# Sources for Japanese viewpoint/pre-Pearl Harbor



## diddyriddick (Jul 21, 2010)

This may be a reach. I've been doing a little snooping for a project, and I've hit a brick wall. I'm trying to find original sources for the Japanese viewpoint prior to Pearl Harbor. Specifically, I'd like the view of the senior military leadership as well as newspaper accounts to get a feel for the opinion of the "man on the street."

What were the Japanese thinking about their potential enemy?

Almost forgot....My limitations are that I don't speak Japanese, and don't want to travel, so on-line translations would be a big help.


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## buffnut453 (Jul 21, 2010)

Some suggestions:

Empires in Balance (H P Wilmott)

The Setting Sun of Japan (Carl Zandau and Leane Zugsmith)

Japan's War (Hoyt)

Japan Prepares for Total War (Michael A Barnhart)

Japan Must Fight Britain (Lt Cdr Tota Ishimura)

How Japan Plans to Win (Kinoaki Matsuo)

Japan's Greatest Victory, Britain's Worst Defeat (Tsuji)

From Marco Polo to Pearl Harbor: Who Was Responsible? (The Yomiyuri Shimbun)


Hope this helps....


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## diddyriddick (Jul 21, 2010)

buffnut453 said:


> Some suggestions:
> 
> Empires in Balance (H P Wilmott)
> 
> ...



Its a start! Thank you, kindly!


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## gjs238 (Jul 21, 2010)

Didn't the Navy and Army have differing opinions and strategic preferences?


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## diddyriddick (Jul 21, 2010)

gjs238 said:


> Didn't the Navy and Army have differing opinions and strategic preferences?



That is my understanding, G. The Army were the hard-liners while the Navy were much more reluctant warriors.


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## RabidAlien (Jul 23, 2010)

Amazon.com: At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor (9780140157345): Gordon W. Prange, Donald M. Goldstein, Katherine V. Dillon: Books


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## diddyriddick (Jul 23, 2010)

RabidAlien said:


> Amazon.com: At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor (9780140157345): Gordon W. Prange, Donald M. Goldstein, Katherine V. Dillon: Books



Thanks, RA. I've got that one. I was really looking for original sources.


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## RabidAlien (Jul 23, 2010)

NP. Its the closest I've got to an original source, drawing on Yamamoto's papers and orders.


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## diddyriddick (Jul 23, 2010)

RabidAlien said:


> NP. Its the closest I've got to an original source, drawing on Yamamoto's papers and orders.



I know. I'm afraid that I'm butting my head against a wall.

But hey, nothing new, right?


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## Freebird (Jul 23, 2010)

buffnut453 said:


> Some suggestions:
> 
> Empires in Balance (H P Wilmott)
> 
> ...



Good list. i would also reccomend Stanley Falk's "70 days to Singapore", it went into some depth about the beginnings of the Japanese - Allied conflict, including the role of the oil embargo and the 2 Imperial confrences held in the second half of 1941


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## buffnut453 (Jul 23, 2010)

Thanks Freebird. Can you guess the early war in the Far East is my pet area of interest? Falk is ok but he succumbs to many of the common misperceptions about the Malayan Campaign. Of recent histories, I think Warren's is the best but I still feel there's more new material to be discovered about the fall of Singapore, particularly dealing with the relationship between the intelligence services and operational decisions made by both Brooke-Popham and Percival.


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## Freebird (Jul 23, 2010)

buffnut453 said:


> Thanks Freebird. Can you guess the early war in the Far East is my pet area of interest? Falk is ok but he succumbs to many of the common misperceptions about the Malayan Campaign.



Just curious, what parts do you think Falk got wrong?


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## buffnut453 (Jul 23, 2010)

freebird said:


> Just curious, what parts do you think Falk got wrong?



It's been a while since I read it but, IIRC, it emphasises command mistakes without mentioning the impact of intelligence on the decision-making process. I don't think it covers the air campaign at all, except to say that the RAF was wiped from the skies. Finally, and I freely admit I may be mis-remembering here, but I seem to recall Falk underplays the lack of experience within the British Army units assigned to defend the Malay peninsula. Despite these criticisms, it's still a pretty decent book on the subject, and way better than even some recent tomes (Smith's book springs to mind) on the subject.


