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After a speech over America's wars and the root causes of each since 1776 to 1992, a student asked the following question, "In your speech, you just said that all of America's wars were based on economics, and not from the need to preserve democracy and justice. Would even you acknowledge that the Japanese had no just cause for its seek attack on Pearl Harbor and that the United States was just in retaliating, which led to our entry into World War II, and that as Americans we should forever remember Pearl Harbor as the event that inspired America to stand up against aggression?
ejn: I would like to start off by saying that what the Japanese did to the Chinese and to the others that they conquered was totally deplorable. From researching extensively as much information as possible over the events of World War II, I am well aware of the atrocities committed by the Japanese forces. I am aware of Japanese soldiers raping the women of the lands they conquered; I am aware of the bayonet games, in which Japanese soldiers would see who could ram their bayonet the farthest into a captured prisoner; I am aware of how the Japanese soldiers would throw infants into the air and let them fall on the bayonets. I understand that the Japanese committed wholesale genocide, so, I do not what anybody to think that I am mitigating the actions of the Japanese.
We must understand that the history of a nation is designed to make the inhabitants proud of their respective country. Every nation, including the United States, is guilty of using propaganda and even omitting key facts to make their country look pristine. Traditional historians and politicians would have Americans believing that the Japanese did not have a just cause in bombing Pearl Harbor. Moreover, traditional historians and politicians would also have us believing that the animosity that developed between the United States and Japan was the result of Japan's seek attack on Pearl Harbor. Ever since, December 7, 1941 has been etched in our memory as a day when Japan shamefully attacked the peaceful nation of the United States. I must say at this point that this is a prime example of how propaganda and the omission of key facts are used so that people will form a positive image of their country. For Americans to condemn the Japanese for their attack on Pearl Harbor is evidence that the American public do not fully understand the relationship that existed between Japan and the United States prior to December 7, 1941. For America to condemn Japan's actions on December 7, 1941 is hypocritical. Americans must understand that before there was an incident on December 7, 1941, there was an incident on July 7, 1853 that would change Japanese and American relationship forever. If Americans fully understood what happened on July 7, 1853, then, maybe Americans would not be quick to condemn Japan's actions on December 7, 1941. Moreover, if Americans fully understood what happened on July 7, 1853, then, Americans may even realize that Japan had a historical justification for its attack on Pearl Harbor.
How many people heard of the treaty of Kanagawa? How many people heard of Commodore Matthew Perry? It is quite obvious that not too many people in America know much about the treaty of Kanagawa or Commodore Matthew Perry and that this is how traditional historians would prefer to keep it. Instead, these propagandists want Americans to focus solely on the bombing of Pearl Harbor. But Americans must understand that the animosity between Japan and the United States began in 1853, as a result of America's overly aggressive, racist foreign policies toward Asia.
Instead of relying on the bombing of Pearl Harbor as the cause of the poor relationship between Japan-America during that time period, I will discuss the events that occurred in 1853 as being a catalyst to the poor relationship that existed between Japan and America up to 1941.
The mid 1800s was an era when Western powers, looking for new markets to sell their manufactured products and raw materials for their industries, were forcing their will on smaller and weaker nations. Moreover, many western nations held the racist view that it was their manifest destiny to conquer and control as much of the earth as possible. In 1852, then President Millard Fillmore sent a letter to the Emperor of Japan, informing him that the United States wanted to engage in trade with Japan. In the letter, Fillmore acknowledged that he was fully aware of Japan's 250 year old policy of total isolation from all western powers, but he went on to stress that trade with the United States would be in their best interested as well. The following year, Fillmore sent Commodore Matthew Perry with a fleet of navy ships to Japan for a response. With his show of force, Matthew Perry issued a written letter to the Emperor. In the letter, Perry stated:
...The undersigned holds out all these arguments in the hope that the Japanese government will see the necessity of averting unfriendly collision between the two nations, by responding favourably to the propositions of amity, which are now made in all sincerity...Many of the large ships-of-war destined to visit Japan have not yet arrived in these seas, though they are hourly expected; and the undersigned, as an evidence of his friendly intentions, has brought but four of the smaller ones, designing, should it become necessary, to return to Edo (modern day Tokyo) in the ensuing spring with a much larger force. But it is expected that the government of your imperial majesty will render such return unnecessary...If you are still to disagree we would then take up arms and inquire into the sin against the divine principles, and you would also make sure of your law and fight in defense...When one considers such an occasion, however, one will realize the victory will naturally be ours and you shall by no means overcome us...
