The Kidō Butai, or the Japanese Mobile Force launched the Pearl Harbor attack from a position approximately 220 miles north of O'ahu. Japanese aircraft were designed with range as a major design consideration, with the goal of being able to strike the enemy's aircraft carriers from far enough away that the enemy's retaliation could not reach them, so this distance was well within striking distance for Japanese naval aircraft. During the raids on the Philippines that shortly followed Pearl Harbor, Japanese Type 0 fighters--operating from land bases in Taiwan--were able to fly escort missions to Manila, nearly 600 miles away. At the time, this was considered the edge of the fighter's range, and it required very careful tuning of the engine to achieve, but it helps to illustrate how long the legs of Japanese carrier aircraft were. To contrast, the Spitfire--admittedly an interceptor--had a combat range of about 250 miles and the American's main carrier fighter, the F4F Wildcat, had a combat range of around 400 miles.

Japan used its all six of its largest, most capable aircraft carriers in the attack: Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu, Soryu, Shokaku, and Zuikaku. Two heavy cruisers, Tone and Chikuma, also launched scout planes before the attack, but these planes did not use their weapons and didn't provide any information that the Japanese didn't already have.

The Japanese fleet had sailed through the north Pacific from Hitokappu Bay, then turned south after more than a week at sea. On the evening of December 6 (local time; aboard the Japanese ships they remained on Tokyo time), the Japanese fleet was near the extreme range of American land-based reconnaissance planes. The fleet increased its speed to close the distance to Oahu before morning and launched the first wave at about 0600 from about 230 miles away (the cruisers had launched their scouts at about 0530). The fleet remained in that general area until the aircraft from the second wave were recovered at about noon. I've seen some sources that place the distance at about 200 miles, but am not sure if the fleet sailed closer to the islands or whether that's just the result of people preferring to use a round number.

While some of the information is out of date, Gordon Prange's "At Dawn We Slept" is still an excellent starting place if you'd like to know more about the planning and execution of the Pearl Harbor attack.