POINTLESS: U.S. DIPLOMACY WITH JAPAN IN THE RUN UP TO World War II

Diplomacy, n  1: the art and practice of conducting negotiations between nations  2: skill in handling affairs without arousing hostility: TACT.[1]

Diplomacy, at least since 1931, was not exactly Japan’s strong suit.  Just ask China, whose country was raped and pillaged by the Japanese at the latter sought to increase its presence on the Asian continent.  At the point of a gun, rather than across a negotiating table, Japan had “converted” Manchuria “into a … satellite state” in 1931.[2]  In order for that to have come about in Japan’s relationship with that country, think of what had to have happened in terms of Japan’s relationship with Korea.  Just looking at a map of east Asia should convince one that probably not much ‘tact’ was used.

In 1932 Japan penetrated China and especially from 1937 on she “pursued a consistent effort to establish [her] control of that vast area …”  Her method of operation was not diplomacy but “guerilla warfare.”[3]  When France fell to the Germans in 1940, Japan did actually use a bit of diplomacy in order to begin wresting control of Southeast Asia away from the helpless French.  Force of arms wasn’t necessary, but there wasn’t much tact wasted, and after the war French reoccupation of territories like Vietnam demonstrated that plenty of hostility remained.

We know through MAGIC intercepts that skillfully negotiating his country’s position on Pacific issues with Washington and without arousing the latter’s hostility was definitely not at the forefront of Japanese ambassadors’ (Nomura and Kurusu) minds when those men were in the U.S. capitol conducting final “negotiations” while Yamamoto was speeding toward Pearl Harbor.  At one point, Nomura even cabled Tokyo saying, “I am a dead horse, I do not want to continue this hypocritical existence, deceiving myself and other people.”[4]

Then there was that insufferably long, fourteen-part “diplomatic” message from Tokyo, the final part of which was held back and not sent until the wee hours of 7 December 1941, with its 1:00 PM (Washington time) ultimatum deadline … 0730 in Honolulu, when the zeros from Yamamoto’s fleet were dropping their first bombs on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor.

No, the issues with Japan before the start of the war could not have been resolved diplomatically.

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[1] Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10^th Ed. (Springfield, Massachusetts: 1995).

[2] B. H. Liddell-Hart, History of the Second World War (Old Saybrook, Connecticut: Konecky and Konecky, 1970), 199.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ed Cray, General of the Army: George C. Marshall, Soldier and Statesman (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1990), 237.