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Question: What were Japan's reasons for joining WW2!?
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The Imperial Government of Japan entered the war because they saw a unique opportunity for the expansion of their empire into South East Asia!. France and the Netherlands had defeated and occupied by Nazi Germany!. The French colony of Indochina (modern day Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia) had already fallen into the control of Japan when they forced the Vichy government to allow Japan to station military forces in Saigon and Hanoi!. The Dutch colony of the Netherlands East Indies (modern day Indonesia) was defenseless since the Dutch colonists did not have the means of expanding their military forces!. The British Empire appeared to be on the brink of defeat at the hands of the Germans!. The British colonies of Malaya, Burma, Sarawak, Brunei, and North Borneo were very weakly defended because the British were defending their homeland and engaging the Italians and Germans in North Africa!. The Japanese knew that the British did not have the ability to defend their colonies!. In addition, the vast majority of the Austrailan volunteers and practically the entire New Zealand military were deployed in the Middle East to fight the Germans and the Italians!.
The Soviet Union also appeared to be on the verge of defeat!. The Soviet Union had just severed a severe defeat at Kiev with the loss of nearly a million soldiers to the German Army and the Japanese knew about the planned German offensive to take the capital of Moscow!. The Japanese expected the Germans to eliminate the Soviet Union and remove any threat of a Soviet attack on the Japanese Empire!. The only enemy that the Japanese had to fear was the United States!. Now the Japanese knew about the Vinson Naval Bill that would double the size of United States Navy by 1944!. The Japanese also knew about the plans to increase the size of the American/Philippine military to 250,000 fully trained and equipped men supported by over 900 fighters and bombers by June 1942!. The Japanese realized that they had a small window to engage and destroy the American military forces in the Pacific before the United States became too strong to attack!. They counted on their reading of the polarized political climate in the United States that the Americans would quickly come to terms with Japan after they had suffered devastating losses in the Pacific!. The Japanese also expected that the Germans and the Italians would quickly declare war against the United States and would draw the Americans into a multifront war!. The conquests of the European and American colonies would also cut off all supply of military aid to China!. The Japanese believed that the cutting off of military aid would cause the collapse of the Kuomintang government and the end of resistance to Japanese occupation!. And the last reason is that many Japanese people including Prime Minister General Tojo believed in the idea that the Japanese were actually liberating the people of South East Asia from white rule!. It is all of these reasons listed above that the Imperial Government decided on the course of war to seize the resources they believed that Japan needed in order to remain an Empire!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I don't think Japan as joining WW II!. They were a major reason for it!. They wanted control of the Far East and were in great need of natural resources with oil leading the list and the US had a monopoly on oil although the Dutch East Indies also had oil!. They first attacked Manchuria to get their natural resources and eventually attacked China which led to the Rape of Nanking!. They thought they were superior to other peoples especially the Chinese!. FDR cut off much of the trading with Japan to get them to back off their aggressive foreign policy but this did not have the desired effect because Japan continued incursion into other areas including the Dutch East Indies so FDR cut the oil supply for the US!. This led to Japan's eventual attack at Pearl Harbor!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

In 1925, the then Japanese government had forseen the possibility of conquest of the region, based on their military strength!. They also realized they needed resources to support their industries!. So they invaded Manchuria inside China in the 1930s!. They also annexed Taiwan and the 2 Korea!.The Great Depression also fueled their need to garner more resources!.

The US, on seeing the Japanese Invading a sovereign country, imposed a blockage by sea of ships going into Japan!. When the Japanese realized they were blocked by sea and yet they still require resources, they decided to acquire their resources by moving on land down south!. Soon, the whole China was engulfed by them!.

In order to remove this Naval blockage once and for all, they also launched a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, hoping to cripple the US Navy!. This literally dragged the US into war,Www@QuestionHome@Com

Japan needed more resources, and had already been fighting in korea, in fact had control of korea prior to world war2!. The Japanese also saw the war in europe as an opportunity to extend their empire/influence in asia, the thinking behind that been this!.
1!. With the Western powers embroiled in one conflict already they were less likely to want to fight on 2fronts
2!. The Japanese also had a technological advantage over the allies, if they hadn't over extended, and germany had held on for a bit longer!. We would be living in a very different world!.
3!. The Japanese also realised that westerners underestimated them!. Dismissing the Japanese essentially as primitive yellow monkeys(some of the australia political cartoons in the early 1900's were very harsh)Www@QuestionHome@Com

Japan was already in a war of it's own well before WWII!. They were off committing the "holocaust" of Chinese, looking to expand their empire!. This is where the "rape" on Nan king took place, even before WWII officially started!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The USA had an embargo against Japan due to Japan invading parts of China!. The Japanese resented this!. The Japanese wanted to expand their empire and thought the USA and Britain were blocking them!. They wanted the resources of China, the Dutch East Indies and others so no embargo could cause them trouble!. They thought the USA was weak and had no stomach for war!. They expected the USA to sue for peace after Japan crushed the US Pacific fleet!. They thought wrong and paid the price!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Japan had few natural resources, such as Oil, Rubber, Etc and needed to import them to sustain its industry!.

Much of what it needed came from South East Asia, an area where the U!.S!. was becoming more active!. Japan wanted to secure these resources, but U!.S!. influence was making this exceptionally difficult, and Japan came to believe that war with the U!.S!. was inevitable if it wanted to have any kind of modern industry and independence!.

As Pearl Harbour was attacked, the Japanese also invaded much of South East Asia to secure what they believed was necessary for Japanese industry and the upkeep of the Japanese military machine!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

They were trying hurt us and post pone our involvement in the war by taking out our navy so they can invade Asia and England!. They knew that we were eventually going to be involved in the war, they just wanted to cripple us for a bit so they could grow and wage war without worrying about the US!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

To build Empire and to end American dominance in the far eastWww@QuestionHome@Com

America sucksWww@QuestionHome@Com

I think because of the attack at Pearl Harbor!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

england asked them (japan) to join in to invade americas posts, so that america would join with england to defeat hitler and test the effects of the hiroshima and nagasaki bombs as reprisal for pearl harbour!. russia knew all about it as well!.Www@QuestionHome@Com