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==The attack==
The scenes in the movie where the Japanese attacked the US fleet moored in Pearl Harbor are very accurate. The Japanese attack involved a number of aircraft carriers escorted by battleships that all maintained radio silence as they sailed through the central Pacific<ref> Clausen, p. 117</ref>. The attack as shown in the movie did not involve any Japanese warships attacking the US fleet. Rather the entire operations were carried out by Japanese Japans fearsome Zero fighter planes and torpedo bombers. They These aircraft took off as shown from Japanese aircraft carriers and made their way to Pearl Harbor once again maintaining strict radio silence. The Americans are shown as being taken completely by surprise and this was the case. This was to prove crucial. The Japanese attacked the American ships with bombs and torpedoes. They had developed very sophisticated torpedoes and they were dropped, at a low altitude by the Japanese Zeros and they sped through the water just below the surface. They detonated when they hit their target. These torpedoes were able to hit many American cruisers and battleships beneath the water line and they sank very quickly even though they were moored in the Harbor. This is also shown very dramatically but also very realistically. The disorganized nature of the American defense is also shown and the lack of air cover for the US fleet is also accurate. However, the planes that were used in the movie were not actually Japanese Zeros. They were adapted RCAF Harvard (T-6 Texan) training and BT-13 Valiant training aircraft and had the distinctive markings of the Japanese air force painted on their wings and tail-wings<ref> Slackman, Michael. Target: Pearl Harbor. Honolulu: U of Hawaii P, 1990, p. 113</ref>. The movie was able to acquire some planes from the time such as B-17s and the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. The US P-40 planes shown in the motion picture are in reality only elaborate fiberglass props. The movie does accurately capture the extensive damage and destruction of the attack. The Japanese attack was almost a complete success. However, they failed to sink the US aircraft carriers, for the simple reason, that they were on maneuvers<ref> Collier, Richard. The Road to Pearl Harbor. 1941. New York: Bonanza Books, 1981, p. 112</ref>. This meant that the Japanese did not achieve all their objectives and this is shown very clearly in the movie. In one scene, the Japanese commander Admiral Yamamoto of the attack is informed that the US aircraft carriers had not been moored in Pearl Harbor. He clearly shows his disappointment and he displays a sense of foreboding. The aircraft carriers such as the Yorktown were to spearhead the US counter-attack against the Japanese in the Pacific.
[[File: PearlHarborCarrierChart.jpg |200px|thumb|left|Chart showing the route taken by the Japanese carrier group, December 1941]]
==The Japanese Declaration of War==
The movie despite its attempts to represent the reality of the attack on Pearl Harbor does not portray accurately the role of the Japanese in the attack. The movie was a joint Japanese-American production and this perhaps led to some distortions. The first one is the idea propagated by the filmmakers was that Pearl Harbor was not a surprise attack and that it was contrary to all international norms and laws. The Japanese in the movie is shown preparing a formal declaration of war that was to be presented to the American Secretary of State in Washington D.C. This suggests that the Japanese did not want to launch a surprise and illegal attack which was against international laws and also cowardly. The movie indicates that because of some delays and technical difficulties that the Japanese failed to submit the declaration of war on time. There was a document submitted by the Japanese to the Americans but it was not an official declaration of war, ‘rather it was an ultimatum’<ref> Collier, p. 14</ref>. The government in Tokyo did not intend to declare war on America as this would have ruined their plans for a surprise attack on the US fleet moored in Pearl Harbor. In fact, research indicated that the Japanese delayed this ultimatum at the last minute in case it alerted the Americans to the possibility of a military strike. On at least two occasions in the movie, Admiral Yamamoto states that the document was a declaration of war and he is shown to be visibly upset when he learns that the document had not been submitted to the American Secretary of State, before the attack. This was because it was contrary to the Japanese military code of honor <ref> Clausen, p. 11</ref>. This is totally inaccurate. The Japanese wanted to show that the attack on Pearl Harbor was not a cowardly attack. This no doubt was something that appealed to the Japanese producers and financial backers of the movie.
