I'm wondering what was going into the thought process of attacking the US. Was it completely to conquer? Were there any US policies or actions that might have made it feel to the Japanese that attacking was necessary?
For about 40 years the US and Japan had been on a collision course. A whole host of factors made it so that the nations and populations felt each other was a natural foe, and that when war came it would be particularly brutal.
To go through a few:
Residual Colonialism clashing with Japan's desire to make good its industrialization and ascendancy. The US and UK were still committed to the "Open Door Policy" and Western domination of Chinese and nearby markets, while Japan sought a greater sphere of influence itself after smashing Russian power in 1905, and proving itself able to be a colonial power in its own right.
Race based policy and rhetoric on both sides. California for instance had some particularly heavy handed anti Asian policies,a nd immigration was severely limited. And deeply held beliefs that immigrants owed allegiance to the Emperor over Washington. Meanwhile 3 generations of Japanese were fed the nationalist narrative of the Yamato Race, one people focused on greatness brought together under the Divine Emperor, and who would replace the Colonial powers as the new dominant power of the Asian peoples.
The feelings of dishonor and anger over the Naval Treaties. In the 20's and 30's at the Washington and London Conferences Japan was pressured into accepting a 5:5:3 ratio in Battleships and in general naval tonnage compared to the US and UK. That was seen not as a recognition of global vs regional interests, but as a move to hinder the growth of the rising sun of Japan. There was then national rage and mourning when multiple unfinished battleships were taken from the dockyards and scuttled.
Progressive tightening of economic screws by FDR. When Japanese officers in Manchuria repeatedly either acted without prior approval or created crisis, Japan found itself in its long awaited move to conquer China. In response FDR went through a series of restriction to prevent the US from feeding the war machine for a conflict he was against. Items such as scrap metal were not allowed to be sold to Japanese customers. Finally Oil was embargoed, and this then would have either forced an end to the war, or the IJA and IJN would have ground to a halt.
Prevailing thought on how to fix that weakness was to snatch up the Dutch East Indies, and Malaysia from the Netherlands and the UK. However the US controlled Philippines stood in the way, and even without a direct attack the fear was that the US would come to its allies aid, and either way a general war would commence.
So the key becomes, with a smaller navy, how do you secure the resources needed to wage war, while also fighting off an enemy fleet equal your own?
From that problem was born the plan to attack pearl Harbor and try to remove one of those considerations for a time. Thus the war would go A. Knock the USN off balance and freeze them B. Seize the resources you need to keep going in the South pacific. C. Prepare a string of Islands through the Pacific to use as bastions to bleed the USN when it did come to fight, then a giant climactic battle could be joined to sink the rest of them. D. Then hopefully the US would be tired of war and open negotiations which would leave Japan with the territory it needed to be resource independent.
Excellent Sources: War Plan Ornage by Edward S. Miller
Pacific Crucible by Ian W. Toll
and Shattered Sword by Parshall and Tully