Why Japan could not bypass the United States

Could Japan attack Britain, the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand while keeping the United States out of the Pacific war?

Japanese planners expected the United States to enter anyway, so they did not treat that as a sustainable option.

Japanese planning assumed that a wider Pacific war would bring in the United States. Attacking British, Dutch, Australian, or New Zealand interests while leaving American territory untouched was therefore not treated as a durable option. The leadership believed Washington was already looking for a reason to intervene. Excluding the United States from the opening attacks would only delay an opponent Japan considered inevitable.