Hello friends, sorry if this has been previously asked but I'm curious. Why did Japan attack at Pearl harbour? The United states was a much larger foe? What was their mindset? Also how did they fit in the Axis? The agenda seems really centred around master race, how did they fit? What were plans if any, for after the war? How were they to fit in?
Thanks.
You might be interested in some threads from the FAQ sections on "Pearl Harbor" and the "Axis alliance and post-war plans":
Was the attack on Pearl Harbour a gamble by the Japanese Empire, or did they truly believed such a attack would cripple the US to the point of not winning the war? - 73 comments, over 9 months old.
The first top level answer gives a good overview of Japanese strategy in the opening stages of the war and it spawns a large amount of discussion and analysis of Japanese strategy in the immediate pre-war and beyond that you might find interesting.
Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor rather than trying to finish off China or even attack India and Burma? - 18 comments, over 11 months old.
This thread primarily addresses the goals of the Pearl Harbor attack in relation to the Chinese theater and Japanese strategic resources.
What did the Japanese expect the reaction to Pearl Harbor to be? - 5 comments, over 1 year old.
This commenters thread uses the Japanese view on the pre-war tensions to explore why the Pearl Harbor attacks were a logical extension of the Empire's goals and attitudes.
What was the motivation for Japan and Italy to declare an alliance with Germany? What were Hitler's plans for Italian and Japanese men after the war? - 16 comments, over 2 years old.
This talks about the Axis powers' mutual interests as well as how their various racial ideologies intertwined and how seeming contradictions were addressed.
What were the Axis powers' longer term plans for the World if they beat the allies in WWII? - 95 comments, over 2 years old.
This doesn't directly answer the question of intertwining the Japanese with Nazi racial views, but it does talk about Hitler's policies and plans particularly in relation to the spheres of influence that the Axis powers hoped to carve out in the post-war world.
How did the Nazis plan to end the war, by that I mean, was there an endgame of when to stop, or did they just plan to take over the world, if so, what were their plans to do so? - 158 comments, over 9 months old.
Ignoring the large delete comment thread at the top, this thread goes into detail on Nazi post-war plans focusing on not just the breadth of their conquest but also the administration and longer term objectives.
What was Japan's plan for all the territories it acquired if they won the war? - 4 comments, over 10 months old.
This is a synopsis of the colonial situation in the immediate pre-war and the plans for expansion in the event of a successful war.