November 5

  • HIROHITO SANCTIONS WAR WITH U.S.

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 7 minutes

    Tokyo, Japan • November 5, 1941 On September 6, 1941, Japanese officials, in a decision endorsed by Shōwa Emperor Hiro­hito, gave their diplo­mats until mid-Octo­ber to reverse the policy of the West­ern powers—prin­ci­pally the U.S., Great Britain, and the Nether­lands—of restricting Japan’s access to vital South­east Asian resources, among them oil, rubber, tin, bauxite, timber,…

  • HIROHITO AGREES TO WAR WITH U.S.

    ByNorm Haskett Reading Time: 6 minutes

    Tokyo, Japan · November 5, 1941 Early in September 1941 Japanese officials gave their diplo­mats until Octo­ber to reverse the policy of the West­ern powers—prin­ci­pally the U.S., Great Britain, and the Nether­lands—of restricting Japan’s access to vital South­east Asian resources, among them oil, rubber, tin, tim­ber, and rice. The restric­tions had been im­posed the pre­vious…