I'm sure you're no stranger to Pearl Harbor, but do you have the same doubts about Japan's behavior as I do? Is it really Japan's arrogance, not knowing how many pounds it has, and pulling the United States against itself? In fact, Japan was forced to make this decision.
First, Japan was facing an oil crisis. Because Japan's aggression and expansion infringed on the interests of the United States, in 1941 the United States began to impose an oil embargo on Japan, freezing Japan's mineral deposits in the United States, and Japan suffered a serious energy crisis. As an island country, Japan lacked resources and energy, and its oil demand came from imports, of which 85% came from the United States, the most important oil exporter at that time. Prior to Pearl Harbor, Japan had been fighting a four-year war on the Asian continent with the aim of plundering the region's abundant natural resources. Japan's resources were scarce and could not make up for the huge war attrition. At that time, Japan's oil was only enough to persist for half a year, and after half a year it would face a resource crisis, so there were two choices in front of Japan, one was to stop expansion, return the interests of the United States and Britain, and let the big brother of the United States know that he listened to the big brother of the United States, and the little brother was just confused for a while; the second choice was to continue to invade the Philippine islands to plunder resources and continue to challenge the bottom line of the United States. The establishment of the so-called "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" was Japan's national policy and wild nature at that time, and it was impossible not to invade and give up vested interests, and sooner or later the battle would have to be fought.
Moreover, before the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, although Japan's military strength and economic development were rapid, the comprehensive national strength of the United States was still higher than that of Japan. For example, the U.S. population is almost twice that of Japan; the U.S. has seven times its national income; the U.S. produces five times more steel than Japan; the U.S. produces seven times more coal; and the U.S. produces 80 times more cars than Japan. In addition, the level of modernization and automation of industrial plants in the United States is higher than in Europe and Japan, and the per capita productivity of the United States is the highest in the world. Japan has basically no potential to tap. Japan's domestic military and economy had peaked before the Pacific War, which meant that Japan could not use its existing power to quickly eliminate its opponents. Then, after entering the war of attrition, Japan will undoubtedly lose. Therefore, Japan felt that since this battle was inevitable, it would preemptively strike if it wanted to fight.
The last very important reason was that the southward faction represented by Hideki Tojo came to power. The Japanese General Staff Headquarters has been fighting between "northward advance" and "southward advance." The "Northward" faction advocated a timely attack on the Soviet Union. Expanding in the direction of Siberia, the "southern" faction advocated expansion into Southeast Asia. Despite the Nomonkan incident and the unclear situation on the Soviet-German battlefield, Japan still decided to "go south." The ministers of real power were the first to support the "southward march." They believe that the United States' hesitation and fear of war in the Pacific must be used to develop into the Pacific and seize the rich strategic resources of Southeast Asia, and the location of Pearl Harbor is very important. Pearl Harbor in the Pacific is an important transportation hub. Hawaii is bordered by the West Coast of the United States to the east, Japan to the west, the Islands to the southwest, and Alaska and the Bering Strait to the north. They are all between 2,000 and 3,000 nautical miles in the Pacific Ocean. With Hawaii as the central station. Moreover, the main force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor was the biggest obstacle to Japan's southward march. Japan believes that the first seizure of air supremacy in the Pacific means that the road to the south is unimpeded, and Pearl Harbor must be destroyed first.