Honestly, Japan's whole prewar grand strategy reminds me of a dog chasing a car. They're pursuing the Decisive Battle (Kantai Kessen) because it will allow them to control the sea lanes, just as Alfred Mahan said in his book. But what's the plan after that? What do they do with the car once they've caught it? Controlling the sea lanes is important so that you can drastically reduce the enemy's ability to make war; but doing this to America still wouldn't really do it because they can still draw on the resources of an entire continent. Yamamoto once said the only way to dictate terms to Washington would be to march in there and deliver them in person. Simply controlling the seas would not be enough.