Hiroshima 70 years ago

[Anomalocaris]

Did you miss the part about the Army being in control of the government and not the Navy?

Admiral Toyoda commented that he would rather his daughter marry a beggar than an army man.  The constant internecine strife between the Japanese Army and Navy was a great asset to us.

What Yamamoto envisioned did not happen but he did not call the shots.

You also have to keep in mind that Japanese army officer training, while undoubtedly produced some men of dedication and, in some narrow sense, great ability,  was also designed to produce men of staggeringly paroquial Outlook, completely ignorant of how the world outside Japan and the Japanese army works, and completely incapable of grasping how nations ought to have pursuits other than war, specifically territorial, continental war, in a narrow sense. Some actually consider such pursuits as finance, art and industrial production not geared towards war to be treasonous even in times of peace.

When the carrier core of modern Japanese navy, the kito butai, was all but annihilated in midway, which effectively ended Japan's ability to expand her defensive perimeter, and thus started the clock inexorably ticking towards Japan's final completely military defeat, the Japanese army actually failed to grasp the significance of the end of Japan's ability to conduct further strategic offensives in what is essentially a maritime war.  Tojo actually privately celebrated the defat at of the Japanese navy, thinking it would put navy in its place and let army take charge of the maritime war.

One is not far wrong to think of Japanese army leadership as effectively consisting of mean, humorous little children playing at war, and having no idea what war is really about besides  savagely bullying one's soldiers and moving pieces on a map, expecting victory will come from enemy always doing what is convenient for the Japanese army.