Choosing the enemy that justified each service

Selecting a notional enemy was also a budget decision. The Imperial Japanese Army preferred the Soviet Union because a continental war demanded a large army and comparatively little naval power after Russia's recent upheavals and losses. The navy preferred the United States, whose Pacific geography made the contest overwhelmingly maritime and strengthened the case for fleet funding. In this interpretation, anti-Japanese politics on the American West Coast supplied genuine grievance, while interservice competition created the stronger institutional incentive. Kantai Kessen then helped the navy argue that treaty inferiority required an expensive battle fleet capable of defeating a larger opponent.