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Originally Posted by 515
I think they felt left out. Not really have done anything since their war with the soviets. And having that island. I think they felt the need to put themselve in the history books. Also, to bring back the great japanese empire of old. They knew they could do it and they knew that no one would stop them; becuase no one wanted to start another would war. They knew the US wouldnt do anything about it so they attacked us at pearl harbor. Maybe it was to settle something with china. They dont exactly get along. They attacked them pretty hard.
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"Left out" of what?
The action with the Soviets was in 1939, two years after the Marco Polo Bridge incident that started the war with China.
For a society that restricted its contact with Europe to a single island until 1854, "getting into the history books" would be a wierd ambition.
Which "great Japanese empire of old" would that be? They left the home islands only once, at the end of the 16th Century, in a rather disasterous war with Korea and China.
For "knowing" so much they sure got it wrong, didn't they?
China and the Netherlands were Japan's only outlets to the world until 1854. Chinese fashion and culture were emulated by the Japanese nobility until the collapse of the Manchu in 1900. When the gearwheel (Nationalist) revolution began under Sun Yat-Sen in 1911, Japan applauded the idea that order could be restored. Regrettably, the Meiji died in 1913, leaving his weak son (the Taisho) to lead, which resulted in much less militaristic policies and an attempt at liberal democracy and less interaction with the Nationalists. When the Showa (Hirohito) took the throne in 1925 that gradually ended, but it was too late for China, as it had descended into chaos. They liked each other just fine for a long while.
How much they didn't like each other as countries is moot, but the leadership held each other in some contempt. Japan couldn't afford the instability of a chaotic China, but there were measures short of slaughtering them that could have helped. These were not even contemplated.