“Many books talk about the fact that having sanctions against Japan was seen as risking war.”
Bravo. I can’t believe it took 40 posts before someone mentioned the oil embargo against Japan as a cause for the attack. It was US support of the nationalist Chinese that finally convinced Japen that something had to be done. Remember, their main attack was to the south and the oil fields of Sumatra. Pearl Harbor was simply a spoiling attack.
It is because no one really wants to admit that the war started before Pearl Harbor. We took a side (the right one in my opinion) by stopping the flow of oil to Japan.
Japan had few options left. Their culture would not let them stop, so they felt they had to attack.