Niitaka Yama, or Mount Niitaka, was the Japanese name for the tallest peak in the Japanese Empire.

It stands on the island of Taiwan, which was ruled by Japan at the time.

The Chinese call it Yushan, Jade Mountain.

On December 2nd, 1941, a powerful radio transmitter in Japan sent this message to Imperial Navy units across the Pacific. Climb Mount Niitaka, 1208.

The number 1208 was a date reference, December 8th.

The meaning of the message was this.

All units proceed according to the plan for December 8th.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century. ...the 20th century. Episode 351.

Climb Mount Niitaka, Part 1.

As long ago as when Germany invaded Poland in 1939,

the Japanese army favored closer ties with the European access powers.

They believed Hitler would conquer Europe, then afterward aid Japan in its endless war in China.

The top commanders in the Navy disagreed.

War between Germany and Britain would not be settled quickly.

The United States would inevitably join the conflict on Britain's side, and if Japan were bound by treaty to Germany, it would find

itself at war with the Americans as well. The Navy vice minister went even further.

He insisted, vocally and publicly, that if Japan got into a war with the United States, Japan would lose.

His name was Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, and we've met him before on the podcast.

He had been educated at Harvard and served as Japanese naval attaché in Washington. He knew America better than most Japanese. He had seen for himself

the automobile assembly lines in Detroit that turned out a new car every few minutes. Japan had nothing

like that. Yamamoto's superiors were afraid he

might be assassinated by some ultra-nationalist junior officer for this unpopular opinion,

...