War Demands on the Japanese Economy

[Cannae]

Hello to all,

A major vocal point to the Japanese war effort was its demand of fuels, rubber, steel, and other raw materials. The majority of it was imported from the United States and the Dutch East. My question is: what was the most appropriate embargo the United States could've employed on Japan, given their raw material demands and minimal production? Statistics could help here.

Cannae

[LWD]

Appropirate for what purpose and when? I'm not sure but Indo China may have been almost if not as important to the Japanese as the Dutch East Indies prior to 1941.

[Cannae]

Appropirate for what purpose and when? I'm not sure but Indo China may have been almost if not as important to the Japanese as the Dutch East Indies prior to 1941.

1937 to 1940. A blockade that would keep peaceful relations with Japan but also limit their expansions in the Far East.

[MAJ T]

Cannae:

Do you really think that a "blockade" would have kept peaceful relations with Japan? An imbargo alone led to war.

Tom

[Cannae]

Cannae:

Do you really think that a "blockade" would have kept peaceful relations with Japan? An imbargo alone led to war.

Tom

Not an all-out blockade, but a limited one involving quotas, tariffs on certain goods, banning of oil products at a certain octane level, etc.

[Carl Schwamberger]

I'd recommend finding a copy of 'Japans Decision for War' by Butow, it has a couple chapters describing the earlier pre1941 efforts by the US and Britain and how the Japanese failed to react as hoped.

It appears to me the seminal event was the Japanese occupation of Indo China. Instead of halting its attacks in China and starting productive negotiations Japan instead started occupying French naval and airbases and then made the French army in Indo China prisoners. That is the Japanese reaction to pressure was to invade more territory.

[LWD]

Cannae:

Do you really think that a "blockade" would have kept peaceful relations with Japan? An imbargo alone led to war.

Tom

Not an all-out blockade, but a limited one involving quotas, tariffs on certain goods, banning of oil products at a certain octane level, etc.

That's no a blockade. "Blockade" has a rather well defined meaning in international law and is considered an act of war.

[cstunts]

See the link & bibliography below. Read it & you can find appropriate works. But beware a reliance on "statistics" in this question especially.
There was much more going on in Japan at the time than rational calculations based upon numbers...

The proposition that action via economic restrictions or through diplomatic channels could really dissuade the Japanese in the 1921-1941 period is at bottom a fallacy.

http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpresseboo ... nd=ucpress
http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft4489n8wm/