How Pearl Harbor and One Man's Imagery Formed the Shape of the 20th Century...

On this  date 76 years ago Pearl Harbor was  attacked  by the Empire of Japan, plunging America into what became  history's greatest conflict. One man, above all, stands out in my mind as one whose sense of personal imagery  rivaled the imagery modality of those involved in the arts. His name was Isoroku Yamamoto.
History knows of him as the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet and the designer and leader of the Pearl Harbor attack. There is, however, a world more of  what should be known about this man.
I will encapsulate  as best I can:
During his formative years, he came to America, and attended Harvard for a number of years. While there, he got to know the ways of our culture and became quite fond of this country. He learned how to play poker and got to know by playing this game how the young Americans were "put together." He actually became  so  infatuated with his own experiences that he played poker, at times, by awakening his student friends in the wee hours to do just that.
In addition, he visited the oil fields in Texas and the factories in Detroit.
The result - when he returned to Japan, where he became known quickly for his attachment to naval affairs, he warned those involved in military matters "never to go to war with America."
During this period, the first signs of  that 'special' imagery emerged by way of his  voicing a   strong conviction  that "the next naval war will be decided in the air."
To be brief, his brilliance in naval matters resulted in a swift and continuous ascension to eventual power among the high officers in an increasingly militant Japan, with his appointment as the Commander of all things naval in the Japanese Empire the result.
Why then - HOW  did a former Harvard student, one who liked the American ways, become the Man who led the attack on Pearl Harbor years later?  The man who warned Japan never to go to war with America?
Quite simply, ironically. He himself was, as he said more than once - "I am a son of the  Emperor."
The same person who once said that " the only hope that Japan has for winning this particular war is to march into Washington before the first year of the war is over."
Imagine such complexities that this man must have held!
A final list of realities:
When the attack on Pearl Harbor was going on, Japanese pilots radioed back that the American aircraft carriers were nowhere to be seen - they were not berthed in the harbor.
It was during this period that Yamamoto voiced  his rather prescient  statement,  known to history - "what we have done is to awaken a  sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."
His prediction, years before,  that  the next naval war would be won in the air  - was he bedeviled by the reality that he could not destroy the naval air power of America on that first day?
Just six months after Pearl Harbor, Japan attacked the island of Midway, and lost four of its aircraft carriers. In just   a matter of  minutes Japan's offensive abilities to win a war in the Pacific were destroyed, and from that time until 1945, Japan, generally, would be waging defensive war.
"The next naval war will be decided in the air" - American dive bombers destroyed the Japanese aircraft carriers in just a matter of minutes.
The personal imagery modality of a young naval attache - one needn't be a Mozart or a Beethoven to harbor the same modality, it seems to me.