Japanese planning denied the Americans agency

The Japanese assessed enemy capabilities but designed operations with little room for an opponent to act unexpectedly. That habit followed experiences such as Tsushima, where Russia arrived at the end of a long logistics chain and fought the battle Japan wanted. Operations against Tsingtao and other recent campaigns reinforced the impression that adversaries would continue to fit Japanese expectations. That model was poorly suited to Britain and the United States, which possessed extensive bases, dockyards, large fleets, and the capacity to recover from early losses. The planning failure lay in refusing to give the enemy meaningful agency inside the plan despite knowing its strength.