Imperial Japan and the unwinnable-war question

What fundamental flaw led Imperial Japan into an unwinnable war?

The answer frames Japan's leaders as choosing between likely defeat in war and what they saw as certain cultural and economic defeat in peace.

Japan's decision is linked to its long competition with the United States after Perry's opening of Japan and to fear of American cultural and economic dominance in the Pacific. Senior decision-makers were divided over the outcome. One faction expected defeat, while another accepted a very small chance of success because it looked better than losing national autonomy in peace. War became a desperate gamble rather than a confident route to victory.