Question

itadashi koshu, was a japanese middle - school student during the pearl harbor attacks. he describes the experience in his oral history entitled, \my blood boiled at the news\:
\the americans, british, chinese, and dutch; they wouldnt give us a drop of oil! the japanese had to take a chance. that was the psychological situation in which we found ourselves. if you bully a person, you should give him room to flee. there is a japanese proverb that says, a cornered mouse will bite a cat. america is evil, britain is wrong, we thought. we didnt know why they were encircling us.\
this passage highlights the general beliefs of the japanese public. the average japanese citizen viewed the actions of the american embargo and refusal to negotiate as the behavior of a bully. from their perspective, america had trapped japan and left the country without the ability to flee the situation.
japanese perspective pearl harbor - primary sources
directions - read through each primary source on pearl harbor from the japanese perspective. for each source explain what the quotes tell us about the japanese perspective. basically what does it tell us about how they viewed the attack and what they believed about it.
primary source #1
last year, an oral history recorded by an aide to emperor hirohito revealed that the late emperor said that if he had tried to stop the attack on pearl harbor, \it would have led to a coup detat(violent over throw of the government)\ and possibly his own assassination. the revelation offered powerful new evidence that hirohito gave some thought to trying to stop the war, only to resign himself to it.
this summer saw the startling publication of notes written by gen. hideki tojo, japans wartime prime minister, while he was held prisoner after the war. defiantly defending the attack on pearl harbor as forced by \inhuman\ economic sanctions imposed by washington, tojo, who was hanged in 1948 as a war criminal, wrote: \for japan, doing nothing would have meant the destruction of the nation.\
what does this quote tell us about japans perspective on the attack? tell us that .

Explanation:

1. For Emperor Hirohito's quote: It shows that Hirohito was aware of the attack, considered opposing it, but feared violent overthrow (a coup) and his own death, so he accepted the attack. This reveals that some Japanese leadership had reservations but felt powerless to stop the military-driven action.
2. For Gen. Hideki Tojo's quote: It frames the Pearl Harbor attack as a necessary survival measure. Tojo and the Japanese military viewed U.S. economic sanctions as an existential threat, believing inaction would destroy Japan, so they justified the attack as a forced defensive/preemptive act.

Answer:

1. Emperor Hirohito's quote tells us that he contemplated stopping the Pearl Harbor attack but feared a coup d'etat and assassination, so he acquiesced, showing some Japanese leadership had reservations but could not oppose the military.
2. Gen. Hideki Tojo's quote tells us that the Japanese military viewed the Pearl Harbor attack as a forced, necessary response to U.S. economic sanctions, which they saw as an existential threat that would destroy Japan if they did nothing.