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As one can clearly see from Perry's statements, the United States was willing and ready to go to war with Japan if it did not comply with the United States demands. Two things were quite clear from Perry's encounter with the island nation of Japan: Commodore Perry could impose his demands by force and that the Japanese had no navy with which to defend themselves, which meant that they had to agree to all the demands of the United States. These demands were arbitrary and unfair. In the treaty of Kanagawa, signed in 1854, and the Harris Treaty, signed in 1858, the United States demanded that: the United States steamships and other vessels be along to enter and violate Japan's territorial rights without the permission of the Japanese government and that the Japanese must provide coal for the ships, provisions, and water to the Americans at a cost set by the United States; the Japanese had to open the ports of Simoda and Hakodade for reception of American ships, where they can be supplied with wood, water, provisions, and coal, and other articles their necessities may require; Japanese vessels must assist the ships of the United States that are thrown or wrecked on the coast of Japan; citizens of the United States would not be subjected to the laws of Japan; the United States government would decide want articles from the United States could be imported into Japan without the consent of the Emperor or others in charge of commerce; the United States alone reserve the right to decide where American citizens will reside in Japan and where American trading post will be established; American citizens reserve the right to erect religious places of worship without the consent of Japanese authorities; import and export taxes would be determined by the United States alone; and a low rate of 5 percent on the value of goods imported by the United States, a rate totally unfavorable to Japan, would be set for machinery and shipping materials of all kinds as well as raw materials such as lead, tin and zinc.
The treaties that the Japanese were forced to sign were unequal treaties in which the United States received all the benefits. The United States and other western powers grew richer from the trade deals established by the United States government, while Japan suffered. The trade brought a disruption to the Japanese monetary system, which caused the Japanese economy to decline, Japan's value system was greatly altered as western influences were allowed to sweep through Japan, Japan's governmental system would eventually collapse, and for the next forty years, the people of Japan had to live in fear of being attack from the United States.
Japan as a nation was humiliated. On several occasions, in attempts to regain its self-respect, the Japanese attempted to take back land unjustly taken from them in the unequa treaties, but they were only beaten into submission by the more powerful western nations. Unable to successfully defend herself, it had to comply to all the demands of the western nations or suffer the same fate that the Chinese suffered at the hands of the British. From then on, the Japanese viewed the western powers as enemies. Japan began building up its military forces in order to correct the wrong that had been done to their nation. It was not until 1898 that Japan was able to remove the unequal treaties established by the United States, but Japan continued build up its forces, vowing to match the United States and other western powers might for might.
Americans must understand that the dye was not cast in 1941, but in 1853. The people of Japan had to agree to treaties that the United States government itself would have rejected if another nation had tried to impose it on America. The United States, knowing that Japan was defenseless in defending herself, decided to take advantage of the situation. For Americans to conclude that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor for no apparent reason is ludicrous. Just like Americans remember Pearl Harbor many years after the fact, the Japanese people remembered the day of the black ships many years after the fact. The aggressive actions on the part of the United States government between 1853 to 1898 left the people of Japan bitter and vengeful. The Japanese never forget the humiliation that their nation was force to endure, and just like the United States in 1853, the Japanese government decided to take advantage of the situation in 1941. Americans must understand that the United States government is far from being the saints traditional historians and politicians have painted. Americans must understand that the past actions of the United States led to the conflict that existed between the two countries. Japan's drive for military superiority was a direct result of America's aggressive acts towards them. For Americans to condemn Japan for its aggressiveness in 1941 and not condemn the United States for its aggressive and racist foreign policy in 1853 is hypocritical. Like Doctor Frankenstein, the United States created its own monster. Just think, if the United States had left Japan alone in 1853, there may have never been a Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
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