Why did we go to war with Japan in WWII?

[Vocal Minority]

Given Japan's paucity of natural resources, it's not unlikely

[Bibbs]

Derek Smith said:

He was of the opinion that the Japanese were going to attack Australia

They did.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Darwin

[Dr Jekyll]

Ayahuasca said:

If we had pulled back our military resources from the Far East and deployed them against Hitler, would it have made any difference to the European war?

I think the Indians Australians and New Zealanders who were already in the fight would have had something to say about it. 'We' in those days were the Empire rather than the UK, that's why Canada was involved from the start.

[Some Gump]

Very glad that the japs didn't become a global power. Their values are very different to ours - the treatment of pow's was horrible, and the concept of vending machines selling schoolgirl's pants is just wrong.

On the us side, banzai and tekashi's castle are great!

[Derek Smith]

Bibbs said:

Derek Smith said:

He was of the opinion that the Japanese were going to attack Australia

They did.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Darwin

Sorry, poor choice of word. I should have said invade.

[jmorgan]

Some Gump said:

the treatment of pow's was horrible,

Not just POW's.

There would have no velvet glove rule with that regime in charge had we all walked away.

[Joey Ramone]

Ayahuasca said:

No threat to the UK.

No threat to the British Isles perhaps. But an existential threat to the British Empire certainly.

Singapore - Huge Naval Base

Hong Kong - Same

Trimcomalee (Sri Lanka) Same

So that's three bastions of Naval power suddenly gone or under threat (Ceylon/Sri Lanka). As to why they were so important? They were there to protect the following economic interests, all of which were targets for Japanese conquest (lacking the necessary raw materials of its own required to sustain its Great power ambitions)

Malaysia - tin, rubber and other important commodities (incredibly valuable on the world markets)
Burma - rubber (critical for a war economy)
India - Jute, tea and myriad of other raw materials. And foundation stone of the entire British Empire with a massive Army ready to be deployed in order to safeguard that Empire's interests
Australia -meat and grain (and soldiers)
New Zealand - meat and grain (and soldiers)

Lose those, and Empire is gone. The fact Empire subsequently retreated to the extent that it did is merely a development after the fact, and was certainly not foreseen by British policymakers

[Derek Smith]

jmorgan said:

Some Gump said:

the treatment of pow's was horrible,

Not just POW's.

There would have no velvet glove rule with that regime in charge had we all walked away.

The Koreans and Chinese still carry resentment against them. The 'comfort women' episode is horrible.

You have to hand it to the Yanks. They turned what could have been a simmering resentment from those beaten into more positive goals. My eldest is in love with Japan because it is so foreign, more so than any other country he has visited, but the westernisation continues. There's a picture of his wife and kids in one of the rebuilt castles with a school group behind. They look, apicanthic fold apart, very western, being as tall as any European children of the same age. Just not quite to fat of course.

The change has not gone without criticism from the old stagers, but the youngsters are happy with what they've got.

[FourWheelDrift]

Recently online, the Singapore WWII War Crimes Trials - http://www.singaporewarcrimestrials.com/

[jmorgan]

Derek Smith said:

The Koreans and Chinese still carry resentment against them. The 'comfort women' episode is horrible.

You have to hand it to the Yanks. They turned what could have been a simmering resentment from those beaten into more positive goals. My eldest is in love with Japan because it is so foreign, more so than any other country he has visited, but the westernisation continues. There's a picture of his wife and kids in one of the rebuilt castles with a school group behind. They look, apicanthic fold apart, very western, being as tall as any European children of the same age. Just not quite to fat of course.

The change has not gone without criticism from the old stagers, but the youngsters are happy with what they've got.

There were many other examples as well. Nanking is the obvious one but during the rampage across the Pacific as well.

The regime at the time is worlds apart from what it is now.

Interesting read on Kokoda, its aims and intentions and the Australians who held them back.

[sooperscoop]

Derek Smith said:

The Koreans and Chinese still carry resentment against them. The 'comfort women' episode is horrible.

The following cartoon, "The Story of Ok-sun Jung", is a must-read on the subject, well worth the 5 minutes of your time.

It's SFW, but enraging.

http://foxtalk.tistory.com/98

[Digga]

jmorgan said:

Some Gump said:

the treatment of pow's was horrible,

Not just POW's.

There would have no velvet glove rule with that regime in charge had we all walked away.

Before WW2, my great uncle was chief riverboat pilot in Rangoon. Once word was sent that the Japs were going to invade, the city was evacuated and my great aunt traveled by train to India. The train, packed full with fleeing women and children was repeatedly strafed by Japanese fighter planes. My relative survived by jumping out of the stopped train and taking cover beneath it.

[PZR]

Digga said:

jmorgan said:

Some Gump said:

the treatment of pow's was horrible,

Not just POW's.

There would have no velvet glove rule with that regime in charge had we all walked away.

Before WW2, my great uncle was chief riverboat pilot in Rangoon. Once word was sent that the Japs were going to invade, the city was evacuated and my great aunt traveled by train to India. The train, packed full with fleeing women and children was repeatedly strafed by Japanese fighter planes. My relative survived by jumping out of the stopped train and taking cover beneath it.

