ABSTRACT
Studies of Japan discusses the imperial Japanese army should be seen as solely responsible by emphasizing the rivalries within the Japanese elite and by demonstrating that an internal battle for power continued even into the Pacific War. In trying to understand the origins of the Pacific War, it is important to see that Japan's desire for regional hegemony and the West's attempts at containment did not begin in the 1930s. The First World War was for Japan an unprecedented opportunity to strengthen itself and expand its power in the region. In November 1921 a conference of the Powers with interests in the western Pacific convened in Washington to discuss international co-operation in the region, particularly in regard to China, and how to establish a framework for naval arms limitation. In regard to the immediate origins, it is probably safest to see the conflict as part of a global conflagration in which Japan sided with Germany.
