December 7th, 1941: A date which will live in infamy
December 7, 2014
My apologies for posting this so late today.
When Americans went to bed on December 6th, 1941 America was at peace. (Although America was secretly helping the British against Germany the citizenry was unaware.) But when Americans woke up on Sunday, December 7th they learned that war was inevitable because early in the morning Imperial Japan conducted a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor which left 2,400 dead. The wars in the Pacific and Europe became WWII and America was called upon to free the world of tyranny. It was a call which was answered by the greatest generation–a generation which is sadly almost gone.
Thank you to all those who answered the call.
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America's Watchtower 
Reblogged this on A Conservative Christian Man.
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Thank you.
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Dennis, Just have to throw something in here. We suffered great losses that day. And, worse the Japanese ambassador was actually in Washington discussing terms to keep this very thing from happening in efforts to cover what was about to take place, about as notoriously backhanded as you get. Yes, years ago the Japanese caused America a lot of harm, and drug us into a war we didn’t want to be in, not to mention what they did to the rest of southeast asia.
But something I want people who read this to understand, especially those that might have been alive during this time, that the Japanese people went through a huge transformation. With 2 bombs, they paid a heavy price losing over 144,000 people, had most of their large cities completely destroyed with carpet bombing. In essence, Japan was no longer. I have no explanation as to where this started with myself personally other than curiosity, but I have studied Japan, and 214 books from the EDO period forward to modern day and 3 years later I still had many questions about their society, and started conversing with them to learn more. And I did. Over the past 7 years now I have learned their culture, customs, traditions, finance and her politics.
1 point many Americans don’t know about our past, or maybe they do but just see it as American success. Japan had closed itself off from the rest of the world in 1600 during the EDO period. And they had every right to, it was their country. Until we, America showed up on their doorstep. After several failed diplomatic attempts to negotiate open trading with Japan, we finally sent Matthew C Perry to Japan with an armada of Americas most powerful battleships and sent message to the Shogun that if Japan did not open itself for trade with America, that he and his navy would destroy Japan. Only after firing several explosive rounds at Japans coast, destroying buildings there, did the Japanese “surrender” and opened up trade with us… the bullies….
My point is, the people that live in Japan today, with the exception of some hard headed politicians and the few survivors there are, the people of Japan today, are nothing like what we faced 70 years ago. These are a peace loving people, and want nothing to do with war. The prime minister, Abe Shinzo however is testing the patience of the people there, wanting to remove article 9 from their constitution keeping them from having an offensive army (their government is as corrupt as ours) He’s been chipping away at it using roughly the same kind of tactics that obama has towards our freedoms. But the people of Japan do not want this. They have enjoyed their peaceful times. I go there each year to visit various places, and my friends there. I have about 65, and I stay with them in their homes. Each and every one of them opposes what Abe is doing. And there are many articles in Japanese papers and online sites where the feelings are being expressed intently against change of article 9. They want nothing to do with violence.
Although we can’t forget this day, and what the Japanese of that time period did to us and many other countries, I just wanted relay this message, as there are plenty of Americans that hang on to this part of Japan’s past, and refuse to understand who they are today. Kind of like how some of the black populace, refuses to let go of what our forefathers did to them…
I’ll get some black eyes for this post, but I truly have an infinite love for Japan and Japanese people, the ones that live there now, in this time period. If anyone here disagrees with this, well, that’s your right. I do know the Japanese, well. And they are living in the here and now, with us gladly, in peace.
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Kind of like here, the government does not necessarily represent its’ people! Thanks for sharing your knowledge, Sonny!
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I guess you have read a different History than I have. Isolated? Japan was a brutal expansive Nation who caused trouble for centuries. Savage similar to today’s Middle Eastern terrorists. But then again, I lost relatives over there so maybe I am not so forgiving. Time to move on, and I have, but I don’t need a lecture about the peace loving Japanese.
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Just a few tidbits of History.
Empire of Japan
Beginning in 1868, Japan undertook political, economic, and cultural transformations emerging as a unified and centralized state, the Empire of Japan (also Imperial Japan or Prewar Japan). This 77-year period, which lasted until 1945, was a time of rapid economic growth. Japan became an imperial power, colonizing Korea and Taiwan. Starting in 1931 it began the takeover of Manchuria and China, in defiance of the League of Nations and the US.
