Why Didn't Japan Invade Australia? (Japanese Records)

In early 1942, Japan was winning everywhere, and Australia lay just beyond the new edge of its empire. Did Japan plan to invade? In Australia the argument still goes on. The Japanese records give an answer that fits neither side. Japan's Navy General Staff did want to take the north of Australia and the northern part of its east coast, and judged that three divisions would be enough. The Army ran its own numbers: at least ten divisions and about two million tons of shipping, nearly a third of all Japan's merchant ships. At the liaison conference of March 7, 1942, the Army's Vice Chief of Staff called it "utterly impossible." This video follows that argument through the records: Admiral Yamamoto's wish to take Hawaii instead, a Second Carrier Division plan that reached as far as California, with a note in pencil in its margin, the Army's offer to raid Port Darwin alone, the bombing of Darwin on February 19, one sentence that both services read their own way, a staff officer's diary asking whether Japan had reached the end of its strength, and the road through Fiji and Samoa that led instead to Guadalcanal. All times are Tokyo time, as in the Japanese records. CHAPTERS 0:00 Introduction: Ten Divisions 2:12 Faster Than Planned 4:59 Why Australia 7:44 Three or Ten 10:53 Hawaii Instead 14:09 A Note in Pencil 17:22 Only Darwin 20:29 One Sentence, Two Readings 24:26 The Road Through Fiji 27:40 So, Why Not Australia? MAIN SOURCES Senshi Sosho (Japanese official war history), vol. 80: Daihon'ei Kaigunbu, Rengo Kantai (2): Showa 17-nen 6-gatsu made (Imperial General Headquarters, Navy Section, and the Combined Fleet, to June 1942). Boeicho Boei Kenshujo Senshishitsu, 1975. Senshi Sosho, vol. 26: Ranin, Bengaru-wan Homen Kaigun Shinko Sakusen (the raid on Port Darwin). Senshi Sosho, vol. 49: Nanto Homen Kaigun Sakusen (1) (the FS operation and its cancellation; the Sydney Harbour attack). Diaries, work logs and recollections as printed and quoted in those volumes, including those of Matome Ugaki, Yoshitake Miwa, Shinichi Tanaka, Kumao Imoto and Sadatoshi Tomioka. Peter Stanley, Invading Australia: Japan and the Battle for Australia, 1942 (2008), for the debate in Australia. Casualties at Darwin and Sydney: Australian War Memorial. Japanese text shown on screen is quoted from the records named above. English translations are by this channel. Map terrain: Terrain Tiles (Mapzen / Linux Foundation); coastlines: Natural Earth. Photographs: U.S. Navy (80-G and NH series), U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, Australian War Memorial, State Libraries of Queensland and Victoria, City of Sydney Archives, Imperial War Museums, National Railway Museum (Port Adelaide), KITLV (CC BY 4.0), and Japanese photographs taken before 1946. Narration uses a synthetic voice.