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OK,

I got what should be a basic history question that I'm hoping somebody as an answer to.

(the following is based on my limited history/knowledge of the PTO)
The Japanese Empire was a militaristic society that was primarily dominated by the Army. Like the US military of the time, a great struggle existed between the Army and Navy. Apparently, the Navy had some important backers, particularly in aviation as Japan would appear to have a great many flat tops, certainly more than the US at the time and more under construction. That being said, how is it they were producing so few pilots for these ships ?
Seems like a huge disconnect or am I missing something ?

I look at it as the old world meeting the new. Japan had only recently opened its borders to foreigners and industrialized at a blistering pace. Pilots prewar were looked upon as the new Samurai, a very elitist and insufficient approach to the demands of the new reality Japan was now part of.

Also Allied pilots would be cycled back to training bases to give training of new pilots so they would not have to learn those skills in combat. It is also one of the reasons why German pilot skill was pulled down over the war as well.

Scout1,
You also have to look at the fact that almost all the rest of the world at the time was decreasing the size of their navies after the Great War. Where as Japan was not. The Crown Prince Hirohito even came to visit both Britain and France in the early 1920's(forget the exact year). It was observed that he had a great interest in England's Aircraft and actually delayed the rest of his trip so that he could look at the planes and speak to the pilots (through a translator). The Japanese were allies of Britain and the US during the first world war. After everything was said and done, there was a huge war debt in a lot of nations. Great Britain particularly owed the US a large amount of money that the US insisted upon collecting. Well in order for England to pay the US back they had to force Japan to pay their debt to them which was one of the first things of many to go wrong with diplomatic relations between us and them.

Read 'Sunburst' by Mark Peattie. Best book in English available on the development of the Japanese Imperial Navy air arm.