I&#x27;m going to be a little imprecise here, but hopefully accurate:<p>1853: Commodore Perry shows up on the shores of Japan with shiny ships and cannons and says &quot;You&#x27;re gonna trade with the world.&quot; It worked, but Japan didn&#x27;t like it. Japan spent its time buying ships from Great Britain and sending its young people to school in the United States to learn what it could about empire building.<p>Late 1800s: The United States, wanting to be seen as a world power, attacks and defeats the world&#x27;s weakest &quot;World Power&quot; Spain, both in Cuba and in the Phillipines. Japan had been helping the Phillipines achieve independence and the United States basically stole the Phillipines out from under them.<p>Early 1900s: Japan fights and wins against Russia in the Pacific. They basically destroyed Russia at Port Arthur (using the same tactics as were used at Pearl Harbor). To retaliate the Russians had to send their Atlantic fleet the long way around the world. By then Japan had rebuilt from the battle at Port Arthur and defeated the Russians again. The lesson: Defeating a world power only requires you to be powerful within your sphere of influence.<p>Shortly before Pearl Harbor: U.S. cuts off oil supply to Japan. Japan needs the oil in the Phillipines and also wants to take the Phillipines back which they felt were stolen from them. Pearl Harbor was their attempt to recreate the Battle of Port Arthur and wipe out American presence in the Pacific, leaving Japan the most powerful entity in that sphere of influence.<p>The long view of Japan and the United States is that we kind of grew up together, but we were the bullying older brother. They grew up to emulate us and when they got big enough... they punched back.