Characteristics

1. In April of 1942, the US attacked the Japanese via air bombings in the Tokyo raid. This showed that the Japanese were not invincible and could be hurt, as well.
2. By May of 1942, the Japanese changed their strategy from being defensive to offensively eliminating the US fleet.
3. Japan wanted to defeat the American naval force fast so that they could conquer southeast Asia without interference from the Allies. They also wanted to create a perimeter around Japan to hinder attacks from the Allies. Thus, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
4. After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese defeated many opponents. They captured Guam, and Wake Island. They also conquered Hong Kong, Burma, many part of the Philippines, and Singapore.
5. The battle of Midway was the turning point in the Pacific war. Afterwards, Japan took the defensive.
6. In the Second Sino-Japanese War in the Pacific Theater of WWII, 20 million Chinese, at the least, ended up dead.
7. The Allies started to capture islands for direct air assaults on Japan.
8. The kamikaze (a special air force group that was given suicidal missions) were introduced in the battle of Okinawa.
9. The last attacks were on the 6th and 9th of August 1945. The U.S. used atomic bombs that vaporized the people. It also spread radiation. The estimate of the number of deaths is around 220,000.
10. The Soviet Union declared war on August 8, 1945. This and the devastation from the bombings urged Emperor Hirohito to surrender.