Is it true that the cause of Pearl Harbor was in fact because the US cut oil supply to Japan?

I got into a fight with a kid in my Math class [I'm half japanese btw.] I moved from Hawaii when I was 10, he kept telling me that I didn't belong in Hawaii because of the fact that we bombed pearl harbor. My whole family was in Hawaii before pearl harbor - legal Japanese-Americans. Anyway, I got VERY offended by this and fought back with the fact that the US cut oil supply to Japan when stating they were mutal - one of their biggest resources - and it left them no choice to bomb. This is what I have been taught. Its true....but am I right? I know the kid is seriously fked up in the head. But yeah, am I right about my facts?Is it true that the cause of Pearl Harbor was in fact because the US cut oil supply to Japan?
The kid definitely needs to do a study of Hawaii ~ I don't remember much of what I read many years ago but I do know the Japanese were there before anyone from the mainland went there as missionaries. And I think he needs to quit being so prejudice and change his attitude. His bigoted attitude is most unbecoming.





I found this online which might help your understanding of things. These are answers that other people have posted so some of it may not be accurate.





http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_did_the_Ja鈥?/a>





The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour for a number of reasons, the main being President Roosevelt banning all exports of scrap iron, steel and oil to Japan. Japan had lost more than 90% of its oil supply). Other causes which sparked the attack included; the belief that Japan was becoming encircled by Western powers, the fear of resources such as oil running low, the strong determination of advancing in the East Asia region, the United States demanding Japanese withdrawal from Indo-China, the United States opposing Japanese expansion and Japans demands were not being achieved by diplomacy. The Japanese were keen on expanding their empire and had to make a decision between surrendering or going to war with the United States.





That is only part of what is posted on that site so go to that and read the rest of the comments. I Google and typed in ';why did Japan bomb Pearl Harbor?'; and there were several links. I only went to this one.





http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8%26amp;鈥?/a>Is it true that the cause of Pearl Harbor was in fact because the US cut oil supply to Japan?
It was only one of many factors that caused Japan to go to war against the US. A disturbing trend lately is people blaming the US for Pearl Harbor because of oil, this really isn't true.





The real reasons are complex and actually go back decades before Pearl Harbor. At the turn of the century Japan had already started becoming a Colonial power after wars against China and Russia (the Shino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars). After WW1 the Japanese government realized that the European powers could be beaten and started on a path of vastly improving their military. Only the US had the economic might to challenge the Japanese after WW1.





To prove this increase Japan embarked on a massive naval building program (the 8:8 program, or basically 8 battleships and 8 battle-cruiser to be built every 8 years).





In the early 1930 Japan again attacked China. China allowed the US to intercede with the war trying to force Japan to back out of China giving back what had been conquered. Many Japanese leaders felt this would incite the public and a revolt would happen. By then only the US really seemed to care what was going on in China, as Europe had to deal with Hitler and his demands (followed by war) by this time.





As a result of the Japanese government not backing down the US put more political pressure on Japan, including the embargo of the oil.





This is a very brief and quick summation that really requires a book or two as it鈥檚 a complex subject. One thing at the end really didn't cause the war.
the cause of Pearl Harbor was the stupid of the military at the time place most of our Naval Fleet in a small bay with only 1 exit! They had plenty of warning but chose not heed it.
in basics yeah, the US placed embargos on Japan, including restrictions on oil. But Japan also had colonial and militarist interests as they wante to be the dominant military power in the Pacific.





And for the person in your Maths class, WWII was over sixty years ago. Japan is now an American ally, and also had troops in Iraq, and the world is not the same place it was in the 1940s. I'm from Britain, and I would never have a problem with a German/Japanese etc. living in the UK, even though the Germans bombed British cities killing 50,000 civilians. The person in your Maths class is childish and racist.
I think history is not that simple thing.





We have to remember it was a time Great Powers was struggling for hegemony since the end of 19th century.


http://www.book-of-thoth.com/thebook/ind鈥?/a>





1. Even before WW2, European great powers were in China continent.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concession_鈥?/a>


2. Japan was expanding its territories, it was a ';stimy'; and disgusting for the imperialism of western countries in Asia. The US was supporting Chiang Kaishek's anti-Japan movement in China.


3. Lytton Report was issued in 1931. And Japan didn't want to give up Manchukuo (the puppet state of Japan in Manchuria, north-east of China).


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lytton_Repo鈥?/a>


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchukuo


4. Japan withdrew from the United Nations in 1933. After this Germay, Italy and Japan moved closer each other.


5. The relation between UK, US and Japan were aggravated after the Tripartite Pact (Japan, Germany and Italy) in 1940.


6. Japan sent military to Indochina in 1941. As a result, the US did asset freeze of Japanese/Japanese American in the US and imposed oil embargo.


7. Japan was negotiating through Ambassador to US, Kichisaburo Nomura, and diplomat Saburo Kurusu. However, Secretary of State Cordell Hull drop the proposal from Japan.


8. On Nov 26 1941, Cordell Hull presented the Japanese ambassador with the ';'Hull note';.


http://www007.upp.so-net.ne.jp/togo/dic/鈥?/a>


9. Japan took this note as an ultimatum. Local Papers reported so, too.


Japan thought the teritories which won before the Russo-Japanese War were legal and justified, as other western nations did. And thought embargo was unfair. But Hull note didn't admit it.
the reasons were:





-they both want to dominate the Pacific


-Japan was on the side of the Germans


-the people in Pearl Harbor were sleeping, vulnerable, and stupid


and because the Pearl Harbor is the nearest base in the Pacific, specially Philippines, which Japan and US are fighting over with.





I don't know about the oil thing, and if the US have done that, cmon, it's war, anything can happen.
First, don't waste your time arguing with idiots. You can prove them wrong a thousand times, but they'll never admit they're wrong.





Yes, you are right. Japan and the US would have gone to war eventually, because they both wanted to dominate the Pacific. But Roosevelt wanted to get into the war, and could not do it any other way but through an attack on the US. So, he cut off oil supplies to Japan, even though he knew it would lead to war.





But, the public reason Roosevelt gave for cutting off oil was the ';rape of nanking'; and the atrocities Japan committed in China.
The oil embargo against Japan was definitely a factor in the decision of the Japanese Empire to attack the U.S. fleet. The Japanese government wanted to neutralize the U.S. and British fleets so they would have a free hand in the oil-rich ';East Indies.';
Yes you are correct we did cut oil supplies to japan but on the other hand we sold them cheap steel and they used it to make planes to bomb Pearl Harbor which lead the United States into WWII but that is history so lets move on.
No, because they were NAZIS, just like the Germans