I am not sure that Japanese pilots that survived Midway went on to the South Pacific. Most naval officers and men were held at bases north of Hokkaido, in, as I recall, Kunishiri. As the Island of Japan began to suffer attacks the survivors were reinegrated. It was said that very few of the Japanese pilots involved in the Midway engagement survived WWII.
That’s right.
IIRC, from Parshall, not only were the Jap media not informed of the disaster, the surviving sailors of the Kido Butai were kept in isolation for the remainder of the war.
Some time also passed before the Imperial Army and Emperor were informed.
Sorry, I did not read you post closely enough the first time. My bad.
Jap pilots from Midway were kept on the front lines, say Rabaul, where they could and did fight at Guadalcanal, but never returned to the Japanese mainland.