In Reply to: Re: It's not clear that Japan was planning war with the US. posted by confused442 on February 17, 2026 at 17:43:15
In addition to its aggression into China and Korea and annexation of Taiwan after its first war with China, Japan had militarized mandates in the Marshalls, Carolines, and Marianas for which governance had been transferred to Japan from Germany by the League of Nations after WW 1 under the condition that they not be militarized or fortified.
These were direct preparations for a war with the United States which the Japanese military believed to be inevitable and which it planned to commence at a time of its choosing.