December, 1941 A.D.
A photo of the attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on the american fleet at pearl harbor was not as successful as planned. While a majority of the American fleet became heavily disorganized because of the attacks, none of the American ships were sunk or damaged to a heavy degree. Even worse, the American carrier task force escaped during the numerous air raids unscathed. They were last seen leaving port heading in the direction of Nagumo's Strike Force. Nagumo was ordered to retreat to Kwajelein, along with Commander Ino's submarine fleet.
Nagumo and Ito both retreat. Attacking the American CTF without more firepower would be a terrible mistake.
After the not-so-successful suprise attack at Pearl Harbor the Imperial Japanese Navy issued almost every ship return to the home island where the fleets would be reorganized to better reflect ambitions of the Imperial Navy. But more on this in a further update.
After the attack, the Japanese Government decided that if the United States was to be toppled, several changes of the Japanese political structure must occur:
Hirohito demanded that the ministers of his Empire make the necessary changes that best prepared Japan for war.
Furthermore the Japanese strategy for winning the war required that Japan use the most up-to-date military tactics, since they would never be able to out produce the USA. The Japanese decided to devote some of their best and brightest minds to research:
many of the technologies researched were land doctrines. a naval doctrine was also researched, as were two industrial technologies. Research into education was also started.
The Japanese leadership did not neglect the importance of espionage. Spies were ordered to be placed in the United States and the United Kingdom, their mission: to increase the threat of the said nations, making neutral countries less likely to join the Allied cause against Japan.
Foreign Minister Shigenori and Intelligence Minister Yuitsu laughed at the prospect of the entire world joining the Allies...
When war has started, the time for diplomacy has passed. The Japanese government initially had decreed that only a miniscule amount of its leadership go to diplomacy, but Foreign Minister Shigenori insisted that diplomacy could be used to better the situation in South-East Asia, his idea was to influence Siam:
Siam would be a valuable ally against the UK in Burma and India.
Thats the report. Next update will discuss the military situation in china, along with the actions of the IJN in the pacific.