Japanese anti-submarine warfare before World War II

How capable was Japanese anti-submarine warfare compared with Britain in 1939?

Japan had advanced specialist assets but too few of them; Britain expanded its capability more effectively and could apply it at larger scale.

Technical sophistication and operational scale produce different answers when comparing Japanese and British anti-submarine warfare in 1939. Japan possessed some specialist ships and advanced systems ready for service. The weakness was that these assets existed in small numbers and were not expanded enough to cover the campaign that followed. Britain gained the more useful capacity by multiplying and applying its equipment broadly, even where an individual Japanese specialist asset might look more advanced.