ABSTRACT
There was much diplomatic activity in the second half of 1941 between Japan and its opponents, primarily the United States. In addition, the internal Japanese debate was certainly active virtually all the way to Pearl Harbor. But really the die was cast in a key policy document of 6 September 1941, ‘Guidelines for implementing national policies’, which was formally adopted by national leaders in the presence of the Emperor. In the judgement of one Japanese historian, ‘That document may be regarded as a virtual declaration of war by Japan. It clearly implied that war would come unless a peaceful settlement could be worked out with the United States’ (Iriye, 1987: 160). The ‘guidelines’ document said that the Americans, British and Dutch would have to halt their aid to China, eschew establishing military facilities in Thailand, the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia), China itself or the Far Eastern provinces of the Soviet Union, and restore normal cooperative trading relations with Japan. In return, Japan would promise to refrain from further military expansion in Asia, and would withdraw its forces from Indo-China ‘upon the establishment of a just peace in Asia’. In other words, Japan insisted upon holding on to its ill-gotten gains and was offering only a promise of good behaviour in the future. General Tojo Hideki took over as Prime Minister on 17 October, in place of the rather more flexible, not to say weak and inadequate, Konoye Funimaro. As a result, the prospects for a last-minute shift in Japanese policy towards an offer that might just be on the outer edge of negotiability moved from exceedingly low to zero. Japan would not abandon its China policy, and the United States would not acquiesce in that policy.
