Japan had little chance of victory—so why did it attack Pearl Harbour?

Summary

The Editors of National Geographic make the following points:

• Japan was an imperial power controlling Taiwan, Korea, and Chinese Manchuria.
• American opposition to Japanese imperialism seemed hypocritical as the U.S. had occupied the Philippines.
• Adm. Yamamoto said Japan's only hope of keeping its empire was smashing the US Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, before the U.S. Navy fully mobilised.

References

Recent Runway Posts related to this topic:

• MILITARY HISTORY RUNWAY COLLECTION 01- The Runway (airforce.gov.au)

References from the Web:

• Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor?-Imperial War Museum
• The Path to Pearl Harbor-The National WW2 Museum

Source Information: 

• Article Source: National Geographic
• Media Check:  National Geographic - Media Bias/Fact Check (mediabiasfactcheck.com)
• RAAF RUNWAY: RATIONALE, GUIDELINES, LEARNING OUTCOMES, ETC | The Runway (airforce.gov.au)