Land-based aircraft could not replace Japan's carriers

Could Japan compensate for weaker carrier production by relying more heavily on land-based naval aviation?

Only at the cost of mobility and initiative, because fixed airfields let the enemy locate, concentrate against, and bypass Japanese airpower more easily.

Land-based aircraft would confine Japan to a more defensive posture because airfields cannot be repositioned like carriers. A mobile opponent could identify the fixed bases, mass against them, and choose where to engage. Carrier value therefore lay in operational mobility and initiative as well as the number of aircraft available.