Why was the pearl harbor attack sucha shock to th united states?

It was such a shock because the United States weren't officially involved in the war. They had no war against Japan declared and had no military movement against the nation. Japan simply attacked. The cost of the attack was also a shock, since they lost lots of soldiers and equipment.

1. We felt politically isolated since we had stayed out of the war so we didn't expect an attack.
2. We felt safe geographically because we didn't believe anyone could reach use.