The battles of the Coral Sea and Midway did for the IJN what NG did for the IJA. The early Japanese successes were only possible because of the excellent pilot qualities, and when these pilots were lost, the IJN had no advantage left.
This Samurai attitude btw. wasn't even limited to the air forces, same was true for about every branch of armed forces the Japanese. The Japanese were supposed to be superior soldiers to make up for low numbers and bad equipment. If your cannon doesn't penetrate the enemies armour while his cannon can pierce yours at 2000m, you'll still win because you're the better soldier. Or not. In some aspects, the Japanese attitude was quite extreme.
But this is going off topic.
