Back then, when Japan was at war with China, they were stretching their use of resources. Most of their resources especially oil were supplied by the United States of America from the 1911 commercial treaty as they heavily rellied on American oil. Without oil, they won't be able to supply thier war machines. This caused them to feel vulnerable as their chances of conquest in South East Asia would be hampered. When they attacked China, the U.S government did not approve of the aggression towards China, the U.S imposed a trade embargo on Japan which banned the export of steel, scarp iron and fuel. Now with Japan lacking in resources, their best choice was to get resources from the Dutch East Indies. But if they attacked the Dutch East Indies, they will bring U.S into the war. So to prevent the war, Japan had to cripple the U.S navy to give them time to gather resources to finance their war in China. (P)

They decided upon pearl harbor because it was closer to japan than the U.S., and they would have less distance to travel. The closer they came to the U.S. coast, the larger the chance of being detected, and forced to turn back. Also, if they attacked the mainland, they would have to pass Hawaii on the way back, and by that time a force would be following them.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/why Japanese bomb Pearl Harbour

From the textual information above, we can infer that Pearl Harbour was the nearest naval base from Japan so it was easier and left them with no choice but to bomb it. P-Zikri n Anwar

The Japanese felt that they were a superior race and by defeating the US they would have a chance to become of higher social status than before, therefore they started the war by attacking pearl harbour.

-darren&yy;(opp)

Japan was not a nation blessed with many natural resources as was the U.S., and other enemies of that nation. In order to secure those additional raw materials, such as rubber, tin, and petroleum, among others, the war leaders decided that conquest of other nations was a solution, and began by attacking China, which in actuality was the (early) start of the war.

At the time, China was a virtual colony for many European nations, including England, France, Netherlands, and the US as well as Japan. Other colonies in Asia included Vietnam for France, Philippines for US, Indonesia for Netherlands, and so on. As the great powers competed for regional interests, Japan was quickly gaining ground from obtaining German concessions after participating on the allied side in WWI. The United States did not view Japan's intrusion into China as favorable to its own interests in the area, and thus economic frictions between US and Japan arose. At the time, Japan relied 80% of its resources, including oil, indispensable at the time, to the US. US began throttling its exports to Japan, and pressured its allies to do the same (such as the Netherlands and Mexico, which Japan sought to purchase oil as alternative sources). The friction reached its height when the US stopped all exports to Japan under the Export Control Act on July 31, 1940 after freezing all Japanese assets in the US, virtually cutting off all of Japan's access to resources. 4 months later, Japan decides to attack the United States on Pearl Harbor.

cr:http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Reasonswhyjapanwenttoworldwar_2

[P]

When the Japanese decided to attack America, they knew that almost all of the immediate forces were naval. Hence, they decided to bomb pearl harbor, as it held the majority of the American naval forces in the pacific. By bombing the navy, they managed to cripple any efforts at an attack force following them immediately to retaliate.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/WhydidtheJapaneseattackPearlHarbor

From the textual source above, it clearly shows that Japan had a choice in waging a world war 2 in asia-pacific. Having a choice in attacking pearl harbour, they decided to bomb the navy to hold an advantage against America. This thus lead to preventing an immediate reaction to retaliate. Thus this concludes that japan had a choice to attack.

-Lim Yanyu - Marcus Liong (opposition)

Japan was left choice-less as they needed more land to support their rapidly growing population. Since Japan is a mouthiness country with Little land, they are restricted on the amount of land required to increase the living space of Japan's growing population.

-Amos Peh, Bryan Seah, Jia Xin. {P}

When the Japanese decided to attack America, almost all of the immediate forces were naval and they were on a losing end. (Ratio of battle ship was 5:3 ; America : Japan ) They changed their minds and decided to bomb pearl harbor instead, as it held the majority of the American naval forces in the pacific and in result Japan managed to cripple any efforts at an attack force following them immediately to retaliate.

- yy & darren ( opp )

"The United States saw that the Chinese empire needed their help so, they cut out the supply of iron and oil to the Japanese. 80% of Japan's supplies came from the USA. So when the iron and oil to kill more Chinese were taken off their hands, the Japanese were furious." -http://wiki.answers.com/Q/HowandwhydidJapanstartWorldWar2inthe_Pacific

Japan was lacked of resources and had to rely on trades to import essential resources from other countries including USA. USA did not approve Japanese's actions towards China and decided to help the Chinese empire by stopping supply of raw materials and resources to Japan. Thats why Japan had no choice but to attack other countries like Manchuria to obtain raw materials and resources to support their population. -Yingyi and Melinda (Proposition)

Where is the proof?

USA & Britain practised protectionism in order to shield their own economies This meant that there was growing opposition to free trade and increasing restrictions and taxation on Japanese exports fell drastically. This affected the Japanese economy significantly and caused an economic depression in Japan, forcing Japan to war downwards Asia for more resources for Japan's growing population and needs. Also, USA has stopped oil supply to Japan, giving harsh conditions to Japan in fighting and growing.

Japan had a choice not to be greedy and conquer that much of land. They were a proud country that would risk anything to protect their ego but still they had a choice to bomb Pearl Harbour or not.

sohyee and denise (O)

People, please consider Japan's motivations in WWII... You need to address that in order to answer the question.

