This quote is often attributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto although there is no oral or written record of this. There is this exert from an letter from Admiral Yamamoto to Ogata Taketora a Japanese journalist on Jan 6, 1942
"A military man can scarcely pride himself on having 'smitten a sleeping enemy'; it is more a matter of shame, simply, for the one smitten. I would rather you made your appraisal after seeing what the enemy does, since it is certain that, angered and outraged, he will soon launch a determined counterattack."
Admiral Yamamoto is credited for being the architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor as early as the day after the attack while his staff was jovial and celebrating he was alone and depressed. Yamamoto was educated in the United States and part of his education was tour the country and observe the industrial capabilities of the U.S. at the time and the U.S. could easily outproduce Japanese factories.
Another quote attributed to Yamamoto is "I can run wild for six months … after that, I have no expectation of success". This can be attributed as prophetic because 6 months to the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor at the Battle of Midway American forces were able to destroy 4 Japanese Imperial Navy(IJN) carriers and the initiative of the war in the Pacific for Japan was lost.
Admiral Yamaoto did not want an protracted war with the United States he knew an protracted war would lead the demise of Imperial Japan, his hope was after Pearl Harbor and in the short term after Pearl Harbor the IJN would significantly destroy American assets and thus destroy American resolve for war. It also seems his personal thoughts was that the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor was dishonorable due to the U.S. and Japan did not officially declare war and Americans would unite and be determined to destroy Japan for such cowardly actions.
"A military man can scarcely pride himself on having 'smitten a sleeping enemy'; it is more a matter of shame, simply, for the one smitten. I would rather you made your appraisal after seeing what the enemy does, since it is certain that, angered and outraged, he will soon launch a determined counterattack."
Admiral Yamamoto is credited for being the architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor as early as the day after the attack while his staff was jovial and celebrating he was alone and depressed. Yamamoto was educated in the United States and part of his education was tour the country and observe the industrial capabilities of the U.S. at the time and the U.S. could easily outproduce Japanese factories.
Another quote attributed to Yamamoto is "I can run wild for six months … after that, I have no expectation of success". This can be attributed as prophetic because 6 months to the day of the attack on Pearl Harbor at the Battle of Midway American forces were able to destroy 4 Japanese Imperial Navy(IJN) carriers and the initiative of the war in the Pacific for Japan was lost.
Admiral Yamaoto did not want an protracted war with the United States he knew an protracted war would lead the demise of Imperial Japan, his hope was after Pearl Harbor and in the short term after Pearl Harbor the IJN would significantly destroy American assets and thus destroy American resolve for war. It also seems his personal thoughts was that the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor was dishonorable due to the U.S. and Japan did not officially declare war and Americans would unite and be determined to destroy Japan for such cowardly actions.
