Why Pearl Harbor?

Today’s guest post on Pearl Harbor Day was written by Mas Hashimoto of the Watsonville-Santa Cruz Japanese American Citizen’s League (JACL).  Looking at such a shocking and emotional event from a historical perspective helps younger generations of Americans understand the context of Japan’s plans, and the errors that allowed Pearl Harbor to happen.   

On Sunday, December 7, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy struck our Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii without warning or a declaration of war.

Why?  What was to be gained? 

Imperialist Japan’s plan was: (1) to destroy the American Pacific fleet which had been transferred from San Diego to Honolulu; (2) then, without opposition, have a free rein in the Pacific theater of the war, conquering the Philippines and Southeast Asia; (3) fight defensively against the United States; and (4) when Americans tired of the war, Japan would negotiate for a truce, a cease-fire.

The Japanese vastly underestimated the will of the American people.  They believed articles which belittled the average American as lazy, selfish, unprincipled, and undisciplined.

At Pearl Harbor, the Japanese sank aging, obsolete battleships and other ships but no aircraft carriers.  They –the Lexington, Enterprise, Yorktown, and Hornet– now the heart of the fleet, were elsewhere.  The failure to destroy the fuel depots and dry docks (for repairing ships) was also a huge mistake on the part of the Japanese.  Pearl Harbor was back in action the next day.  The Japanese had no plans to invade and occupy the Hawaiian Islands.  The Japanese had no plans to invade the mainland of the United States.

In April of 1942, the Doolittle Raid from the Hornet bombed cities in Japan.  It boosted the moral of the American people.  In the Battle of the Coral Sea in May of 1942, the Lexington was sunk and the Japanese believed it had sunk the Yorktown, too.  Most important, the Japanese advance in the South Pacific was curtailed. 

In May of 1942, the most important early battle—the Battle of Midway—took place. The US military intelligence had broken the Japanese secret code and knew of the Japanese naval battle plans. We lost the Yorktown, but it with the Enterprise and Hornet sank four Japanese aircraft carriers with their best naval pilots.  The Japanese were never to recover from their losses.  We didn’t know it then, but this battle was the turning point of the War in the Pacific (1941-1945).

Everyone is encouraged to visit the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor to pay one’s respect to those who lost their lives on that fateful day.  Next to it is the USS Battleship Missouri Memorial, upon whose deck the Japanese surrendered on September 2, 1945.

Now, nearly 75 years later, the commander of the U. S. Pacific Command is Admiral Harry B. Harris, Jr.  His father served as a US Navy Chief Petty Officer, and his mother is Japanese.  He was born in Japan.  Today, Japan is our closest and most dependable ally in the Pacific if not the world.