Japanese Reasons for making war

Can someone please advise the main reasons Japan entered into war with the US and allies.

Depends on who you ask: the Japanese or the Western nations.

In a nutshell: the West had objected for years over Japan's activities in China. Japan was jealous of Western colonization of the Pacific. Over 1940 and 1941, the United States applied increasing economic pressure on Japan, in hopes of forcing Japan to back down over the China situation. Eventually, it got to the point where Japan

John Costello's _Pacific War_ (easily available in libraries or bookstores) does a decent job of outlining what led up to war.

But, in short, it centered around Japan's expansionism in China. The West, especially the United States, which had pushed for an 'open door' trade policy in China (meaning no one had a monopoly) was outraged at Japan's attempts to conquer and exploit China. Japan, in turn, was an emerging nation that was outraged at the West trying to keep them from doing what the West itself had done for socres of years already

For the Japanese explanation, read 'Political Strategy Prior to the Outbreak of War':
http://metalab.unc.edu/pha/monos/

Larry J 'Dedicated to combatting 'history by sound bite'.'