Because they knew war was inevitable and that a surprise attack on such an important naval base would give them control of the pacific.

darren & yy (opp)

The USA saw that the China Empire needed help and USA had to do something to prevent more damages inflicted by the Japanese Imperial Army, USA cut off iron and oil supply to Japan that was needed to fight China. Japan got furious, and in order to prevent much more interference from USA they bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Luckily, 3 large carriers were not in the port and safe from damages from the bombing. Over 2400 Americans were killed with 5 out of 8 battleships/destroyer ships sank and airfield invaded. USA President Roosevelt declared war on Japan the next day on his Pearl Harbor Address.

Japan had a choice in initiating the war in the Asia-Pacific. Yes, Japan was considered by many to be a country with an aggressive military with no political stability. The Japanese were proud people, and wanted to prove themselves equal to the Western powers which had built empires and controlled large territories. The Japanese could just make peaceful treaties with other countries to gain much needed resources, but being proud people, they had to satisfy their need to prove themselves to others instead of making rash desicions to invade neighbouring countries like China to get what they wanted. (O)

During the Washington Naval Conference in 1921, Japan had to reduce their naval strength more than USA and Britain. It was already very unfair to them. Furthermore, they have to spend more time to recover their loss. Japan was also afraid that other countries may invade them during their weakest point of time. Japan had no choice. -Yingyi, Melinda (P)

they had a choice . they ignited the start of ww2 with their ambitious mind of trying to prove that their military powers could be on par with the european powers . -marcus , yanyu

china and japan did not have good relations with war between these countries, world war 2 brought to the pacific asia was able to conquer more lands in china and more colonies to get more supplies and the countries demands. (O)

Japan had all this big talk about discrimination by the Western people but yet they still attacked China! They are all Asians yet the Japan were at war with China! The discrimination was just an excuse for the Japan to initiate an attack on the US!

sohyee & denise (o)

Japan felt discriminated by several events such as Washington Naval Conference and oil embergo. During the conference, Japan's demand for social equality clause to be included in the covenant of the LON was not passed. This shows American racism towards Japanese. The USA placed an embargo on Japan by prohibiting exports of steel, iron and oil to Japan. Japan was badly hit as it bought most of its oil and metal from the USA. So, Japan wanted to fight for Asians.

Bomb pearl harbour ,slow the reaction of US,rape dutch east indies,US start long fight,US hippies decide enough is enough so theUS pulls out of war but americans werent sexually active so japan decided to invent the condom and the pill and drop them from their bombers into the US.america finally found these packages in the sixties,but it was too late for japan

No Choice..? What a load of crap! The Japanese were a bunch of racist bigots who had a serious case of inferiority complex!!!

They could have chose to have a peace settlement instead of bombing Pearl Harbour even if they wanted war materials such as oil and such.

OPPOSITION, Sohyee and DENISE.

[PROPOSITION]

From Yahoo! Answers, "Japan was at war with China. Despite being a military superpower, their war with China was using up their resources. During that time, most of their resources especially oil were coming from the US. The US did not approve of Japanese aggression in China and they declared an embargo on Japan. This means they would stop supplying Japan with raw materials. The Japanese High Command carefully discussed this and came up with the conclusion that the Dutch East Indies would be the best place to gain resources. But they knew that an attack on the Dutch East Indies would probably bring the US into the war. So they had to find a way to prevent the US from fighting with them until they conquered the Dutch East Indies. That's when they planned Pearl Harbor. The goal of Pearl Harbor was to disable the American fleet for a few months to give them enough time to conquer the Dutch East Indies and to absorb its resources to finance their war in China and the US once the US' navy was rebuilt."

Adapted from http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090220224018AAfOEzc

I think that Japan was forced, they wanted to conquer more land for their growing needs but they had opposition the USA trying to prevent them, as the Philippines was under USA's colonial rule. USA wanted to stop British colonial rule and stop international conflicts. But because Pearl Harbor was bombed, USA had to take action against Japan[The Manhattan Project] by dropping 2 atomic bombs Little Boy and Fat Man on Hiroshima & Nagasaki respectively almost killing estimated 300,000 people(as I calculated).

The Japanese had been a very militaristic nation for centuries. The Japanese lived, up till the end of the Second World War, by Bushido (or Way of the Warrior). Bushido was the honour code of the Military ruling class, the Samurai. The Samurai developed this code over the Centuries; but the worthy point of note that is relevant to the Far East in World War 2 was the literal taking on sacrifice and Honour.

Often romanticisised, war was an honour and to die in battle brought glory to the family name. (https://www.makewav.es/story/16674/title/thejapaneseinworldwar2themindset) The Westerners could not fathom this, and as a result the Japanese sprouted hatred towards them. The Japanese could just ignore those remarks but being proud people, took it to heart and then waged war in the Asia-Pacific in a raged stuptor. - Aaron and Clara (opp)

Japan had a choice. They could have chosen not to attack Pearl Harbour and prevented war in the Asia Pacific. They knew how powerful was USA yet still attacked Pearl Harbour without thinking about the consquences.

OPPOSITION : Miguel , Mingxia

Japan's invasion towards mukden was an aggression action and pushed the blame towards the Chinese afterwards the Japanese miliatry tookover Manchuria through an invasion.

OPPOSITION!

Japan wanted to expand their empire due to overpopulating people and growth in military needs for its own greed

-celeste,racheal,alicia (O)