Dec. 7'th

Interesting story.

http://thediplomad.blogspot.com/2013/12 ... ation.html

"Was it 7 or 8? A Little Miscommunication Among Friends.
I served in Guatemala in the 1980s. While there, of course, I attended countless, absolutely countless diplomatic receptions and functions. Most have long slipped from my memory. One, however, I always remember when December 7 rolls around.

Among others in the U.S. Embassy I got invited to an event at the Japanese Embassy in honor of the Emperor. You guessed it, the reception was on December 7. A couple of us joked about it, but, off we went. Japanese receptions were always among the best: superb food and drink; everything artfully and tastefully done; and their diplomats were nice, well informed, and seemed to like Americans. As the party was winding down, I slid over to one of my Japanese contacts and kidded him about the date, "You have guts throwing this event December 7."

He looked at me perplexed and replied, "We decided to hold it today instead of tomorrow, because of American sensitivities about that day."

Now I became perplexed, "What's so sensitive for us about December 8?"

My Japanese friend looked at me as though I were the biggest ignoramus on the planet, "You know, Pearl Harbor attack day."

I couldn't help but laugh at this example of international miscommunication. I told him, "On this side of the international date line, it took place on December 7."

He did not laugh. Mortified, he turned bright red. I thought he would order the entire staff to commit seppuku on the lawn. He was so embarrassed "...

Damn that International dateline. I'd be interested in having a look at the log books of the ships of the Japanese Imperial ships that attacked Pearl Harbor, I'm willing to bet that they logged their actions on the 8th of December. For me it's not so much that the attacks happened on a specific date, it's that they happened, it was devastating, and despite what the US knew, we failed to act on the intelligence we had prior to the attack.