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## Freebird (Jul 24, 2010)

buffnut453 said:


> It's been a while since I read it but, IIRC, it emphasises command mistakes without mentioning the impact of intelligence on the decision-making process. I don't think it covers the air campaign at all, except to say that the RAF was wiped from the skies. Finally, and I freely admit I may be mis-remembering here, but I seem to recall Falk underplays the lack of experience within the British Army units assigned to defend the Malay peninsula. Despite these criticisms, it's still a pretty decent book on the subject, and way better than even some recent tomes (Smith's book springs to mind) on the subject.



Actually it does cover the RAF. (Although not in as much detail as Shores)
I think he did also cover the lack of experience, especially the raw Indian troops who fared poorly against the Japanese. (One of my best buys at the used bookstore, for the magnificent sum of $3  )


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## Shinpachi (Jul 24, 2010)

How about this one, Diddy, though it's slightly newer than 1941?
Here is his excuse...KURUSU SPEAKS.


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## diddyriddick (Jul 24, 2010)

Shinpachi said:


> How about this one, Diddy, though it's slightly newer than 1941?
> Here is his excuse...KURUSU SPEAKS.



You da man! Thank you kindly!


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## Shinpachi (Jul 24, 2010)

You are welcome, Diddy!
I hope it being useful for your study.


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## diddyriddick (Jul 26, 2010)

Shinpachi said:


> You are welcome, Diddy!
> I hope it being useful for your study.



It is, indeed! Thank you again!


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## ppopsie (Jul 26, 2010)

For broader understandings;
1) Bankrupting the Enemy E. Miller, Naval Institute Press, 2007
2) The Japanese Enemy, His powers and his vulnerability H. Byas, Alfred A. Knopf Press, New York, 1942
In my opinion 2) above explains the Japanese' psychology rather well, though with minor misunderstandings. I believe this is even better than some of recent Japanese books on the same field.


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## cherry blossom (Jul 29, 2010)

Firstly, I apologise for the belated reply and secondly for exceeding the length of a single post. I should say that I sympathise with diddyriddick as I also know no Japanese and have spent some time trying to understand what was happening with very limited success (the title of Michael A. Barnhart's article “The Origins of the Second World War in Asia and the Pacific: Synthesis Impossible?Wiley InterScience :: Session Cookies” suggests that this is a difficult task). One almost primary source for what a variety of people were thinking is "Japan at War: An Oral History"by Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore F. Cook (The New Press, 1992), although most of the book is about events after 7th December 1941.

You may want to start with accounts of the Japanese decision for war. An old but free account is "Japan's Decision for War" by Louis Morton at http://www.history.army.mil/books/70-7_04.htm. Other free studies include "The Origins of the Pacific War" by Scott D. Sagan, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 18, No. 4, The Origin and Prevention of Major Wars, Spring, 1988, pp. 893-922 at http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic248058.files/March%203%20readings/Sagan_The_Origins_of_the_Pacific_War.pdf and "War Leadership Concept before the Greater East Asia War: Aftermath of the Imperial National Defense Policy" by Taeru Kurono at http://www.nids.go.jp/english/publication/kiyo/pdf/bulletin_e1999_7.pdf. Two books by Akira Iriye “Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific War: A Brief History with Documents and Essays” (The Bedford Series in History and Culture, Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999, ISBN-10: 0312147880) and “The Origins of the Second World War in Asia and the Pacific” (Longman, 1987, ISBN-10: 05824934981987) might be worth obtaining. More general accounts such as “The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945” by John Toland (Modern Library, 2003, ISBN-10: 0812968581), “Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan” by Ronald Spector (Vintage, 1985, ISBN-10: 0394741013) and “The Clash: U.S.-Japanese Relations Throughout History” by Walter Lafeber (W. W. Norton Co., 1999, ISBN-10: 0393318370) also contain interesting information. 

(end of part 1)


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## cherry blossom (Jul 29, 2010)

After reading some of the recommendations such as the above, you may feel that Japan contained many cliques (Army, Navy, Foreign Ministry, Planning Board, Imperial Palace, etc.) who co-operated poorly. “Pearl Harbor as history: Japanese-American relations, 1931-1941” edited by Dorothy Borg and Shumpei Okamoto (Columbia University Press, 1973, ISBN: 0231037341) contains chapters focusing on such groups or on particular issues and is very useful. 

