Naval treaty compliance was a spectrum

How should Japanese compliance with the naval treaties before Yamato be judged?

Japan pushed evasion farther than most, but every major navy occupied some point on a spectrum between strict compliance and outright disregard.

No treaty navy was entirely innocent, even if Japan went farther than its rivals. British cruisers and destroyers could be formally compliant in peacetime while retaining space and arrangements for rapid wartime equipment and torpedo reloads. Treaty figures were negotiated and operational categories rather than transparent measures of fighting capability.