WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk

Japan's Road To War: Countdown To Infamy (Part 4)

·50 min·5 clips

Japanese leaders assert their right to start a war while claiming they have no control over the date, absolving themselves of devastating consequences.

The episode continues the series examining Japan's path to war in late 1941. It opens with historian Eri Hotta's analysis of Japanese leaders paradoxically asserting their right to decide Japan's fate while denying ultimate control. Prime Minister Tojo faces internal conflict, admitting that withdrawing from China seems unbearable but recognizing war with America would cost tens of thousands more lives. Navy opposition to war wears on Tojo, yet Navy Minister Oikawa is too cowardly to explicitly articulate this opposition. Emperor Hirohito unexpectedly appoints Tojo as prime minister after Kanoe's resignation due to a spy scandal involving Hotsumi Ozaki. Tojo begins bizarre publicity stunts like checking citizens' bins, earning the nickname 'dumpster minister.' Japanese leaders commission studies showing US industrial output is 74 times greater than Japan's, with the US producing 5,000 times more oil, yet these realities are ignored. Diplomat Saburo Kurosawa is sent to Washington and identifies the Japanese occupation of Southern French Indochina as the critical turning point that triggered the American oil embargo. Japanese negotiators Nomura and Kurosawa present unrealistic plans to the Americans while being micromanaged from Tokyo. Secretary of State Cordell Hull grows increasingly suspicious as Tojo makes belligerent public speeches in Japan. Nomura unexpectedly offers troop withdrawal from Southern Indochina, but Foreign Minister Togo furiously reverses this. Hull presents the 'Hull Note' demanding complete Japanese withdrawal from China and Indochina, which Tokyo views as an encirclement. Emperor Hirohito remains silent during the final Imperial Conference but ultimately approves war. The episode ends with Admiral Yamamoto sending the coded message 'Climb Mount Nijitaka 1208' to launch the Pearl Harbor attack.

As heard by us

Japan's leaders press toward war while trying to leave the blame behind.

The final chapter of Japan's Road to War keeps its attention on Japanese leaders who make war feel inevitable while still dodging the cost of what follows.

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Why you'd press play

You get the final stretch of Japan's road to war, where diplomacy is still hanging on.

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