Of the particular groups, the IJN is probably the best described in the books available in English. "The Pearl Harbor Papers: Inside the Japanese Plans", edited by Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, Potomac Books, 1999, ISBN-10: 1574882228, “The Pacific War Papers: Japanese Documents of World War II” also edited by Donald M. Goldstein, and Katherine V. Dillon, Brassey's , 2005, ISBN-10: 1574886320 and "The Japanese Navy in World War II: In the Words of Former Japanese Naval Officers" by David C. Evans, Naval Institute Press; 2nd edition, 1986, ISBN-10: 0870213164 are allowed some quite senior IJN officers to give their reflections. “Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941” by David C. Evans and Mark R. Peattie (Naval Institute Press, 2003, ISBN-10: 0870211927), “From Mahan to Pearl Harbor: American Strategic Theory and the Rise of the Imperial Japanese Navy” by Sadao Asada (Naval Institute Press, 2006) and “Old Friends, New Enemies: The Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy, vol. 1: Strategic illusions, 1936-1941” by Arthur J. Marder (Oxford University Press, 1981, ISBN: 0198226047) are very good sources and and aircraft fan might also like “Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power, 1909-1941” by Mark R. Peattie (Naval Institute Press, 2001, ISBN: 1557504326) although I don't remember it containing much about politics. “Reluctant Allies: German-Japanese Naval Relations in World War II” by Yoichi Hirama, Berthold J. Sander-Nagashima, Axel Niestle, and Hans-Joachim Krug (Naval Institute Press; 2002, ISBN-10: 1557504652) by contrast does contain some details of pre-war political contacts. There are also two articles that may lead us to doubt the idea that the Navy was a force for restrain: “Nanshin: Budget-Maximizing Behavior, the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Origins of the Pacific War” by Brian Edward Dollery, Zane A. Spindler and Craig Parsons, Public Organization Review, 2004, vol. 4, issue 2, pages 135-155 can be found online at EconPapers: Nanshin: Budget-Maximizing Behavior, the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Origins of the Pacific War. I found a free .pdf of Nanshin somewhere but have forgotten the site. The other article “The Imperial Japanese Navy and the Constructed Consciousness of a South Seas Destiny, 1872–1921” by J. Charles Schencking Modern Asian Studies (1999), 33 : 769-796 CJO - Abstract - The Imperial Japanese Navy and the Constructed Consciousness of a South Seas Destiny, 1872–1921 discusses a period before your main interest but tells a similar story. There is a strong overlap between Nanshin and Barnhart's “Japan Prepares for Total War”.

I have not read much about the Army but “The Way of the Heavenly Sword: The Japanese Army in the 1920s” by Leonard Humphreys (Stanford, 1995), “Japan's Imperial Army: Its Rise and Fall, 1853-1945” by Edward J. Drea (University Press of Kansas, 2009, ISBN-10: 0700616632) and “In the Service of the Emperor: Essays on the Imperial Japanese Army” by Edward J. Drea (University of Nebraska Press, 1998, ISBN-10: 0803266383) are generally recommended. You will also want “Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939” by Alvin Coox (Stanford University Press, 1990, ISBN-10: 0804718350) and “Nomonhan : Japanese-Soviet tactical combat, 1939” by Edward J. Drea (University of Michigan Library, 1981) although you can read the last online (see  http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/download/csipubs/nomohan/nom_intro.pdf). A further online source is the Japanese monographs at http://ibiblio.org/pha/monos/. You need histories of the Second Sino-Japanese War but I only have “When Tigers Fight: The story of the Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945” by Dick Wilson (Viking Press, 1982, ISBN 0-670-76003-X). 

I have not read Ian Nish's “Japanese foreign policy, 1869–1942: Kasumigaseki to Miyakezaka”, (Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1977) or his “Japanese Foreign Policy in the Interwar Period” (Praeger, 2002) but those may be the place to start looking for details of the Foreign Ministry apart from the chapter in “Pearl Harbor as history”. Shigemitsu Mamoru's memoirs “Japan and her destiny : my struggle for peace” has been translated into English (Hutchinson, 1958 ). You might also find Ambassador Joseph Grew's “Ten Years in Japan” of interest Ten Years in Japan - Google Books.

