Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands and anti-aircraft guns shot down about 37 Japanese aircraft during these raids. After the Marianas began to come under attack, the United States military stepped up its raids on the Japanese-held islands which could be used to launch raids on the B-29 bases. Particular attention was given to Iwo Jima, as it was correctly assumed that the Japanese aircraft which attacked the Marianas were flying from Japan and staging through the island en route to their targets. Following the first raid against Saipan in November, XXI Bomber Command B-29s were dispatched against Iwo Jima's airfields on November 5 and 8.
Japanese settlement in the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau. The German authorities chased out most of the businessmen in 1900, leaving only a few Japanese in the Micronesian islands. A few Japanese began settling in the islands in 1907 after the German authorities allowed the Japanese traders to establish their enterprises in Pohnpei and Chuuk. Early Japanese settlers consisted of single men, and official statistics showed a gender imbalance with five Japanese males to one female. Many Japanese men took on Micronesian wives and raised mixed Japanese–Micronesian families. Japanese arrivals to Micronesia remained modest until the 1920s, following which the islands experienced a quick increase in the