OK, my captain (I work on a tugboat) and I had a discussion  today and we were talking about some of the reasons why the Axis Powers particularly the Japs did not even plan an invasion of the US was because of the high percentage of firearm ownership in the US...can someone find me a very reputiable website that would have this information. Thanks for your time! I sure do appreciate it.

Where did you find this?

Quoted: Quoted: OK, my captain (I work on a tugboat) and I had a discussion  today and we were talking about some of the reasons why the Axis Powers particularly the Japs did not even plan an invasion of the US was because of the high percentage of firearm ownership in the US...can someone find me a very reputiable website that would have this information. Thanks for your time! I sure do appreciate it. Why the Japanese didn't invade "Fifteen years had passed since VJ day, most of those at the meeting were WWII veterans, and men who had fought each other to the death at sea were now comrades in battle who could confide in one another. Someone at the table asked a Japanese admiral why, with the Pacific Fleet devastated at Pearl Harbor and the mainland US forces in what Japan had to know was a pathetic state of unreadiness, Japan had not simply invaded the West Coast.   Commander Menard would never forget the crafty look on the Japanese commander's face as he frankly answered the question. "You are right,"he told the Americans. "We did indeed know much about your preparedness. We knew that probably every second home in your country contained firearms. We knew that your country actually had state championships for private citizens shooting military rifles. We were not fools to set foot in such quicksand."

Personally, I don't buy that story at all especially when it is linked with a pro-gun website.  Commander Menard (NRA counselor) remembers the incident well but not well enough to mention the Japanese Admirals name.

Part of the problem of invading the U.S. is the two large oceans on each side.  Without our Navy totally disabled I am sure the Japanese knew their chances of a successful invasion were slim to nil, and the Germans had no Navy to compare to the U.S. and U.K. forces in the Atlantic.

Plus, Why would the Japanese be drawing up plans to attack America when their primary interests lay elsewhere, namely Australia, Dutch West Indies, and southeast  Asia.  If they had achieved those goals then it would have been interesting to see what further plans they made.

As far as the Germans, Hitler had bigger problems to deal with but he did not leave his ambitions unknown.  On his desk he had a globe of the world with the words over Russia that he is "here" and printed over the the U.S. were the words "You're next".  

No luck man, I typed that up and some modifications...and really got nothing.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

Why didn't the Japanese invade the United States?  Of course, they did invade Alaska, then a territory.  With what would they have invaded the continental US?  How would they have supplied an army in the United States, as well as their armies in China, not to mention the forces invading the Phillipines, Singapore, and Indonesia?  I believe it was an impossible logistics problem.

The better question is why didn't the Japanese invade Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941?

Back to the original question.  Here is a quote attributed to Admiral Yamamoto:

"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass."

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Quoted: The better question is why didn't the Japanese invade Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941?

I think the size of an invading force would have seriously compromised the element of suprise and potentially jeopardized the whole plan.  Plus, the Japanese were still unsure of the location of the U.S. carrier fleet.  Would have been a disaster if all the Japanese aircraft were on their way to Pearl Harbor and the U.S. carriers came upon the invading Japanese ships.

Back to the original question.  Here is a quote attributed to Admiral Yamamoto: "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass."

That quote is questionable though a very good one.  Much the same as the "waking of the giant bear" quote it cannot be verified.  The only one we are sure he stated is the " winning the war the first 6-12 months against the U.S./U.K. and then watch out"(paraphrased).

Remember that Eastern war fighting isn't the same as Western.  You want to become the dominate power in the Pacific.  The USA is the only other rival in the ocean.  You know you cannot win a protracted war.  You know that the USA would probably be fighting soon in Europe (even the US strategey was "Germany first").  A fast, quick strike, disabling it's naval power would force a peace with the USA.  Remember, Eastern...war and politics occur at the same time.  Just like Korea and peace talks, or Vietnam and peace talks.  They happen at the same time.  Not one excluding the other. It's not a "We'll go in and take over, then shift to peacetime" like we do.  

They expected the US to see that there was no way to effectively fight for dominance in the Pacific without a fleet, so the US would sue for peace and proceed about it's merry way with Europe.  By the time the US got around to Japan, the Japanese would have the Pacific rim pretty much sewed up and the Asian masses would be flocking to the Japanese to throw off the yoke of white imperialism.  

There simply was never any reason, nor plan to invade the USA.  They just miscalculated what was going to happen.  They didn't get the carriers, they didn't get the oil tank farm on Ford Island.  They didn't plan on how pissed off the Americans would get.  They didn't plan on us reading their mail.  The war was lost for Japan (as it probably was for Germany) in 1942.  All that remained to do was the killing and dying for the next few years until the world lined up for the next conflict.

In the end, the Japanese still achieved the national goal of being the primary power in the Pacific.  They just did it economically, with our backing.  From an Eastern point of view, they actually won WWII because their national aims were achieved (though not as grand a scale).

Ross