What they should have done was not attack America at all and just gone for the Dutch East Indies and maybe British Malaya. Then pray to God America not get involved. Then if America gets involved their strategy of making it a bloody slog to the point Americans can accept a negotiated peace, instead of unconditional surrender is much more plausible. Getting revenge for Pearl Harbor is a huge motivator. Fighting for some Dutch colonies isn't. The whole time making it clear they don't/didn't want war with America and only want peace.

I also think Japan could have done far more harm to America's Navy early on. Most of the ships at Pear Harbor were recovered do to the shallow waters and the Carriers weren't present. Yamamoto understood the importance of Carriers early on and the Japanese sailors and pilots were more experienced. Japan could have sunk a lot of those ships in much deeper waters like they did to the British during the Indian Ocean Raids.

What they should have done was not attack America at all and just gone for the Dutch East Indies and maybe British Malaya. Then pray to God America not get involved. Then if America gets involved their strategy of making it a bloody slog to the point Americans can accept a negotiated peace, instead of unconditional surrender is much more plausible. Getting revenge for Pearl Harbor is a huge motivator. Fighting for some Dutch colonies isn't. The whole time making it clear they don't/didn't want war with America and only want peace.