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5. Nothing left with which to build an icant air defense network by March 1945

5. Little left to build a significant air defense network with by March 1945

1. The Tokyo raid happened while the Japanese were ascendant - before Midway

Before Midway, and after Pearl Harbor and the overrun of the various European/American possessios in South East Asia, Japanese strategic view remained tied to the "multiple rings of defense" mode: they kept expanding the outer ring of their bases to make it harder and harder for American planes to reach Japan. Expending precious resources on air defense rather than making it harder/nigh impossible for American aircraft to strike Japan was counter to that strategic template. It is worth noting that when the Americans showed up on Guadalcanal, those Islands defenses were still being worked on. The creation of the defensive Outer Ring was disrupted by their enemy before it was in place. You could call the Guadalcanal campaign "a spoiling attack" and not be too far off.

It was as much intended for domestic consumption, in the US, as it was intended to let the Japanese know "we can reach you, and we can hurt you." But if you look at the size of the raid, and compare it to raids launched in 1944 and 1945 from Island bases, it was puny. It could not be expected to do more than send a message. The Japanese, correctly from their strategic position at that time, didn't use the Tokyo raid (April 1942) as a sign that they needed to make any significant change: the buffer zone construction was still a work in progress.

The Japanesse strategic estimate was correct in predicting that UK and US would take a "Europe first" strategy, but they underestimated the speed of response from the US in the Pacific in terms of mobilization and strategic counteroffensive.

By the time they needed to make a change, and to create coordinated air defense network for the homeland, it was (1) a bit too late and (2) a matter of scarce, and scarcer, resources as already mentioned in both rs29's answer and JMS' answer.

1. The Doolittle raid happened while the Japanese were ascendant - before Midway

Should they have started creating an integrated air defense after the Doolittle Raid (and thus have one in place by March 1945? That would not have fit their strategic concept. (And hind sight is 20/ 20)

Before Midway, and after Pearl Harbor and the overrun of the various European/American possessios in South East Asia, Japanese strategic view remained tied to the "multiple rings of defense" mode: they kept expanding the outer ring of their bases to make it harder and harder for American planes to reach Japan. Expending precious resources on air defense rather than making it harder/nigh impossible for American aircraft to strike Japan was counter to that strategic template. It is worth noting that when the Americans showed up on Guadalcanal, those Islands defenses were still being worked on. The creation of the defensive Outer Ring was disrupted by their enemy before it was in place. You could call the Guadalcanal campaign "a spoiling attack" and not be too far off.

Back to "but they'd been bombed back in 1942" ... that raid was as much intended for domestic consumption, in the US, as it was intended to let the Japanese know "we can reach you, and we can hurt you." But if you look at the size of the raid, and compare it to raids launched in 1944 and 1945 from Island bases, it was puny. It could not be expected to do more than send a message. The Japanese, correctly from their strategic position at that time, didn't use the Tokyo raid (April 1942) as a sign that they needed to make any significant change: the buffer zone construction was still a work in progress.

The Japanesse strategic estimate was correct in predicting that UK and US would take a "Europe first" strategy, but they underestimated the speed of response from the US in the Pacific in terms of mobilization and strategic counteroffensive. And they chose to expend resources in trying to not lose the outer ring, which fit their strategic concept, rather than beginning to plan for failure.

5. Nothing left with which to build an icant air defense network by March 1945

By the time they needed to create coordinated air defense network for the homeland, it was (1) a bit too late and (2) a matter of scarce, and scarcer, resources as already mentioned in both rs29's answer and JMS' answer. There was a lack of pilots (see Kamikaze efforts previous to this), lack of planes, and an overall crippling of the economic base for waging war during the period mid 1943 to early 1945 as both the maritime theater, and the CBI theater, ate up resources in men and material for little to no gain as Allied successes built upon each other.

They might have wanted to, but they could not at that point in time.

This answer will not duplicate the thorough resources analysis a couple of the others did, but approaches the question based on the strategic concept of the Japanese war effort from 1939 through about 1943/44 - after which point the noose had began to tighten, US unrestricted submarine warfare was squeezing the Japanesse economically, and the end was a matter of time once (1) the US were back in the Philippines and (2) the Island hopping campaign ground to its inexorable conclusion.

This answer will not duplicate the resource analysis a couple of the others did, but approaches the question based on the strategic concept of the Japanese war effort from 1939 through about 1943/44 - after which point the noose had began to tighten, US unrestricted submarine warfare was squeezing the Japanesse economically, and the end was a matter of time once (1) the US were back in the Philippines and (2) the Island hopping campaign ground to its inexorable conclusion.