A lot of tough guys in this thread.
Japan never stood a chance against the US. If u haven't noticed it's a much smaller country than the US w/ a lot less resources. The US victory in the Pacific was an inevitability, particularly since the US let the Russians fight the tough land war against the Germans pretty much by themselves. The Russians were going to Berlin whether we landed in Normandy or not.
Not since the Civil War has the US been really tested in a war and most of the impact of that was felt in the south. And even then, like Foote said, the north fought the Civil War w/ one hand behind its back. To many upper class northerners the Civil War was no more than an inconvenience (sort of like all these desert wars have been for most of the US population).
Everyone likes to bash the French, but the US never faced casualties like it, and other European countries suffered during WWI. Who knows how the population would have reacted to what Europe has dealt with.
Winning was never the propose of initiating a war with the United States. What Japan intended was a short skirmish with the United States that would allow them to sue for peace, hopefully allowing Japan to keep some of the territory it had taken in South East Asia. Japan knew that they would never be able to keep all of the territory acquired in South East Asia but they might be able to keep some of it if they could negotiate a beneficial treaty. A similar tactic had been successfully used against the Russians.
Concurrently, Japan was also bogged down in Manchuria/Manchuko fighting Communists forces and Chinese nationalists. Japan needed a way to began withdrawing their military presence in that region without loosing face. With the United States having an increasing presence in China, funding anti-communist forces, Japan knew that one of the conditions of any treaty with the United States would be the immediate withdrawal of Japanese military personnel from Manchuria.
