(A) They wanted to invade the United States.
(B) They wanted to take over Hawaii.
(C) ** They needed to destroy the U.S. Navy’s Pacific fleet in order to take over islands in the South Pacific.
(D) They needed to show Germany and Italy that they were serious about the war.
EXPLANATIONS BELOW
Concept note-1: -The Japanese, meanwhile, sought to complete what they began at Pearl Harbor. They aimed to destroy the US carrier fleet in a victory so decisive that the United States would negotiate for peace. With its battleship fleet crippled in Hawaii, the US Navy turned to two surviving assets.
Concept note-2: -Japan intended the attack as a preventive action. Its aim was to prevent the United States Pacific Fleet from interfering with its planned military actions in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and those of the United States.
Concept note-3: -Following a plan devised by Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, who had earlier studied at Harvard and served as Japan’s naval attaché in Washington, DC, the flotilla aimed to destroy the US Pacific Fleet base at Pearl Harbor.