> They basically went to war to refresh the coffers of Empire
This is technically true on its face, but second-order thinking reveals why the "coffers" were low in the first place. The United States goaded them into war by intentionally cutting off their oil supplies.
Pearl Harbor was no surprise. FDR's advisors knew exactly what they were doing.
10 years prior to the oil embargo, imperial Japan began its belligerence with expansion into China in 1931, and just before WWII, Southeast Asia. And imperial Japan's finances were already failing before 1931, prompting its aggressive expansion.
While technically true that the US embargo further depleted imperial coffers, Japan was already at war, its finances were already in dire straits, and WWII had started before this. While it certainly contributed to PH, the US' embargo cannot be said to have caused WWII, Japan's poverty, or its imperial warmongering.
Although you raise an interesting point about the advisors knowing what they were doing. I'm sure they did. And there was advance warning of an attack, due to code breaking, but they were unsure precisely where or when, I think.
This is technically true on its face, but second-order thinking reveals why the "coffers" were low in the first place. The United States goaded them into war by intentionally cutting off their oil supplies.
Pearl Harbor was no surprise. FDR's advisors knew exactly what they were doing.