Japan's 6-6 and 8-8 plans rested on maintaining a comparatively small navy with advanced ships. Treaty building holidays restricted the replacement construction on which that approach depended. In this interpretation, a perceived narrowing of Japan's qualitative advantage contributed to naval insecurity. The Yamato class was a gamble on large ships and heavy guns intended to recover that advantage. The explanation connects design choices with perceived weakness while treating treaty limits as one part of a larger accumulation of pressures.
Notable Point · 7:13:08-7:15:37
How building holidays weakened Japanese confidence
Japan expected qualitative superiority to offset a smaller fleet, so treaty building holidays threatened the technological confidence on which its naval security rested.