it was more about resources, after the rape of nanking we got all moral and stopped selling japan oil and steel. even if they'd had all the resources in the world though they still would have gone after the phillipines (a US territory at the time) and they couldn't do it without crippling the pacific fleet in hawaii, japan was still hung up on their warrior culture samurai bullshit and they were going to have their empire come hell or high water. so it might have taken a few more years but pearl harbor was going to happen one way or the other.