Do you think attacking Pearl Harbour was a mistake? or did Japan have a genuine chance at conquering SE Asia and maybe even the US?

what i heard before was if Japan won the battle of midway they could of attack Hawaii then attack California and it would of taken the united states a long time to mobilise and counter-attack.

The attack on Pearl Harbor completely threw the US on its back. But they got back up quickly. Japan probably never would have stretched far enough to really challenge the US.

actually Japan was against fighting the US the primeminister went behind the emperor's back to seal the deal with america

also Japan wanted america out of the way not gone

they wanted the west caost of north america and landed in alaska and held for a while in south asia they where unstoppable and never lost their Zero was the best in the league only some dumb person crashlanded a Zero in perfect condition and they found its weakness and made the Hellcat and killed the Airfleet of Japan also the only thing i am confused about

Japan never used Taiwan and its people they where willing to die for thier emperor even more than the japanese but they didn't use them til the end of the war when it was almost significant and survive the war only the Nuc landed on nagasaki and hiroshima

you know what is funny a young ambitious scientist came up with 2 plans for the japanese to reseach

a Nuc (yes the same that they where crushed with)

or a death/heat ray which actually worked by microwaves but they needed tooo much power to use it successfuly

Isn't Pearl Harbour in Hawaii? anyway, are you sure it was the prime minister who approved the attack? i thought it was the prime minister who begged Hirohoto NOT to attack the US saying it would be dishonourable (The Japanese army was modernized by the US as was most of Japanese Industry except the Railroads and the Navy, which was done by the British). It may have not been the PM but it was definitely one of Hirohoto's advisors.

Scholar: So a crashed Zero captured by the US confuses you, but a Japanese death ray doesn't? I also must disagree on what you said about Taiwan, as i find it hard to believe ANY part of Asia other than Japan wanting to fight for the Japanese other than the Japanese themselves.

Bishamonten: The Japanese navy could reach Sydney, and the Airforce bombed Darwin, if they could reach Australia, they could reach the West Coast at least, or maybe even Alaska (scholar, can you prove they were in Alaska?) I must agree with scholar in that because the US wasn't in Asia, they didn't care about conquering it, but just wanted to have the US distracted so they could take Guam and the US possesions in Asia and Oceania, and besides, its obvious why they would declare war on Britain and France, so maybe they fought that the US would declare war on them anyway.

this is from a site that explains

Q. Why did Japan stop at Pearl Harbor and not attack California directly?

A. While Japan had a formidable navy, it could not amass a sufficient invasion force nor could it have supported many troops once they were ashore. They were greatly extended as it was at Pearl Harbor; mainland America is 2400 miles further east from that.

There were a couple of attempts to take over some of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska (at that time Alaska was not a state) but those were short-lived, poorly supported and inevitably failed.

also

IN the Show Weird weapons the episode the Axis

''Between 1939 and `45, the world was locked in a nightmare struggle of unprecedented ferocity. When the smoke from WWII cleared, bizarre stories emerged of extraordinary armaments dreamt up by both sides' most inventive minds--weird weapons unlike anything before. New ways of bringing destruction to the enemy were born of desperation and wild imagination. And in a world gone mad, nothing seemed too strange to try. Axis powers tested a strange range of weapons: a vortex cannon designed to tear wings off aircraft, an assault rifle that could shoot round corners, a death ray that could boil people alive, and most bizarre of all, an army in space.''

Just to let you know the japanese attack on Aleutian islands were supposed to be the diversionary tactic to get the u.s navy to go there while their carriers attack midway but the united states found this out and ambush the japanese losing only the USSYorktown.

So scholar, if i think up of a Baseball Bat that can destroy entire cities, does that mean im going to make one up and call it a weapon against what ever enemy we happen to be fighting at that time? i don't think so?

About california and Alaska i believe you, Asia was far more important, they just didn't want the US to screw up their plans there. Bad Plan.

And what site did you get this info from?

off of the National library site that is in D.C. which is also put in Google and Yahoo Q and A pages, and the history channel

ITS CALLED THE MICRO WAVE if you put a person in a microwave and turn it on they wil melt and cook from the inside out, which is called a death ray

asia statement: what? i cant understand, Me No Comprde,repeta por favor:spanish

Japan was looking for a United (by which they Mean a United Japanese) SE Asian Empire. Obviously, Guam and The Philippines would have been of great importance in Japan as Offshore Millitary Bases, one of which was a US Colony (or whatever) and another was a Colony till very recently (i think the Philippines became independant in the 30's) so the US still had some influence there. So they weren't looking to conquer the US, but just some of their offshore territories.

Does that explain my previous answer?

Japan didn't want to have to fight the US, but the US was threatening there borders, so Japan took out Pearl Harbor, just to cripple there force, after all. US had stationed all there force at one base. But since the US were quick to come back and get back in military efforts, it wasn't that much of a set back. All Japan wanted was for US not to intervene in any of its affairs.

Then they wouldve at least negoiate or make a peace treaty.

Also the US were upset at Japan because of their inhumane treatment of the Chinese at Nanjing and Shanghai. Maybe they were going to start an Embargo against Japan?

does this

No!!

Japan wanted a small portion of US mainly hawaii and Alaska and parts of California other than that they wanted no part in them, so not nothing from america but mainly yeah nothing.

Is it just me or does this look alittle like Masamune here

Obviously Japan wanted Hawaii,or else they wouldn't of sent over a million civilians there. And Japan couldn't of just made a peace traty, they were after all allied with Germany.

They also used to have alliances with Great Britain and the US, and besides they could have simply broken the alliance because its not like Germany would attack Japan anytime soon.