The Empire of Japan entered World War II on 22 September 1940 when it invaded French Indochina, and made its entrance into the war official five days later with the signing of the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy on 27 September 1940, though it wasn't until the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 that the U.S. entered the conflict. Over the course of seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U.S. -held the Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island, the Dutch Empire in the Dutch East Indies, Thailand, and the British Empire in Borneo, Malaya, and Hong Kong. The strategic goals of the offensive were to cripple the U.S. Pacific fleet, capture oil fields in the Dutch East Indies, and maintain their sphere of influence on China, East Asia, and also Korea. It was also to expand the outer reaches of the Japanese Empire to create a formidable defensive perimeter around the newly acquired territory.
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War and Conscience in Japan by 
The End of the War in the Pacific. Surrender Documents in Facsimile by Interrogations of Japanese Officials by 
Japan's decision for war in 1941 : some enduring lessons by 
The Pacific War Papers by 
Hirohito and War : Imperial Tradition and Military Decision Making in Prewar Japan by The Japanese story of the battle of Midway : a translation. by 
A battle history of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945 by
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