transition into modern Japan, a so called “lack of glory” became prevalent. Through the characters of Noboru and Ryuji, Mishima incorporates the theme of alienation to highlight his own life experiences, feelings and disapproval during Japan’s transition to modernization.

World War II brought great tension between two of the strongest countries during the 1940s: the United States and Japan. Conflict started with Japan’s push past Chinese borders into Manchuria in search of the natural resources that Japan needed. The United States avoided military action with Japan and instead decided to stop economic trade. One of these measures was the Neutrality Act, which prohibited the sale of weapons to nations at war (Nash 513). The United States tried several maneuvers on Japan; they placed oil embargos to force Japan to shut down military operations in China. The US was focused on economically destroying Japan while Japan was planning a surprise attack on the US. Japan. Completely unaware of what the Japanese were

Although the Japanese believed it was dishonarable to surrender and probably thought they made the best decision, I am sure they didnt think about the lives they were putting in danger. The civilians that died were not to blame, and shouldnt have had to endure the devastions of the war but sadly they did live on a military port.

By the beginning of September 1944, Japan was almost completely defeated through a practically complete sea and air blockade. The Japanese military was still not willing to surrender. “If the decision could have been made by Japan's civilian leaders or even the Japanese people, the war probably would have come quickly to an end, but unfortunately the decision was not theirs. It lay in the hands of the military, and particularly in the hands of army leaders. “By this time the Japanese Navy had virtually ceased to exist, almost all its ships having become either unserviceable or having been sunk. Leaders of the Japanese army and the Emperor had decided to fight on, whatever the cost, and

On August 6th 1945, an American bomber plane dropped the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan and took out approximately 90 percent of the city. Hiroshima itself ended up killing 140,000 people. 3 days after the Americans dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the Americans decide to drop another one in Japan on the city of Nagasaki. The second attack killing only about half of what the first attack killed on the spot. Only hundreds survived, many of those hundreds died very shortly later because of cancer and the weak immune systems. Japan’s response to these bombings was when the Emperor announced the Japanese “unconditional surrender” from World War II on August 15th 1945. These two bombings were

A Critical Analysis of: The Shock of the Atomic Bomb and Japan's Decision to Surrender- A Reconsideration

In 1937, the Japanese troops took Nationalist Army headquarters city and spent seven weeks killing 300,000 men, women, and children by hand in the Rape of Nanjing. “Death from two atomic bombs are pale shadows to the deaths resulting from the Japanese military’s systematic abuse and killings of prisoners of war and slave laborers from Korea, China, and Southeast Asia,” Ohio University Professor of History Donald Jordan. In the Rape of Nanjing thousands of women were forced to become sex slaves for the Japanese. Not only was this enemy fanatical with their treatment of prisoners, the action on the battlefield was even more dreadful. Kamikaze pilots would fly their planes into US ships and naval bases. They believed in the Brushido, which emphasized on not surrendering. If a Japanese person were to surrender, it would be in vain towards their country, and should commit suicide rather than surrender. With this type of mentality, how could one argue Japan was leaning towards surrendering? The Japanese wanted Soviet mediation for a settlement in their best interest. If it was not met to their approval, Japan would prepare a bitter, suicidal resistance that could last for months until meeting their desired terms. In July of 1945, Admiral Kantaro Suzuki told the Japanese Cabinet that thousands of kamikaze pilots would fly against enemy ships even in training planes, that millions of soldiers would fight the “Decisive Battle” by suicide banzai charges

Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and its subsequent full- scale assault against China in 1937 brought expressions of disapproval from the

IN the 1940s the war raged on.Japan was on the axis side they decided to bob the U.S “December 1941: Japan bombs Pearl Harbor and the United States enters World War II.(www.npr.org)” that prompted the United Stated to start the Manhattan project.The atomic bomb was then invented, then used to threaten the japonease.They didnt take the Allys advic seariously “In late July, Japan’s militarist government rejected the Allied demand for surrender put forth in the Potsdam Declaration, which threatened the Japanese with “prompt and utter destruction” if they refused.(history.com)”.The Japanease then later got bombed, there were tremendious caualtys.THe 2 bombs that were droped were called “The Little Boy…the Fat man (history.com” thease bombs decimated

