Yamamoto, the man who planned Pearl Harbor increased my knowledge about thepeople of Japan because it introduced me to their culture, and the life andtimes in Japan before World War II.
In Japan, the family is the basic unit ofsociety. For example, if a Japanese has the unfortunate occurrence of producingonly daughters, they will insist that one of their daughters husbands changeshis last name to keep their daughter’s last name alive. It was, also, notunusual for people to change their last names. Isoroku Tankano was born in 1884.
In 1916, he changed his last name to Yamamoto, because the name Yamamoto was anhonorable and ancient one in the history of Japan. One such figure was TatekawaYamamoto, who fought against the Emperor, and his forces at the Battle ofWatkamatsu, during the Bosshin War. Since he was one of the leaders of therebellion, when he was captured, he was beheaded at Watkamatsu. Since Tatekawahad no sons, Isoroku was also the future of the Yamamoto clan. Not uncommon inJapan was the fact that men got married for the purpose of producing sons tokeep the family name alive. This is exactly what Isoroku did.
In 1918, he gotmarried to Reiko, who, ironically, was from Watkamatsu. They had 4 childrentogether, 2 sons, and 2 daughters. It was the standard Japanese family, themother in charge of the household and of raising the children. He never reallyloved her, because he had many extramarital affairs, and 2 of the women he”loved”. The life and times in Japan right before World War 2 aresimply explained: The Imperialist Japanese Army, otherwise known as the”young Turks” was steadily gaining power in the government, wasassassinating anyone who did not share in their views for a united Asia(Yamamoto received many death threats, because he wanted to avoid war with theU.
S. A. or with Great Britain at all costs), and was using propaganda to convincethe Japanese to believe in a united Asia. The Emperor could not stop what wasgoing on in his country because Emperors stayed out of the daily life of hispeople.
When I say that the government is to unstable, I mean that it is toosusceptible to being taken over by an army. For example, in the 1930’s, theImperialist Japanese Army was using their influence over the Minister of War totake over Manchuria, and eventually the Japanese government, and they were usingassassination as the chief method of wiping out any political opposition. Also,if I moved in Japan, the culture shock would be enormous, starting with thesimple language barrier, and the difference in religion. Isoroku Yamamoto wascorrect in his thinking that war between the U. S.
A. , Great Britain, and Japanshould be avoided at all costs, and in the event of war between the U. S. A. ,Great Britain, and Japan, Japan would lead in the beginning, like the first 6 to12 months, but would eventually lose the war.
One quality I admire aboutYamamoto is that he was able to do a task that he was totally against. Forexample, even though he was against going to war against the U. S. A.
and GreatBritain, when the Imperialist Japanese Navy appointed him Commander of theCombined Fleet, he immediately went to work on a battle plan (Which we all knowresulted on the attack on Pearl Harbor). Another quality of Yamamoto’s that Iadmire is that he led his life to the fullest. He was an avid gambler, both atthe table, and at a time of war. One such gamble he took was on April 18, 1943when he flew in a battle and was shot down. The truth is that the Americansdecoded Japans naval code, found out the details of Yamamoto’s flight, and F. D.
R. himself ordered American pilots to ambush Yamamoto and the Japanese. Japan didnot know that the U. S.
A. decoded their signal. Yamamoto also had certain ideals,or standards of excellence. For example, he believed that the students at theKasumigaura Aviation Corps were not being trained harsh enough, so he made thetraining there a lot tougher, he made all the students there shave their longhair, but he finished the security rounds for the students, showing he had aheart. Isoroku Yamamoto did not have to overcome many hardships on his climb tothe top of the success ladder except for being poor. Another particular negativeincident, which occured in 1928, when he was overseeing a training exercise inthe Sea of Japan, was when all of a sudden, overcast clouds appeared and thepilots could not see the ship at all, and then, over the radio, one of thepilots kept on describing how he had 30 minutes of fuel left in his tank, 25minutes of fuel left, 20 minutes, 15 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, and then,there was no more contact with any of the planes, they all crashed into thewater, and Yamamoto did not sleep, eat, or drink until all the bodies wererecovered.
Isoroku Takano was born in 1884, in a medium sized city calledNagaoka. In 1901, Isoroku won an appointment to the Imperial Naval Academy, onthe little Island of Eta Jima, off the coast of Hiroshima. He won an appointmentthere because on a competitive entrance examination, he scored second out of thetop students in the entire nation. His appointment signaled changing times inJapan, because, even though that all the enemies had not completely passed on,it signaled that the new government was making strides to unify the new Japan. At the Academy, Isoroku’s speciality was gunnery, which meant that he wouldbecome a deck specialist In 1904, upon his graduation at the Japanese NavalAcademy, Isoroku joined the Imperial Japanese Navy aboard the cruiser Nisshin asa deck officer, and as a gunnery specialist.
