Why Japanese carriers relied on cruiser scouts

Did Imperial Japanese Navy carriers have their own scouting aircraft?

They used some carrier aircraft as scouts, but relied much more heavily on cruiser floatplanes than British and American carriers did.

Japanese carriers used some of their aircraft for reconnaissance, but their accompanying cruisers carried much of the expected scouting burden. British and American carrier air groups gave more space to organic scouts. The Japanese scheme assumed an enemy advancing towards the fleet: cruisers would maintain contact while carriers launched strikes and withdrew to reload. This preserved carrier aircraft for offensive striking power within a force that expected to face superior numbers. The Midway comparison recalls only a very small carrier contribution to the search, with uncertainty over the precise numbers. Cruiser floatplane limitations and the need for broader search coverage made the scheme less flexible when operations departed from its preferred sequence.