Pearl Harbor Countdown To Infamy Analysis

The written work of Eri Hotta entitled Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy, narrated the succession of events which took place between Japanese officials and leaders which led to the attack of Pearl Harbor. It showed the political unrest and civic instability of Japan that resulted into the bombing. Eventually, such attack was not condoned by the military forces of the United States and they countered the aggression by also bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thousands of lives were lost and destroyed. Accordingly, the “ Japanese Emperor Hirohito was one of the Japanese officials who expressed reservations about going to war” (Timms). While the Imperial Navy’s Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, who was also known as the “chief architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor, stated that he believed it was impossible for Japan to win such a war but Japan had to gain the upper hand at the very beginning so that the United States just might be enticed to the negotiating table” (Timms). Hotta revealed her own interpretation by reviewing relevant published primary sources and the reasons why Japan decided to attack the Pearl Harbor. In addition, everyone talked about going to war such as the “Japan’s top brass referring to the prime minister, the foreign minister, the army and navy ministers, and the chiefs of the army and navy general staff”

This paper focuses on the failure of diplomatic decisions made by Japan that is national in nature most particularly when they chose to fight in the midst of an embargo made by the American government. The attack of Japan against Pearl Harbor is a result of an erratic, egoistic and irrational behavior blinding the Japanese Military Personnel and Officials of the destructive outcome of the World War 2 and a lack of diplomatic strategies that misled the communication between USA and