JAPAN’S ABSOLUTE DEFENSE PERIMETER

Tokyo, Japan • September 30, 1943 On this date in 1943, at the fourth Imperial Con­fer­ence held since the start of the Pacific War, senior Japanese mili­tary and civil­ian leaders adopted the “abso­lute defense peri­meter” stra­tegy after securing the requi­site impri­ma­tur of Shōwa Emperor Hiro­hito. The stra­tegy reflected a shift in the expec­ta­tions of both…