

When the Kaga was built, it was only designed to accommodate helicopters (as can be seen in your before picture) and maybe a couple of tilt-rotors.
It was an aircraft landing platform, but not an airplane launcher. Even a VTOL jet would have a bad day trying to land and take off on such a narrow and moving target.
Now with America’s blessing, it’s being retrofitted to allow for all type of aircraft and be a true carrier in the military sense.
It’s actually a little bit of history repeating. Some of Imperial Japan’s aircraft carriers were also retrofits of ships that weren’t originally meant to serve that purpose (including the IJN Kaga).
The difference between understanding and accepting.