The Nisshin was one of the cruisersused in the Russo – Japanese war. In August,1905, Isoroku was sent to thegunnery school at Yokosuka Naval Base. In September of that year, he waspromoted to sublieutenant. In October, 1905, He received a letter ofcommendation for the brave action taken in the Battle of Tsushima Strait, whichmeant that his career was on the rise. He remained at Yokosuka until 1907, whenhe was transferred to the ship Kagero, and his naval career resumed slowly, asit should during a time of peace. In 1908, the sublieutenant served aboard theMaezuru, in Manchurian waters.
In 1911, Isoroku was promoted to Lieutenant,moving slowly up the chain of experience and promotion in a peacetime navy. Isoroku’s father died on February 21, 1912, and around this time, his motherfell gravely ill. He received military leave, to tend to his dying mother. Hewanted to quit the navy, but his mother would not let him. In August, 1912,Isoroku’s mother died.
In 1913, Isoroku’s career moved into high gear. Hereceived an appointment to the Naval Staff College at Tsukiji. In 1915, Isorokuwas promoted to lieutenant commander. Graduation from this college was requiredif you wanted to hold a staff position in the Japanese navy and in 1916, hegraduated from the Naval Staff College.
Also in 1916, there were some personalchanges in Isoroku’s life. First and Foremost, as mentioned previously, Isorokudropped his last name Takano and changed it to Yamamoto. Also, Yamamoto realizedthe time was correct to get married, and on August 31, 1918, Yamamoto and Reikowere married at the Navy Club in Shiba, Tokyo. On April 4, 1919, Yamamoto traveledto America aboard the Suwa Maru. Of course, he traveled in first class. He wentto Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was enrolled in a special course forforeigners at Harvard University titled English E.
He also studied Petroleumresources, since it is of great importance to Japan. In December, 1919, Yamamotowas promoted to commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy. While in America, hewas interested mostly in aviation. He read in newspapers, and on the radio thatGeneral Billy Mitchell of the U. S.
A. Army trying to convince Congress thatairplanes could sink a battleship, but nobody believed him. He left America in1922. In 1922, Yamamoto was appointed to teach at the navy staff school.
InAugust, he left the school, and took a job as an executive officer aboard thecruiser Kitakami. Also in 1922, Yamamoto and his wife had a son, Yoshimasa, andone of his obligations as a member of the Yamamoto clan was fulfilled. In 1923,he was promoted to captain of the Imperial Japanese Army, and in June, he wasappointed to the cruiser Fuji. He held this position for a year before heconvinced his bosses to let him teach at the Kasumigaura Aviation Corps.
Late in1924, he all of a sudden became executive officer, and director of studies. He institutedharsh new dress codes, and somewhat changed the curriculum. At first, thestudents complained, but they eventually settled down. In 1925, Yamamoto had adaughter, Sumiko. He was also appointed as a Japanese naval attack. He left forAmerica on January 21 aboard the ship Tennyo Maru.
His job was to observe allactivities of the U. S. A. Navy, particularly to the adherence to the Naval Treatyof 1922. In the spring of 1928, it was time for Yamamoto to go home. In the sameyear, Yamamoto was appointed to command the cruiser Akagi.
In the end of 1929,he was appointed to the Naval Affairs Bureau of the Navy Ministry. Also in 1929,Yamamoto had a second daughter, Masako. He was also appointed to the delegationthat would be sent to the London Naval Conference in 1930. One part of theJapanese group sent to the London Naval Conference in 1930, the fleet faction,wanted equal treatment compared with the U. S.
A. , and Great Britain. Another partof the Japanese delegation, the treaty faction would be quite happy with 70% ofthe Navy that the U. S. A.
, or Great Britain had. The old portion was 66%, andafter the conference, it remained at that figure. While at the conference,Yamamoto was promoted to Admiral. His new job would be to develop new naval,air, and aircraft weapons. On October 3,1933, he was appointed to command theFirst Air Division of the Navy.
In 1936 Yamamoto was named head of theaeronautics department of the navy. This job lasted only a short time, becausehe reluctantly accepted an appointment as vice minister of the navy, in the sameyear. Soon after his appointment, it was rumored that he was a primary targetfor an assassination. He held this position until August 30, 1939, when he wasappointed Commander of the Combined Fleet. Soon after his appointment, he beganplanning his attack on Pearl Harbor.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Navy, ledby Isoroku Yamamoto, attacked Pearl Harbor, and Japan took an early lead in thewar. The turning point of the war was the Battle of the Midway, when the U. S. A. cracked Japan’s code. On April18, 1943, Yamamoto’s plane was ambushed by American forces, and Yamamoto’s planewas shot down, killing him instantly.
The decision to ambush Yamamoto’s planewas made by F. D. R. Yamamoto was a very loyal man, a patriot, if you will. He did hisjob even when he disagreed with it, he flew a plane even though it was notnecessary, and he cared about everyone he knew.
From the American point of view,he was an evil man who killed many, put to the Japanese, he was a patriot, and ahero.
