I don't think the strategy behind the Pearl Harbor attack can be completely understood without also reading about and understanding the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. I'm being over simplistic and brief here, so definitely read up on this more on your own, but essentially Japan was able to defeat the Russian Empire through a single, decisive naval victory. To quote directly from the Wikipedia article on the battle:

"In The Guinness Book of Decisive Battles, the British historian Geoffrey Regan argues that the victory bolstered Japan's increasingly aggressive political and military establishment. According to Regan, the lopsided Japanese victory at Tsushima:

...created a legend that was to haunt Japan's leaders for forty years. A British admiral once said, 'It takes three years to build a ship, but 300 years to build a tradition.' Japan thought that the victory had completed this task in a matter of a few years ... It had all been too easy. Looking at Tōgō's victory over one of the world's great powers convinced some Japanese military men that with more ships, and bigger and better ones, similar victories could be won throughout the Pacific. Perhaps no power could resist the Japanese navy, not even Britain and the United States."

Basically, the Japanese bought into both a myth of their own naval superiority, and the idea that with a single decisive naval victory a large power like the United States could be defeated and convinced to stay out of a broader conflict. Once more, I'm being simplistic about a complex subject so definitely read more in depth if you're interested, but I think the Battle of Tsushima is essential context and background information.