Also, the Japanese were emboldened by their victories in the Russo-Japanese war. After they managed to wipe out the entire Russian fleet using their naval power, they thought they could use the same strategy to deal with other Western powers that were vexxing them, especially the U.S.
In fact, the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor was basically just an attempted re-enactment of the Japanese sneak attack on Port Arthur that started the Russo-Japanese war, except that this time the Japanese had naval aviation as the backbone of the attack instead of torpedo boats.
In “Tora! Tora! Tora!” the Japanese run up the original “Z” flag used by Adm Togo in the battle of Tsushima Straits.
Hitler got his notions of racial superiority from Margaret Sanger’s “Eugenics” and his Nazi organizing techniques from Benito Mussolini.
The successes of the past will always find eager new students.