Japan 1923-1934

[Globalization41]

9/7/1923, Quake Strikes Japan, +10,000s of Causalities, Buildings Topple in Tokyo; Fires & Tidal Wave Sweep Yokohama

6/7/1924, Events Steadily Shaping Towards War Between Japan & U.S. for Mastery of Pacific; Hawaii & P.I. Undefended

7/17/1925, Japan Protests U.S. Naval Maneuvers; U.S. Admiralty Worried About Japan Seizing Hawaii & Philippines

17/12/1926, Japanese Shipbuilding Program Devoted to Men-of-War for Protection of Imports Required for Industrialization

9/27/1927, Relations Tense Between Dominant Japan & Anti-Japanese China; Japan Gets Material for Production from China

11/1/1928, Three Japanese Armies Stationed in China Block Nationalists from Occupying Manchuria

4/16/1929, Japan Rebuilds After '23 Quake; New Buildings, Electric Trains from Tokyo to Yokohama Every Eight Minutes, Etc.

4/17/1929, Japan Efficiently Industrializing; 152 Large Steamers; Formosa & Korea Developed: Suspicious Persons Suppressed

4/19/1929, Japanese Polite & Diligent; Rising Standard of Living; Navy Defends Positions Secured; Export Trade Brings in Food

8/16/1929, Soviet Troops Storm Two Villages in Manchuria (After Russian Railway Officials Arrested) & Engage Chinese Troops

8/21/1929; Soviets & Chinese Fight Pitched Battles Near Manchurian Border Town, Artillery, MGs, Heavy Casualties

8/23/1929, Fierce Russo-Chinese Fighting Continues; Russians Capture Frontline Trenches; 300 Chinese Killed, Many Wounded

7/29/1930, Empire Outposts Undefended; Australia Must Arm; Japanese Expansionism Bound to Result in War

2/14/1931, League of Nations, Summary of 1930; Economic Depression Overshadows Most Subjects; Disarmament Looked At

4/9/1931; Savages from Bunan Tribe on Formosa Raid Police Station in Musha, Steal Guns & Ammo, & Massacre 300 Japanese

9/21/1931, Japanese Troops Invade S. Manchuria; China Says Pretext Staged; Chinese Order Retreat, but Clashes Fierce

11/10/1931, Japan Wants Railway Zone in Manchuria; Japanese Blame Russian Assistance for Accurate Chinese Artillery Fire

1/30/1932, Japan Out to Rob China; Railroads Sabotaged by Chinese Soldiers; Flood of Propaganda Inundates Opinions

10/7/1932, Military Men Control Japan's Policies; Recent Assassinations of Distinguished Civilians Committed by Militarists

6/2/1933, Japanese Militarists Not Impressed by Altruistic Gestures; Treaties Previously Signed Assumed Japan's Good Faith

11/10/1934, Big League Barnstormers Continue Invasion of Japan; 30,000 Fans at Sendai; Ruth, Gehrig, Miller, Foxx Clout HRs

11/20/1934, Big Leaguers Trounce Nippon All Stars 21-4; Babe Ruth 2 HRs; 30,000 at Yokohama; Gehrig, Foxx, Averill Hit HRs

11/21/1934; Japanese Hurler Eiji Sawamura Handcuffs "Murderers' Row", but Gehrig HR Wins 1-0; Whitehill Tosses Shutout

12/9/1934, Cleveland Catcher & Linguist Moe Berg Part of Baseball Expedition to Far East Led by Babe Ruth, Part 1

12/9/1934, Cleveland Catcher & Linguist Moe Berg Part of Baseball Expedition to Far East Led by Babe Ruth, Part 2

Globalization41.

