| Japanese surprise attacks were well documented before Pearl Harbor. Ask the Russians about Port Arthur at the dawn of the 20th century. They did it before that too. Ask the Chinese about the Sino-Japanese War.
As to why it happened, yes the oil reserves were a prime motivator, but much of it was about parity as well. The Washington Naval Treaty limited the major nations allotment of capital ships to 5 each for Britain and the US (the theory being that they had two oceans to contend with) and 3 only for Japan (as it had only one ocean to contend with). Japan saw this as a slight and an attempt to "keep them down".
Also the Japanese did not "wipeout the majority of the Pacific Fleet" They took out the battleships and a couple cruisers plus one destroyer. We had plenty of cruisers and destroyers left. The battleships were an antiquated means of naval warfare already by the time of Pearl Harbor as Nagumo's attack itself and Taranto before it clearly illustrate. If Nagumo had authorized the third wave attack and the fuel tanks had been destroyed _then_ it would have crippled us. Losing two battleships (Utah was reclassified as a target ship before the attack and had no guns) forever while having the remaining six rise from the waters to attack again was no victory. Kind of like slapping a gorilla. You only do it once.
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"Do not forget your dogs of war, your big guns, which are the most-to-be respected arguments of the rights of kings."
- Frederick the Great, King of Prussia  |