No disprespect to your relative, but strafing of trains by aircraft was quite common in the period. Point being that it would be quite difficult to ascertain whom or what was being carried, and that the engine, rolling stock and line itself were seen as legitimate targets. Not something unique to the Japanese forces.

[Digga]

PZR said:

No disprespect to your relative, but strafing of trains by aircraft was quite common in the period. Point being that it would be quite difficult to ascertain whom or what was being carried, and that the engine, rolling stock and line itself were seen as legitimate targets. Not something unique to the Japanese forces.

You are probably right - and the UK and Germany had their own, tit-for-tat bombing of cities - but you'd have never convinced my great aunt. She never forgave the Japs, having seen what they inflicted on the occupants of that train.

[jmorgan]

Digga said:

PZR said:

No disprespect to your relative, but strafing of trains by aircraft was quite common in the period. Point being that it would be quite difficult to ascertain whom or what was being carried, and that the engine, rolling stock and line itself were seen as legitimate targets. Not something unique to the Japanese forces.

You are probably right - and the UK and Germany had their own, tit-for-tat bombing of cities - but you'd have never convinced my great aunt. She never forgave the Japs, having seen what they inflicted on the occupants of that train.

That would be one of the many that can be attributed. Prisoners (civilian or military) for bayonet practice for example.

[so called]

sooperscoop said:

Derek Smith said:

The Koreans and Chinese still carry resentment against them. The 'comfort women' episode is horrible.

The following cartoon, "The Story of Ok-sun Jung", is a must-read on the subject, well worth the 5 minutes of your time.

It's SFW, but enraging.

http://foxtalk.tistory.com/98

[Digga]

jmorgan said:

Digga said:

PZR said:

No disprespect to your relative, but strafing of trains by aircraft was quite common in the period. Point being that it would be quite difficult to ascertain whom or what was being carried, and that the engine, rolling stock and line itself were seen as legitimate targets. Not something unique to the Japanese forces.

You are probably right - and the UK and Germany had their own, tit-for-tat bombing of cities - but you'd have never convinced my great aunt. She never forgave the Japs, having seen what they inflicted on the occupants of that train.

That would be one of the many that can be attributed. Prisoners (civilian or military) for bayonet practice for example.

I don't know the how, where and why of it, but one of the heirlooms from that side of the family, along with my great uncle's Zenith watch, is a Japanese bayonet with five notches cut into the handle. I assume these notches signified it's deployment by the owner and also, the fact my uncle came to be in possession of it, the demise of said owner.

[PZR]

Digga said:

jmorgan said:

Digga said:

PZR said:

No disprespect to your relative, but strafing of trains by aircraft was quite common in the period. Point being that it would be quite difficult to ascertain whom or what was being carried, and that the engine, rolling stock and line itself were seen as legitimate targets. Not something unique to the Japanese forces.

You are probably right - and the UK and Germany had their own, tit-for-tat bombing of cities - but you'd have never convinced my great aunt. She never forgave the Japs, having seen what they inflicted on the occupants of that train.

That would be one of the many that can be attributed. Prisoners (civilian or military) for bayonet practice for example.

I don't know the how, where and why of it, but one of the heirlooms from that side of the family, along with my great uncle's Zenith watch, is a Japanese bayonet with five notches cut into the handle. I assume these notches signified it's deployment by the owner and also, the fact my uncle came to be in possession of it, the demise of said owner.

Personal anecdotes from the people involved are precious and educational. My father in law was a surgeon on a naval hospital ship which was mostly operating in the South China Sea and Java sea during the 1942~44 period. His ship was repeatedly attacked by enemy aircraft, ships and submarines despite clearly identifying itself as a hospital ship. He told me that they were sometimes attacked whilst in the process of picking up shipwrecked and ditched enemy combatants.

He was a surgeon in the Imperial Japanese Navy...

[Digga]

PZR said:

Personal anecdotes from the people involved are precious and educational. My father in law was a surgeon on a naval hospital ship which was mostly operating in the South China Sea and Java sea during the 1942~44 period. His ship was repeatedly attacked by enemy aircraft, ships and submarines despite clearly identifying itself as a hospital ship. He told me that they were sometimes attacked whilst in the process of picking up shipwrecked and ditched enemy combatants.

He was a surgeon in the Imperial Japanese Navy...

Obviously I would like to attribute that to our trigger-happy cousins across the pond, but of course I have no idea of the facts.

The world has come a very long way since the 1940's, I know there are a noisy minority who'd like to drag it back to the dark ages, but on the whole, I hope it's a better place today, in part due to the efforts and sacrifices of our ancestors.

[FourWheelDrift]

Happened to everyone.

3 Japanese Hospital ships sunk during WWII, one in a collision with a Japanese Oiler, one sunk by the USS Queenfish and one sunk by USAAF bombing.
UK lost 5 to German bombing.
Germany lost 2 (1 mined, 1 to Beaufighter attack)
Italians lost 7 (torpedoes and mined by UK, US and German forces)
Greeks lost 4 (Italian and German attacks)
Australia lost 1 to a Japanese submarine