Trump's Pearl Harbor Joke Sparks Laughter and Discomfort in Meeting with Japanese PM

Donald Trump’s meeting with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Friday at the White House was a notable one, not for investment deals or geopolitics, but because of the US President’s joke about a particularly touchy topic — the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. Asked why he did not give Japan and other allies any notice of the US-Israeli attack on Iran, Trump responded, with Takaichi by his side at the Oval Office: “We wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan, OK? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK? Right?” The moment sparked some laughter, and visible discomfort. The New York Times reported that Takaichi widened her eyes and looked in the direction of the Japanese reporter who asked the question. She did not speak, sitting with her arms crossed. The December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbour was among the most significant moments of World War II. It laid the ground for the US entry into the conflict — an involvement that would culminate with it dropping nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Here’s a look at what happened on December 7, and why Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. On November 26, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy ordered an armada that included 414 planes aboard six aircraft carriers to set to sea. The ships maintained strict radio silence throughout their 5,600-km trek from Hitokappu Bay to a predetermined launch sector 230 miles north of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. About 7.55 am on December 7, 1941, about 180 aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the US Naval base at Pearl Harbour on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. The bombing lasted nearly two hours, killing more than 2,300 Americans and destroying the battleships USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma. Roughly 160 aircraft were destroyed and 150 were damaged. The Naval officer at Pearl Harbour sent a hurried dispatch to the fleet units and major Navy commands that morning, “AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR X THIS IS NOT DRILL.” Before Japan attacked Pearl Harbour in 1941, relations between the US and Japan were worsening. In 1910, Japan annexed Korea and, in 1937, it invaded China, sending alarm bells ringing in the US and other Western powers about Japan’s manifest expansionist agenda. Between December 1937 and January 1938, an episode which is referred to as the “Nanking Massacre” or the “Rape of Nanking”, occurred — Japanese soldiers killed and raped Chinese civilians and combatants. Japanese historians estimate that anywhere between tens of thousands and 200,000 Chinese were killed. According to estimates by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, over 200,000 Chinese people were killed, and roughly 20,000 Chinese women were raped by Japanese soldiers. These figures do not include the bodies that were destroyed by burning or were thrown into the Yangtze river. According to the Nanjing War Criminals Tribunal, “at least 300,000 Chinese were killed”. The US was against Japan’s aggression in China, and imposed economic sanctions and trade embargoes after its invasion. Japan was reliant on imports for oil and other natural resources — this was one of the reasons why it invaded China, and later French Indo-China (present day Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia). The intention was to take control of the major Chinese ports to have access to resources such as iron, rubber, tin, and most importantly, oil. In July 1941, the US ceased exporting oil to Japan. Negotiations between the two countries ended with the “Hull Note”, the final proposal delivered to Japan by the US. Essentially, the US wanted Japan to withdraw from China without any conditions. Ultimately, the negotiations did not lead to any concrete results. The website of the UK’s Imperial War Museums (IWM) states: “Having lost 94% of its oil supply and unwilling to submit to US demands, Japan planned to take the oil needed by force. However, striking south into British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies would almost certainly provoke an armed US response. To blunt that response, Japan decided to attack the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, hoping that the US would negotiate peace.” Japan considered the attack to be a preventive measure against the US. The Japanese believed that once the US Pacific Fleet was neutralised, all of Southeast Asia would be open for conquest. But the gamble backfired. The IWM website states: “Though Japan took its objectives in the Pacific and Southeast Asia, the U.S did not respond as expected. Instead of reverting to isolationism, the US geared up for total war and Japan’s fate was sealed.” Why Pearl Harbour is a touchy topic In Japan, the perception of the attack on Pearl Harbour is complicated. Some nationalists and older generations of Japanese still defend the assault as a necessary response to diplomatic bullying by the United States, describing the war as unavoidable. After the end of World War II, President Harry S. Truman used the attack on Pearl Harbor to justify American efforts to remake Japanese society and to impose a pacifist Constitution. (The United States led the Allies’ occupation of Japan from 1945 until 1952.) The Constitution forced Japan to renounce war and put limits on its military, making Tokyo reliant on the United States for protection. But during the Cold War, the United States shifted its official portrayal of the attack, describing it as a historical tragedy rather than pointing fingers at Japan. American officials were eager to keep Tokyo as an ally as communism spread in Asia, and to form security and economic pacts. Today, the Pearl Harbour is home to the USS Arizona memorial, the Battleship Missouri, and the Pacific Aviation Museum. It is also a working Joint Naval and Air Force Base. In 2010, Pearl Harbour was combined with Hickam Air Force Base to create the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, and is home to over 18,000 service members. It is also visited by over 2 million visitors annually. In 2016, then US president Barack Obama and the late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe visited Pearl Harbour in a gesture of reconciliation. (With inputs from The New York Times)