I once read that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor not to antagonize the US into action but because they thought they could get away with it.
“I once read that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor not to antagonize the US into action but because they thought they could get away with it.”
I doubt that serious professional military leaders in Japan thought that way. One of their admirals was reported as saying “I fear we have awakened a sleeping tiger,” although I am not certain of the accuracy of this. But there was a clique of politically inclined dreamers of Glorious Nipponese Ascendancy within the military class.