Could Japan have won against the USA??? If Japan would have bombed the vital oil supplies at Pearl Harbor, that would have made the fleet imobile for a much longer time, and then they could have prepaired to take the Hawiian Islands possibly? I don't think Japan could have had the capabilities to invade US territory, but what do you think? How could Japan have prevailed over the USA???
I do not see that the total defeat of the USA by Japan was either possible or one of their war aims. They were seeking to expand their overseas possessions, mainly at the expense of the British and Dutch empires (plus the Phillipines, which the USA did not claim was a colony), while persuading the USA to reach a settlement. I don't think they ever had a hope of achieving this, but then I find high Japanese politics of the 1930s and wartime years make little sense anyway.
There was no way that Japan could defeat Anerica. Yamamoto got it right when he said that they had awken a sleeping Giant.
Agreed there was no way that Japan could successfully defeat the USA. Yamamoto predicted this and gave Japan 6 months superiority before the Americans started to gain the upperhand which wasn't far off.
