<<...he says the Dec. 7th date caught his eye. But I thought the go ahead for the attack had to be given somewhat earlier?
Well, the 7th in Hawaii was the 8th in Japan.>>
Right, but the whole operation was planned and ships were launched for the attack well before that.
I just think that a December 7th meeting could possibly be a fait accompli unless Hirohito was already in the loop. Like I said, I don’t know, just wondering about how much you can infer from this memo.
And at a word from Hirohito the whole mission would have been called off.
But yes, it was long in the planning. They had war games going back years, looking at a land war with Russia and a naval war with America. We can be certain the Pearl Harbor attack was not a spur of the moment thing.
I’m thinking that once the die was cast, Tojo and his fellows still needed reassurance that the emperor was on board. Hitting America, they’d be all in, do or die. Hirohito’s favor was that of the god and all the ancestors. And every moment spent in the presence of the emperor was of immense historical significance.
In this, records are significant to us as well. This one tells us, no decisions were made that day, but none were changed either — by the one person who could have changed them.