Question

What was the purpose of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii?


to invade and eventually conquer the United States

to bring the United States into the war

to end the American naval and air presence in the Pacific region

to end the American embargo on important naval and aviation supplies

Answer 1

to end the American naval and air presence in the Pacific region

The Japanese hoped to destroy important American fleets which would have ended its presence in the Pacific and allow the Japanese to continue with their expansionist tendencies of conquering Southeast Asia

Answer 2

Answer:  to end the American naval and air presence in the Pacific region

Detail/context:

The conflicts that became World War II began in the 1930s with Japanese imperial aggression into Manchuria, to take over Chinese territory.  Beginning in 1938, the United States adopted increasingly severe trade restrictions against Japan in response.  When Japan moved into French Indochina in 1941, the USA froze all Japanese financial assets in the USA and placed an embargo on all oil and gasoline shipments to Japan.  The Japanese viewed the embargo as an act of war, and their attack against the US at Pearl Harbor, a naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, was (from Japan's viewpoint) a response to US trade sanctions against them. 

The United States declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941 -- the day after the attack on the Pearl Harbor naval base.