It was tensions over Korea and Manchuria, respectively, that led Japan to become involved in the first Sino-Japanese War with China in 1894–1895 and the Russo-Japanese War with Russia in 1904–1905.
The war with China made Japan the world’s first Eastern, modern imperial power, and the war with Russia proved that a Western power could be defeated by an Eastern state. The aftermath of these two wars left Japan the dominant power in the Far East with a sphere of influence extending over southern Manchuria and Korea, which was formally annexed as part of the Japanese Empire in 1910. Japan had also gained half of Sakhalin Island from Russia. The results of these wars established Japan’s dominant interest in Korea, while giving it the Pescadores Islands, Formosa (now Taiwan), and the Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria, which was eventually retroceded in the “humiliating” Triple Intervention.
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Bunker, it was during the EDO period roughly 1600 to 1800 that Japan went into isolation, ordered by Ieyasu, the current shogun. He did so because Spain and the Dutch had sent many christian missionaries to Japan to convert them and there was a growing number of them, however the Spanish had planned this to make it easier to invade and take over Japan. Ieyasu learned of this and that is when the Japanese refuted christianity and forced out or killed all christians. Ieayasu was a man that wanted peace in Japan and he was successful and It wasn’t until the Meiji period, about 1830 that the supporters of the emperor destroyed the shogunate and restored full power to the emperor, as prior he was treated as royalty but only a figurehead. It was during this time that the Japanese began their rise in industrial markets and power. Everything you said is true, and unfortunately much worse as they did become expansionists as had many other countries before them. The atrocities were unspeakable during this time as weaponry and science was further advanced though. The difference with other countries that tried to conquer continents is that they didn’t attack America. We weren’t even here yet. What Japan was doing was wrong and needed to be stopped however there wasn’t much resistance to do this until they entered Russia where by then the Japanese army was spread too thin across asia and the Russians were able to hold them off. I do not disagree with anything you’ve stated.
My point is that the people that live there now are not anything like those during that time period, nor any of the previous time periods in Japan as it was brutally war torn within itself, almost a non stop civil war. Although the EDO period finally, after the Tokagawa family came into power as shogun they finally brought peace to Japan and were removed from the violent past 900 years. They were on their way to becoming what they are today, until the supporters of the Emperor decided that since peace had prevailed that it was time to place the figurehead back into power. It was America that again removed that power from the emperor after defeating them in WWII and is once again only a figurehead as America introduced them to democracy. The people that killed so many, including your family members and mine, are gone with only a vestige, a handful of those that lived during those times.
The Japanese that live there now, had nothing to do with that war. Just as I had nothing to do with atrocities that Americans did to the black man here in America, something that Americans did did for nearly 250 years… We are not without our own sordid past.
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I have read the History that you recite. Article 9 was part of the Peace agreement at the end of the war as I understand it. That Japan would not ever become a military power in the region. My point is that I am weary of always finding some reason that the USA caused or had caused all of the problems of the world. Especially on today. It was the Americans who rebuilt Japan and Germany tp our detriment. Tell me what lands we remained in?
Or is it this nasty capitalism or our religion that needs to be expunged and then all will be right with the world. We have no friends in the world. They would sell us out for a few nickels. We need to focus on our self interest if we are to survive at all.
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I wish I could respond positively to this, but I can’t. Not because of the people though. As I’ve stated, the Japanese of all people have lived in a war torn country for centuries, and have so much enjoyed being away from the problems of war and proved themselves worthy in the economic markets. However, when people in power start chipping away at the their own constitution, just as the past 100 yeas of presidents have here with ours, (in my opinion our downfall started with Woodrow), who signed the bill that allowed central banking into place there is no telling what could happen. I have no fear of Japanese. I know their intent. I have more fear of my own government and what they are doing and where they’re going… This country was founded as a Republic, driven by capitalism.. and has been the most successful country in the history of the world because of it. There is nothing wrong with capitalism, just the people that have been abusing it.
Again, I agree with you, and I would go a step further. We need to become isolationists, close all borders, stop all outgoing funding until we can get control of our immigration process and get back on our *own* financial feet first… Get our farming system back up again, we have the oil to support our fossil needs, but most importantly to me, central banking has to go. Or it’s all for naught and we’ll simply be waiting for the Fed to bring about the next financial ruin….. may be extremist thinking but as I see it, we need extreme measures to handle what’s happening here….
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