T1 Japan

I never bother to hit the American fleet because, as you said, it really slows down taking the money islands. Sending the whole fleet south you can get all the Islands turn 2 or turn 3 at the latest.

I have done that before but I prefer not to. Even if you are as successful as in your example (US only getting 1 defensive hit), the US will certainly attack that Japanese fleet with everything they have left:
1 carrier, 1 battleship, 1 cruiser, 1 destroyer, 1 fighter & 1 tac from SZ 10
1 fighter from Western US
1 bomber from Central US
2 fighters from Hawaii
1 fighter from Eastern US
All of that is enough to destroy the Japanese fleet in SZ 26 so you end up losing 2/3 of your navy. Even if you get good defensive hits and destroy the American fleet in the process, it will be much easier for the US to replace them than for Japan and you risk losing dominance in the Pacific. Then you either won’t get the DEI or if you do, you won’t keep it for long.

As Japan, excepting for the Philippines, I prefer to try leaving the US alone as long as possible. A lot of times even if you take the Philippines the US player may decide to go after Europe and build relatively lightly in the Pacific. This gives Japan some time to expand. If you go and attack Hawaii though, or even just the sea zone there, the US is more likely to come after Japan full force. Granted, this could be a reprieve for your German and Italian buddies, but it kind of makes for a miserable time for Japan.

Oh, yeah, that’s a good point. If you do want to attack the Hawaiian fleet turn 1, it’s best to just send a couple of ships to take hits. Like, send a destroyer and a sub, along with  planes from Japan, and land them on carriers in SZ 31. Then you are safe from counter attack.

Yeah, I have done it that way a couple of times. Like I will send the sub and destroyer, maybe even the cruiser from SZ 6 along with the planes from the carriers in SZ 6. If the US player scrambles the 2 planes from Hawaii, I might do one round of combat and retreat. Of course that also depends on what kind of hits I get and what kind of hits the US gets. If it’s good for me and bad for the US, I might stay and wipe out the US ships and 2 planes to boot.
Like you said, the ships can take the hits so if it goes badly for me, then I will retreat whatever planes I have left after the first round of combat.
If the US doesn’t scramble, odds are I will kill all the US ships and will probably even have one or two of my ships left to occupy the sea zone.
I only do this if I am really wanting to not only drag the US into the war, but get them interested in the Pacific in the process. Since you end up killing almost half of their Pacific fleet, you will still have a couple of rounds before the US is in a position to really threaten you and with any luck, you will be in a good enough position to face them off and keep expanding in Asia.
Also, that will probably mean US is concentrating the bulk of their force in the Pacific so Germany only has to deal with UK and Russia. OR, if the US tries splitting their spending on both sides, that is even better because they will not have enough on either side and an Axis win is almost secured.

You can hit z26 with bombers, carrier based planes and a couple subs and destroyers.  Land planes on Marshalls and on carriers by Wake.  Also take Wake and NCM a destroyer to z26 so no counterattack on your fleet.

Eh, I don’t think it would ever really be worth it to attack America at Hawaii. The reason a J1 DoW on the Allies is so strong is because while you do bring America into the war and jack up their income early, you’re also skyrocketing your own income. Taking the fight to America also leaves your fleet sorely out of position to put pressure on India and ANZAC (who will be making a significant amount), as well as kinda nullifying the initial material destruction since the front is so much closer to the US. The extra cost in the US trying to kill your fleet at the Philippines and trying to kill your fleet at Wake/Marshalls is huge. Yes, you end up with a bigger IPC swing by taking out US ships, but it slows you down in the South Pacific and the IPCs lost(/gained by other allies) from not taking the DEIs as early will probably stack up and overcome the swing from an attack on the Hawaiian fleet.

Using bombers at Hawaii also weakens your Yunnan attack, which can lead to some problems, especially with the stronger India.

I have not played Japan very often but I am not one to hit the US right off.  I like to secure China and the DEI first.  Cripple or take India and pressure the ANZAC’s is next while harrassing the US with landings in Alaska and the Philipeans.  Alaska doesn’t really mean that much but most US palyers will not want Japanese forces in North America.  Once Japan’s IPC level is up and I can build more capitol ships and planes, that is when I move to really hit the US fleet.  An Aggressive US player will make this stratagy much harder to pull off though.  the game I am currently playing, the Japan player did hit the Hawaiian fleet on round one and took it on round two.  The US player has been so focused on the Japan player that the Italians have taken Brazil and the Germans have landed in the West Indies and convoy raided the east coast of the US.  Britain has had no help and is barely hanging on.  The round 1 DOW can work if you have the right kind of player in position.  To give the US player credit, he has begun to make some better playes and is pushing back but he is having to regain alot of lost ground which really help the axis players be more aggressive.