Toa Tora Movie Analysis

The Japanese planned to take out the coasts and island that the American Navy had. The Japanese Navy would try a mainland invasion of the United States if they could take the Midway Island. First they would probably take Hawaii then they would take the Panama Canal and then after that the Japanese would invade San Fransisco Bay then there would be a negotiation between the United States and Japan would gain all the land gained by the Japanese during the Pacific Campaign.

Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on the Pretense of expanding their area of control. Document A the Japanese Ministry of Education on August 1, 1941, states “An old order … (European and American) … is now crumbling.” (Doc A). Meaning not only the Germans fighting the British, French and other European countries, including the US who supplies them, are losing the war. “The Benevolent Rule of the Emperor may be extended so as to embrace the whole world.” (Doc A). In this weaken world the Japanese are will take over and the kind and generous Emperor would then rule the world. A Map, Document B shows just how much the Japanese took in their plot for World domination. The Japanese took over Manchukuo, Taiwan, and the bottom half of Sakhalin by 1932, Tonking and stealing parts of

Pearl Harbor, the beginning of the war between Japan and the United States, was the start of dreadful war organized by Japanese aircraft. The attack was a withheld, destructive attack against the United State's naval base in Hawaii. This attack on December 7, 1941 was originally a plan to conquer the Dutch East Indies without being interrupted by the U.S. Pacific fleet. The Japanese were tired of negotiations with the United States, they wanted to continue their expansion, but the United States had placed an extremely restrictive embargo on Japan in the hopes of curbing Japan's aggression. This terrible ambush resulted in the United State's entry into World War II. The aerial attacks were sent in two waves, this resulted in the sinking of multiple U.S. Battleships, Destroyers, Cruisers, and Auxiliaries, which led to thousands of U.S. personnel casualties and many wounded army, marines, and navy soldiers including many citizens.

The cause of Japan wanting to attack Pearl Harbor was the United States standing in the way of Japan for their plan for a new world order. In 1938, Japan announced their plan for a new world order (Doc C). Japan wanted their empire to rule the entire world (Doc A). The idea was that Japan would be in control of Asia, Japan, the United States. (Doc A). Japan started by occupying Manchuria in 1932 and attacking China in 1937 (Doc C). Japan did not want other countries to overpower them and wanted control to themselves.

The first reason Japan attacked Pearl Harbor was because of the New Order. When Japan thinks of a new order to the world they think of themselves leading everyone, and when thinking of the old order they think of the old leaders: Great

Pearl Harbor is a strategically placed naval base located near Honolulu, Hawaii. It defends the United States’ interests in the Pacific Ocean and Asia. Japan’s strategy was to expand its empire across Asia capturing parts of China, Singapore, Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies. Crippling the U.S. naval fleet at Pearl Harbor would have enabled the Japanese to capture these Asian regions without the interference of the United States Military (Higgs, 2006) (See Appendix B for map of Hawaii and Japan).

The bombing of Pearl Harbor was a very startling attack that altered American history. It is a significant moment in American history that will not be forgotten. This confrontation happened between America and Japan for different reasons that are presented in this paper. America and Japan had weak negotiations and communications, which led to the attack on Pearl Harbor; however, America reacted on the attack effectively. Because of these circumstances, the rival led to the bombing and destruction of Pearl Harbor, America showed the world how tall and proud it can stand after a silent, sneak attack; however, America may have been knocked down, but ultimately not defeated.

Japan's idea of a new world order was the biggest reason why they attacked Pearl Harbor. In Doc. A Japan explains that they have a new idea which is the new world order. The new world order is that Japan rules the world and that everyone follows them. The old order was the U.S. And Europe are the rulers of the world. The U.S was getting in the way of Japan's plan and they felt threatened that they would not be able to take over the world so Japan, destroy Pearl Harbor and the U.S. could not stop them.

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise, but Japan and the United States had been edging toward war for decades. The United States was particularly unhappy with Japan’s increasingly belligerent attitude toward China. The Japanese government believed that the only way to solve its economic and demographic problems was to expand into its neighbor’s territory and take over its import market; to this end, Japan had declared war on China in 1937. American officials responded to this aggression with a battery of economic sanctions and trade embargoes. They reasoned that without access to money and goods, and especially essential supplies like oil, Japan

Japan’s wanted to attack Midway to gain power in the Pacific Ocean and to eliminate the United States Navy for a long time. Since the U.S. suffered a major defeat at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, felt he could take advantage of the U.S. since they were weak in his mind (Hone). Japan was fixated on settling their differences with the U.S., so they began risking large naval units in Pacific battles. An article posted in the Los Angeles Time, “Japs Risk Large Naval Units in Blows at U.S.” says, “For the sixth time in six months Japan made a deadly bid to capture the mastery of the Pacific, and for the sixth time she has failed after paying a price that is fast becoming prohibitive,” (Symonds). Posted just after the Battle of Midway it showed that the Japanese had been planning this.

Prior to the war, Japanese military action in China caused concern among the United States and their allies. In an attempt to curb this action, the allies sought to limit the passage of steel and petroleum to Japan. The reception of this action as an act of war by the Japanese led to their attempted expansion into the Pacific. The intent of this action was to supersede US power in the Pacific and secure these resources. In an attempt to pre-emptively defeat the United States, the Japanese decided to seize the initiative. This occurred through a surprise attack against the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. While on the surface the attack was successful, damaging or destroying 8 battleships and nearly 350

( Source B: Pearl harbour: Rude Awakening) ( Bruce Robinson Introduction). As Japan continued it's intensified search for a permanent alternative by targeting South East Asia which was rich in minerals and oil, war with America would become a reality if it went ahead with a full scale invasion of that region. Japan needed the time and space to conquer South East Asia successfully. The attack on Pearl Harbour was the answer. It would destroy America's Pacific fleet giving Japan long enough space and time to secure the resources it needed.

In the 1940’s, tension between Japan and America was dramatically increasing.Japan had recently declared that there was to be a new order, and that they were the new world power. The United States did not like Japan’s motives and cut Japan off from their main source of trade and supplies. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor because America put restrictions on trade, America was becoming too strong, and Japan wanted to be the at the top of the world power.

On December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States naval base and headquarters of the Pacific Fleet. The Japanese attacked in hopes to weaken the Unites States Naval power, and overall weaken the U.S. military. A few of their main goals were to destroy as many aircraft carriers and sink as many capital and battleships they could. They wanted to neutralize the U.S. military so that the United States could not defend their air or sea, and hoped to make the U.S. military easier to defeat. The Japanese wanted to keep the United States from interfering with a military strike Japan planed in Asia and from interfering with the invasion of Great Britain.

“On the southern end of Oahu, Pearl Harbor held a 22,000 acre naval base. Admiral Husband E. Kimmel of the Navy and Lt. General Walter C. Short of the Army were in command .” Japan’s emperor Hirohito wanted to expand into european countries for resources such as oil and aluminum found in the Netherlands and East Indies. Standing in Japan 's way of expansion was the United States, so Japan came up with a plan to “cripple the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor to allow time for Japan to seize the resource areas it needed and fortify them to the point that