As stated above....
1. This is one area the Japanese ignored before and during the war. They failed to workout an effective convoy system.
2. Their sound equipment was not on a par with allied equipment. It just wasn't enough to be effective.
3. ASW weapons deployed by the Japanese were will again not on par iwth allied development. Their depth charges wer of an obsolete design to start the war. Type 88 was actually of World War One design (it is doubtful that these depth charges were used in combat), the typle 95 was the standard depth charge but had a payload of 100kg that was raised to 147kg during the war, but it had only two depth settings 30m or 60m. They type 95 was replaced by the Type 2 during the war. The type two were almost direct copies of British designed depth charges, and it had a payload of 105kg that was increased to 162kg late int he war. It used the same method of detonation as the Type 95, but it had 30m, 60m, 90m, 120m and 145m settings.
4. By mid 1944, the US unrestricted submarine warfare campaign had been so effective that US boats were actually running out of targets. US submarines accounted for 55% of recorded losses of the Japanese merchant marine.
Given these factors it should be no surprise that convoys in the Pacific were far and between.
Campbell, J. (2002). Naval Weapons of World War Two. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
Silverstone, P. H. (2008). The Navy of World War II: 1922-1947 (The U.S. Navy Warship Series). New York: Routledge.
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