Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact
On September 27, 1940 Japan signed the Tripartite Pact, primarily directed against the United States. Foreign Minister Yōsuke Matsuoka, who withdrew Japan from the League of Nations in 1933, engineered the April 13, 1941 Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact. Special envoy Saburō Kurusu and Japanese ambassador to the United States Kichisaburō Nomura attempted to negotiate peace in Washington weeks before the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese were initially successful in the Pacific and Southeast Asia, sinking the Royal Navy's "Prince of Wales" and the "Repulse" three days after Pearl Harbor, invading the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Malaya and Burma and threatening northern Australia and eastern India.