[Globalization41]

12/18/1934, Menace of Japan Overblown; Japanese Infrastructure Efficient; Australia Develops Gold Mining in Rabaul

1/5/1935, Throwing America & Europe Out of Orient Believed to Be Main Aim of Extreme Militarist Party in Japan

2/22/1935, Japanese Economic Penetration Threatens E. Indies; P.I. Independence Removes Barrier to Japanese Expansionism

3/4/1935, U.S. Will Not Agree to Naval Equality with Japan Because America's Responsibilities Exceed Those of Island Empire

4/18/1935, Japanese Always See Motive or Negative Impulse to Everything China Says or Does; Japan May Annex Manchukuo

5/10/1935, Australia's Trade Balance with Japan Equals +£10,000,000; One-Way U.S. Trade Policy Hinders Balanced Trade

6/19/1935, Japanese Army Objects to Anti-Japanese Terror Organization (with Assassination Branch) in Hopei Province China

7/3/1935; China, Japan, & Russia Covet Mongolia; Japanese Offer Freedom from China; Mongolians Prefer Gentle Russian Rule

8/24/1935, Japan's Occupation of Manchuria Proving Uneconomic; Picture of Manchukuo as El Dorado of Wealth Discounted

9/5/1935, German Public Wants Pacific Colonies Back; Australia Prefers New Guinea Going to Germany Rather than Japan

10/17/1935, Japanese Whaling/Factory Ship Waits Offshore While Its Five Chasers Take on Coal at Hobart Australia

10/31/1935, Japanese Whaling Fleet on Way to Southern Waters; Expedition Will Catch 900 Whales in Antarctic

11/21/1935, Naval Maneuvers in '33 Proved Japanese Access to Raw Materials in Asia Secures Homeland from U.S. & G.B.

12/20/1935, Equal Tonnage with Worldwide U.S. & U.K. Navies Would Facilitate Local Japanese Monroe Doctrine in Pacific

1/23/1936, Japan Happy & Contented—Unemployment Does Not Exist During Time of World Depression & Population Boom

2/27/1936; Extreme Militarists in Japan Assassinate Admiral, Premier, & General, & Seriously Wound Finance Minister

3/12/1936, Russian Rearmament Led to Japanese Army Buildup & Increasing Political Assassinations by Military Extremists

4/15/1936; Japan Believed to Be Fortifying Caroline, Mariana, & Marshall Islands (Annexed from Germany in 1914); Part 1

4/15/1936; Japan Believed to Be Fortifying Caroline, Mariana, & Marshall Islands (Annexed from Germany in 1914); Part 2

4/15/1936, F.D.R. Arrives in Open Limo for Baseball's Season Opener at Washington & Tosses First Pitch After Flag Raising

4/15/1936, Buck Newsom Duels Lefty Gomez 0-0 into 9th of Opener at Washington; Double by Reynolds Defeats Lefty & Yanks

5/15/1936, Japan Filling Vacuum in P.I. as U.S. Leaves; 98 Japanese Ships Called at Davao Port in '34, but Only Four American

6/6/1936, Japanese Editors Subject to Strict Censorship & Assassination; Navy & Police Assist in Screening News

7/7/1936, Japanese Increasing Number of Garrisons in Hopei China; S.W. Chinese Call for Resistance; Showdown Near

8/16/1936, Japanese Make Widespread Military Preparations in Manchuria; Japan Fears Soviets May Want to Bolshevize China

Globalization41.

[Globalization41]

9/23/1936, Japanese Cargo Liner Tokyo Maru Arrives at S. Brisbane … Map, Brisbane, Google … Tokyo Maru, Combined Fleet

9/23/1936, Boston Bees Sweep Brooklyn Dodgers with Late Rallies 4-3 & 3-2; Lee & Warstler Send Bees' Fans Home Happy

Globalization41.

[Globalization41]

10/10/1936, Japan's Navy Must Expand Cruising Radius as Far as New Guinea to Aid Economic Advance Southward

Globalization41.

[OpanaPointer]

10/10/1936, Japan's Navy Must Expand Cruising Radius as Far as New Guinea to Aid Economic Advance Southward

Globalization41.

One of the reasons Kimmel and Short felt comfy at Hawaii was that we were unaware that the IJN had developed means of refueling at sea. The smaller Japanese warships had limited range because of the Enemy Will Do What We Expect Them To Do. The Great All-Out Battle* against the USN was meant to be fought close to Japan, so units could dash into port and refuel if needed.

*The scenario where the USN battered its way across the Pacific on an ever-lengthening supply line and suffering heavy losses along the way just so they could present themselves to a relatively fresh Japanese Navy operating close to its bases. Requires USN to be very stupid.

