The Japanese: d. attacked pearl harbor. Japan’s only chance was to stage a surprise assault that would knock the U.S. fleet out of action. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto knew that the U.S. had far greater resources than Japan and that his country could not win a protracted war. The Japanese Foreign Ministry wanted to present the US with a declaration of war prior to the attack, but they were blocked by the Japanese military.
The Japanese attack force sailed from Hitokappu Bay in the Kurile Islands, on a 3,500-mile voyage to a staging area 230 miles off the Hawaiian island of Oahu.