Did Japan have good “fire control” to aim their torpedoes?

The Japanese did have a Torpedo Data Computer (TDC) with inputs similar to the American version. From the scant information available, it appears that the Japanese TDC did not maintain a running solution. It likely was only a point-in-time solution similar to the British “Fruit Machine” or the German TRW. Those machines worked, but if the firing was delayed, the solution would have to be recalculated. The American TDC kept a running solution, constantly updating the target’s position relative to the submarine.

“Japanese TDCs were generally quite reliable, but like similar equipment in U. S. Navy submarines in the 1930s, torpedo firing solutions were only as good as the input data provided to the TDC; estimates of a target’s speed and range, in particular, depended largely on the ‘seaman’s good eye.’ Thus, throughout the war Japanese TDCs were incapable of generating the range or bearing, but they effectively solved the firing problem in accordance with the input data.” (“The Japanese Submarine Force and World War II” by Carl Boyd and Akihiko Yoshida, Naval Institute Press, 1995. Page 38.)

The relative lack of success in sinking Allied shipping, in spite of high-quality torpedoes, might indicate some weakness in the Japanese TDC.