Publisher's Synopsis
Did you know that the US Navy began planning for war against Japan in 1905--36 years before the attack on Pearl Harbor? 101 Lesser Known Facts Related to the Attack on Pearl Harbor--a top seller at the Pearl Harbor Museum bookstore--is a "tourist's guide" covering the political, economic and military tensions that led to US involvement in World War II. This book of lesser known facts is based on the research the author did for two translations. The first, into English, was the autobiography of Mitsuo Fuchida, leader of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The second, into Japanese, was the memoir of Elaine Fischel, a member of the American legal team at the Tokyo War Crimes Trial, which defended Japan's top two admirals and Emperor Hirohito's political advisor.101 Lesser Known Facts Related to the Attack on Pearl Harbor begins in 1853 with the arrival at Tokyo Bay of the US Navy's Black Ships, which forcibly opened Shogunate Japan to the rest of the world. This destabilized feudal Japan, led to a civil war, and put Japan on a path of modernization, militarization and imperial conquest.Their victory in the Russo-Japan War--that resulted in the annihilation of the Russian Asiatic and Baltic fleets--meant that Japan was the major military power in the Asiatic Pacific. This posed a threat to America's newly won colony, the Philippines. Consequently, the US Navy began war planning against the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1905. Several of the lesser known events and facts are based on the author's discussions with Pacific War participants (including Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's interpreter) or their family members (including Mitsuo Fuchida's son and the grandson of Japan's wartime Foreign Minister). The 101 facts cover events following the attack and conclude with lessons from the Tokyo War Crimes Trial.Furthermore, you will read about some of the key players who were involved in important events and decisions that preceded and followed the attack on the "Date That Will Live in Infamy."[In 1965, Merv Griffin interviewed Mitsuo Fuchida, leader of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Watch this TV [email protected]/watch?v=JMe3r7bM9js]
