At an August 1939 five-minister discussion, Mitsumasa Yonai was asked whether the Imperial Japanese Navy could triumph over Britain and the United States. His answer was no: the navy had not been designed to fight both powers together. He also dismissed German and Italian naval help as irrelevant to that balance. The exchange gives his caution a concrete force assessment and sharpens the contrast with Nagano's willingness to fight despite recognizing the danger.
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Yonai's blunt assessment of an Anglo-American war
Yonai's reported answer that Japan could not defeat Britain and the United States anchors his opposition to a wider naval war.