# Tin, Japan and World War II **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 18, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-japan-and-world-war-ii/353219 "2006-04-18T21:35:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hooleehootoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eada6e/32.png) [@Hooleehootoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hooleehootoo)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-japan-and-world-war-ii/353219/1 "2006-04-18T21:35:43Z")
It is common in several books I have read about WWII to list the resources that Japan wanted from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. A common list is rubber, oil and tin. Rubber and petroleum I can understand, but what’s with tin? What were the important uses of tin in 1940? Ships are built of Iron and airplanes are made of aluminum. Did the Japanese have adequate supplies of these metals? I thought the answer to that was no. A boycott of scrap metal sales to Japan was a step on the path to war with the US. Elsewhere in WWII books, the importance of chromium sales from Turkey to Germany and tungsten from Spain to Germany are mentioned. Did Japan have these, or not use them as much as tin? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-japan-and-world-war-ii/353219/2 "2006-04-18T21:45:01Z")
Tin is fantastically useful as an allow. [Tin and Tin Alloys](http://www.key-to-metals.com/Article26.htm) > [@](#): > > Abstract: > Tin was one of the first metals known to man. Throughout ancient history, various cultures recognized the virtues of tin in coatings, alloys and compounds, and use of the metal increased with advancing technology. Today, tin is an important metal in industry even though the annual tonnage used is much smaller than those of many other metals. One reason for the small tonnage is that, in most applications, only very small amounts of tin are used at a time. ---
**Author:** ![Hooleehootoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eada6e/32.png) [@Hooleehootoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hooleehootoo)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-japan-and-world-war-ii/353219/3 "2006-04-18T23:34:28Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > Tin is fantastically useful as an alloy. > > [Tin and Tin Alloys](http://www.key-to-metals.com/Article26.htm) I am aware of some of the uses of tin. Making tin cans seems like a weak excuse for a war. Electronic solder I can see… but in 1960’s Japan, not 1940. I know it is used for plumbing solder too, but compared against the mass of metal that goes into building a _Yamato_ (65,027 tons), it doesn’t seem that hard to come by. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-japan-and-world-war-ii/353219/4 "2006-04-18T23:44:37Z")
It’s not just Tin Cans… little sprockets and gears for trucks, cars, trains, machinery, rims for spectacles, solder, fan blades… Tin is just useful, full stop. In fact, you know that _Simpsons_ episode with the Educational Film on Zinc? (“Come back Zinc! Come baaaaaack!”) Tin is like that. Surprisingly important, but with a rather low profile in day to day life… ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-japan-and-world-war-ii/353219/5 "2006-04-19T01:32:17Z")
Tin is, or at least was in 194x, an important alloying element in bearing metal. War machines use lots and lots of bearings. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-japan-and-world-war-ii/353219/6 "2006-04-19T01:52:15Z")
> [@Hooleehootoo](#): > > I am aware of some of the uses of tin. Making tin cans seems like a weak excuse for a war. Besides, the “tin can” (even back to its invention in 1810) was always _tin plate_, typically over steel sheet. > [@](#): > > Electronic solder I can see… but in 1960’s Japan, not 1940. Before printed circuit boards, you couldn’t _build_ radio gear without solder – never mind fix it. Keep in mind Japan has always been poor in mineral resources. Faced with the prospect of fighting a war without radios or ball bearings (or having to rely on supply lines from faraway Germany), the choice was obvious. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-japan-and-world-war-ii/353219/7 "2006-04-19T04:05:42Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > … ball bearings … Not ball bearings. Sleeve bearings like those in the connecting rods and crankshafts of automobile, tank, electric generator prime movers, truck engines, and aircraft engines. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-japan-and-world-war-ii/353219/8 "2006-04-19T04:43:10Z")
It always kinda bugged me that Tin was the weak, stuttering member of comics’ [The Metal Men.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Men) He should’ve been the strongest. ---
**Author:** ![Hooleehootoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eada6e/32.png) [@Hooleehootoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hooleehootoo)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-japan-and-world-war-ii/353219/9 "2006-04-19T18:39:26Z")
> [@Martini Enfield](#): > > In fact, you know that _Simpsons_ episode with the Educational Film on Zinc? I know it and like it. I know I am asking a bit in this tread. Even though this is the SDMB, not everyone has written a doctoral thesis on ‘Metalurgical Economics of 1940’s Japan’. But these answers do miss my point. I know Tin is useful. So are Iron, Aluminum, Chromium, Rubber and Oil. I know Japan is generally resource poor. I would think when authors make a list ‘Japan attacked in Southeast Asia to gain access to X, Y, and Z’, that X, Y, and Z are picked with criteria that take into account the amount used in Japan, amount available in Japan, amount available from Neutrals able to ship to Japan, etc. It surprises me that Tin would be at the top of such a measurement. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-japan-and-world-war-ii/353219/10 "2006-04-19T18:45:18Z")
[ > [@](#): > > …Bronze also has very little metal-on-metal friction…Bronze is still widely used today for springs, bearings, bushings and similar fittings, and is particularly common in the bearings of small electric motors. Phosphor bronze is particularly suited to precision-grade bearings and springs… > …Bronze is typically 60% copper and **40% tin** … ]([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze)) CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-japan-and-world-war-ii/353219/11 "2006-04-19T18:51:16Z")
Maybe tin is on that list not because it’s what they needed the most of, but because Malaysia had tin but not iron, copper, or aluminum. Those other metals, they would have gotten by invading some other country. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tin-japan-and-world-war-ii/353219/12 "2006-04-19T18:52:15Z")
> [@Hooleehootoo](#): > > I know Tin is useful. So are Iron, Aluminum, Chromium, Rubber and Oil. I know Japan is generally resource poor. I would think when authors make a list ‘Japan attacked in Southeast Asia to gain access to X, Y, and Z’, that X, Y, and Z are picked with criteria that take into account the amount used in Japan, amount available in Japan, amount available from Neutrals able to ship to Japan, etc. It surprises me that Tin would be at the top of such a measurement. Are iron, aluminum and chromium found in significant amounts in Malaya or the Dutch West Indies? If not, then there wouldn’t be much reason to list them, or any other natural resources of which Malaya and DWI had little.