Question

what was the us strategy to defeat japan in the pacific theater?

Answer 1

Strategy in the Pacific Theater mostly centered around "island hopping".

Instead of taking every island in the Pacific held by the Japanese, the United States decided to bypass the ones the weren't important and only take those that were. This would also cut off the islands they ignored from supplies and keep them from helping the rest of the Japanese forces while focusing the United States' resources only on the important targets.