Michael A. Barnhart's “Japan Prepares for Total War” and Edward S. Miller's “Bankrupting the Enemy” have been suggested by previous posters and are excellent. David Flath's “The Japanese Economy” and Christopher Howe's “The Origins of Japanese Trade Supremacy” give a slightly less pessimistic view of the same data, showing that Japan grew much faster than most other countries during the Thirties. Chalmers A. Johnson's “MITI and the Japanese Economic Miracle” describes the push towards a controlled economy over the same period. Louise Young's “Japan's Total Empire” is an invaluable source on Manchuria and its influence on Japan itself as the testing ground for a command economy. Haruo Iguchi's “Unfinished Business: Ayukawa Yoshisuke and U.S. - Japan relations, 1937 – 1953” also discusses Manchuria, especially Ayukawa's attempts to attract investment. The older “Japan’s Quest for Autonomy: National Security and Foreign Policy” by James B. Crowley (Princeton,1966) is still frequently referenced (but I have not yet found a copy). An important recent book is “Lever of Empire: The International Gold Standard and the Crisis of Liberalism in Prewar Japan” by Mark Metzler (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005, ISBN: 9780520244207). This is on the period well before 1941 but helps to explain why Japan was so hostile to Anglo-American investment in China. 

I have no idea what ordinary Japanese were thinking in 1941 but it may be more complicated than is generally believed. For example, Saito Takao, who was expelled from the Diet for speaking against the Army in 1940, was re-elected in 1942. Going back ten years, “The Manchurian Crisis and Japanese Society, 1931-33” by Sandra Wilson (Routledge, 2001, ISBN-10: 0415250560) describes how Japanese opinions shifted over that period. "Justice in Japan: The Notorious Teijin Scandal" by Richard H. Mitchell (University of Hawaii Press, 2002, ISBN-10: 0824825233) describes some of the legal pressures against civilian politicians. However, the illegal pressures could be even more potent as described by “The Double Patriots: Study of Japanese Nationalism” by Richard Storry, (Houghton Mifflin,1956, reprinted Greenwood Press, 1973, ISBN-10: 0837166438 ) and “Revolt in Japan: the young officers and the February 26, 1936 incident” by Ben-Ami Shillony (Princeton UP, 1973, ISBN 0691075484).
(end of part 2)


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## cherry blossom (Jul 29, 2010)

One of the most direct answers to your question of what Japanese leaders knew about the world might be provided by “Japanese Intelligence in World War II” by Ken Kotani (Osprey Publishing, 2009, ISBN-10: 1846034256) but, alas, my copy has not yet arrived from Amazon. “The Shadow Warriors of Nakano: A History of the Imperial Japanese Army's Elite Intelligence School” by (Potomac Books, 2002, ISBN-10: 1574884433) is good but is more about special forces operations than about intelligence. However, some of these such as “Operation Watanabe” had important political consequences.

The other obvious sources on Japan's leaders are their biographies including “Konoe Fumimaro and the Failure of Peace in Japan, 1937-1941: A Critical Appraisal of the Three-time Prime Minister” by Kazuo Yagami (McFarland, 2005, ISBN-10: 0786422424), “Tojo and the coming of the War” by Robert JC Butow (Princeton University Press, 1961), “The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy” by Agawa Hiroyuki (Kodansha International, 2000, ISBN-10: 4770025394 but translated from the 1965 Japanese original), “Military Intervention in Pre-War Japanese Politics Admiral Kato Kanji and the 'Washington System'” by Ian Gow (Routledge, 2004, ISBN: 978-0-7007-1315-8 ), “Ishiwara Kanji and Japan's confrontation with the West” by Mark R. Peattie (Princeton University Press, 1975, ISBN 0691030995), “The Agony of Choice: Matsuoka Yōsuke and the Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire” by David Lu (Lexington Books, 2002), “Emperor Hirohito and Showa Japan” by Stephen Large ( Routledge, 1992) and “Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan” by Herbert Bix (Harper Perennial, 2001, ISBN-10: 0060931302). Most of the authors defend their subjects. One that is about to arrive is “Sailor Diplomat: Nomura Kichisaburo and the Japanese-American War” by Peter Mauch (Harvard, 2011, ISBN: 978 0 674 05599 5). If we read the abstract at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118770188/abstract we discover that Mauch's research shows that Nomura was also doing a good job. Bix, by contrast, does a very convincing hatchet job on Hirohito until we notice that Hirohito's views on controlling China were also shared by almost all the other Japanese leaders. There is also a book on Ōshima Hiroshi by Carl Boyd, “Hitler's Japanese Confidant: General Hiroshi Ōshima and Magic Intelligence, 1941-1945” (University Press of Kansas, 1993, ISBN 0700611894) which focuses on allied code breaking rather than defending its subject.

Good luck!! The wall may collapse.


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## diddyriddick (Jul 30, 2010)

Thank you, Cherry Blossom! Now I just need to figure out where to start!


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