Japan was very interested in a peace deal - even Tojo, once he became PM - but with a whole lot of conditions that involved Japan keeping a lot of China.

Meanwhile, Japan also was preparing for conflict with the US in case a deal couldn't be worked out and had set an internal 'final diplomacy date.' The US saw the preparations for conflict and it led to a loss of trust in the process, and it also assumed it had more time to work something out.

There were a number of miscommunications and missed opportunities for a deal in 1941.