The Japanese planned to catch European colonial powers and the United States by surprise by launching a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The Japanese wanted to catch the US off guard and knock out their naval power so to prevent retaliation. While the attack on Pearl Harbor was indeed a surprise and resulted in a great deal of deaths and damages, the US fleet was not entirely based there and thus the US was able to fight the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II.