The participation in the war commenced after the militarization of the government in 1930, contributing to the country’s poor economy. The situation deteriorated further forcing Japan to seek for other ways to uplift it from the backdrop position. Japan invaded Manchuria in China and kept the emperor but changed its name to Manchukuo as they named it a new state. The act was condemned by the League of Nations, which enraged Japan forcing them to withdraw their membership within the treaty. The Sino-Japanese war officially broke out in 1937 with the Japanese occupying the Chinese coast. During the post WWI period, military nationalists gained power as they considered aggressive nationalism and territorial expansion to be the best mechanisms from the economic constraints. Japan chose to develop as a colonial empire by conquering other states than relying on foreign imports. The activities of Japan on the violation of treaties paved way for imperialists like Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, who monitored the Japanese activities and realized that they did not experience repercussions from their defection

Due to Japan’s dwindling position in the war, turning the tides stood nearly impossible; nonetheless they remained loyal to their Emperor in never giving up. Japanese soldiers believe that death came before betraying their country. However, several powerful Japanese military personnel had realized that to preserve Japan itself, surrendering was a small price to pay over annilliation. After the Hiroshima attack on August 19, 1945, an article was published on the front page of Chicago

On August 6, 1945 the culmination of years of scientific research and testing was released on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The fiery explosion that discharged from the atomic bomb killed tens of thousands instantly. When no word of surrender was uttered by the Japanese leadership, another atomic weapon was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9. Although less lethal than the first, thousands still perished in the Japanese city. “The Japanese leaders [understood] the utter hopelessness of their position” (Groves 319), and the next day they announced Japan’s unconditional surrender to the Allied forces. This capitulation finally saw the conclusion of almost four years of warring in the Pacific.

At first, a negotiation was made to the Japanese Empire them to surrender. Yet the Japanese Empire would not surrender or accept the negotiation. The Japanese Empire was a warrior type of county that did not believe in surrender. They believed in fighting till they are defeated or until they have won. The Japanese Empire will always fight doe they don’t have guns or any firearm

According to Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War, the Japanese completed its control in Manchuria in 1932, then invaded China five years later. In the map created by various sources, the Japanese empire more than tripled its size after expansion through Manchuria in China. Japan established Manchuria as a puppet state, and held it as a reservoir for food resources, or a paddy field. To support a larger empire, its growing military, and an increase in naval power, the Japanese needed more and more oil. Unfortunately, Japan only owned a few oil reserves and produced very little of its own oil. They bought most of their oil from the United States. In fact, according to Suzuki Akira, “US Economic Sanctions Against Japan and its Aid to China during the Sino-Japanese War”, 80 percent of Japan’s 12,170,000 tons of oil was imported from the United States from 1937-1939. However, after tensions mounted between the United States and Japan, the amount of oil exported from US to Japan decreased dramatically, from 2,910,000 tons in 1940 to 880,000 tons in 1941, a 330 percent decrease in oil imports from the US. Tensions continued rising when Japan announced that they will establish “new order”, or the Japanese Empire in East Asia. The US showed their disprovement by declaring an “embargo of aircraft and aircraft parts” (Iriye 1999) in 1939, and a complete oil embargo in 1941, a resource the Japanese depended on the most. Fortunately for the Japanese, there were an abundant amount of oil fields south of Japan, in the Philippines, East Indies, and New Guinea, however, were all occupied by the European nations and the United States. The Japanese declared that the “ … old order … (European and American) … is now crumbling” (Japanese Ministry of Education 1941). In order to conquer the Indonesian islands and the East Indies successfully, they intended to destroy the American fleets stationed at the