Japan’s leadership fully supported the raid on Pearl Harbor
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was a hit-and-run raid. There was no intent to invade; the Japanese goal was to inflict as much damage on the Pacific Fleet as possible and retire to the west intact. The primary targets were land-based aircraft, the aircraft carriers in the harbor, and the battleships anchored along Ford Island. If the latter were not in port, targets of opportunity were to be bombed, torpedoed, and strafed. No nation had launched a similar raid of such size, no other Navy had massed together six aircraft carriers, to operate in close coordination with each other. The overall Japanese commander, Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, had never commanded an aircraft carrier, was not a flyer and had little experience with Naval Aviation. Cautious and slow-moving, Nagumo had been a leading opponent of an attack on Pearl Harbor.
Nonetheless, his seniority assured him the command, and he relied on his aides and the captains of the six carriers to carry out the plan to his satisfaction. The Japanese practiced the attack over and over during the summer of 1941, and its operation went more or less like clockwork. One reason that it went so smoothly for the Japanese is the modest resistance they encountered from the stunned Americans at Pearl Harbor. Nearly every possible mistake which the Americans could make that day they made, some repetitively, including miscommunications, lost messages, misidentification of incoming aircraft, ignored warnings, ignored radar captures, and many more. The staff of the Pacific Fleet and the Army charged with defending the Hawaiian Islands were overwhelmed and failed to gain a modicum of control until long after the attacks were over.