Based on optical sighting, Japanese fire control was relatively weak at long range. Yet, as accounts of the night combat engagements off Guadalcanal reveal, the Japanese were tough opponents in surface warfare, especially in the early years of WW II.
At the start of the war, the Japanese had superior optics which allowed them to see us before we could see them – especially at night. They also had the oxygen based "Long Lance" torpedos with a range that far outstripped that of the U.S. Mark 14 torpedos which were defective anyway.
At Guadalcanal this allowed the Japanese to win several surface engagements. As pointed out, once U.S. radar came on line (and U.S. captains at sea learned to trust and use it) it negated these Japanese advantages.
(But you probably knew all that.)