One common myth of the battle of Midway was the invasion of the wester Aleutians was a pointless diversion. This was not the case. Although of arguably dubious value to the Japanese, possessing Attu and Kiska interfered with the US shipping route to Russia via the North Pacific. While Japan was not at war with Russia at the time, she remembered the beating Russia delivered to her in the late 1930's near Mongolia.
So unknown were these defeats of Japan that Hitler was enraged when Japan did not attack eastern Russia after Barbarossa and he had no idea why. Neither did the rest of the world. Russia had humiliated the IJA (twice!) and japan really didn't want any more of them.
Of course, the forces used on the Aleutians would have been better deployed at Midway (perhaps as a 'norther carrier force'), but it was not a pointless diversion.
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