[Globalization41]

Additionally, Japan was going at max effort to improve its navy while the U.S. was not (until 1942). Meanwhile, Japan's political system was a petri dish for nationalist hotheads. … Stalin aided the Chinese Nationalists against Japan because the Nationalists offered more hope than the Communists for tying down the Japanese Army in Asia, thus diverting Japan from engaging the Soviet Union. Red Army steamroller tactics were supplementally applied against aggressive and overextended Japanese Army units in Asia just before the Soviets occupied eastern Poland with the hope of blocking Hitler. … Japan's resources were split between the Army in Asia and the Navy wanting to expand southward in the Pacific. Peaceful fortification of strategic islands allowed Japan to expand its radius. Large Japanese convoys were openly moving south without regard to radio silence in early December 1941 (apparently to facilitate setting up a much-publicized Pacific empire—with more naval refueling points). Everyone was watching.

Globalization41.

[OpanaPointer]

We started the South Dakota class battleships in 1939. RE carriers: https://bluejacket.com/ww2_12-07-41_carriers.html

[Globalization41]

Nice link Opana. Are small carriers better than large carriers? ... Photo, U.S. Task Force 58 on Break, 12/8/1944

11/28/1936, Official Pamphlet Calls for Reorganization of Japan Along Totalitarianism in Case of War with Russia

Globalization41.

[OpanaPointer]

They have different functions. The escort, or "Jeep" carriers were used heavily in ASW work, but they also trucked replacement aircraft to the bigger carriers. The "light" carriers, CVLs, could go both ways or cover a small landing or the like. The CVLs were proposed for the main role before we understood just how many aircraft would be needed in the Pacific war. The same number of certain naval specialists could handle a large carrier's complement (plus the air crews and support staff) as well as a smaller carrier, and the large ones carried more "punch".

[OpanaPointer]

9/7/1923, Quake Strikes Japan, +10,000s of Causalities, Buildings Topple in Tokyo; Fires & Tidal Wave Sweep YokohamaGlobalization41.

The first non-Japanese help to arrive at the Tokyo/Kanto Plain region was the USN.

[Globalization41]

9/3/1923, Coolidge Orders U.S. Navy Asiatic Fleet to Rush Vessels to Yokohama for Relief of Earthquake Sufferers

12/18/1923, Sound Financial Strength of Japanese Empire Allows it to Withstand Economic Shock of Earthquake

6/23/1944, Most of 22 Big U.S. Carriers Commissioned After Pearl Harbor Now Operating in Pacific Task Force 58

Globalization41.

[Globalization41]

12/5/1936, Sabres Rattle After Japanese-German Pact; Hitler Lives for Day When Germany Marches Against Russia

12/15/1936, Fighting Between Rival Chinese Armies Breaks Out Near Sianfu, Part 1 … Part 2 … … Map, Sianfu, Google

12/17/1936, Australia Cannot Be Indifferent to Japan's Thorough & Persistent Buildup of Its Eastern & Pacific Empire

12/18/1936, Bitter Fighting Near Sianfu; Hopes for Release of Chiang Kai-shek by Rebels Brighten, Part 1 … Part 2

12/18/1936, (Dec. 2) Rumors Persist of Japanese-German Pact; Germany Seems to Be Preparing for War with Russia

12/26/1936, Japan's Southern-Front Plan for Raw Materials Would Mean Launching Attacks on Many Pacific Islands

12/27/1936, Japan Plans Relief for 8,000,000 Seasonally Jobless Laborers; Unemployed to Be Used for Public Works

12/31/1936, Year in Review; New Soviet Democratic Constitution Eclipsed by Moscow Purges (16 Old Bolsheviks Shot)

Globalization41.

[Globalization41]

1/23/1937, Japan's Powerful Industrialists Afraid Military Parties Will Conscript Business Wealth for Armaments

Globalization41.

[OpanaPointer]

That last one is portentous.

[Globalization41]

1/27/1937, Strong Possibility of War with China Exists if Japan's Army Extremists Succeed in Establishing Fascism

2/24/1937, Japan: Splendid Buildings, 70m People, Great Factories; Rail Travel Efficient, Comfortable, & Clean

Globalization41.