We did let Japan just bomb us. The U.S. government knew Japan was going to attack us, and knew it was at Pearl Harbor. They let it happen to give us casus beli to enter the war, against the wishes of the American public that overwhelmingly had zero interest in participating in another world war. This was the reason why most of our naval forces were outside of Pearl at the time of the attack.
Japan wasn't looking for a fight. The US imposed sanctions on Japan because of its aggression against China. There were negotiations on what Japan should do, but the US had rather far-reaching demands which Japan would not or could not agree to, which is what led to the war.
Of course, these are just the surface reasons. The real reasons are the same as why the US thwarted Germany's attempt at European hegemony in 1917 and 1941, and did the same for the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The US does not want any country to be a regional hegemon that could then potentially cause trouble for the US, militarily, economically, etc.
Would they just let Japan bomb them? Lol
We did let Japan just bomb us. The U.S. government knew Japan was going to attack us, and knew it was at Pearl Harbor. They let it happen to give us casus beli to enter the war, against the wishes of the American public that overwhelmingly had zero interest in participating in another world war. This was the reason why most of our naval forces were outside of Pearl at the time of the attack.
Just like October 7th
Japan wasn't looking for a fight. The US imposed sanctions on Japan because of its aggression against China. There were negotiations on what Japan should do, but the US had rather far-reaching demands which Japan would not or could not agree to, which is what led to the war.
Of course, these are just the surface reasons. The real reasons are the same as why the US thwarted Germany's attempt at European hegemony in 1917 and 1941, and did the same for the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The US does not want any country to be a regional hegemon that could then potentially cause trouble for the US, militarily, economically, etc.
They wouldn't have been meddling in the war while claiming to be neutral, so Japan wouldn't have a reason to attack.