Bidirectional wind director

This graphic from Sekai no Kansen is incorrect. Why?

Let’s take a closer look at the photographs.

First question: where did the white perpendicular lines go? These were present on all IJN carriers and are clearly visible in aerial photos from Midway.

Photo 2

Now, look at the second photo. Those are not artifacts — they are meter marks. Since we know the exact length of the flight deck (248 564 m), I placed ten-meter intervals across it, and they aligned perfectly with the marks on the photo. There is no doubt these are the very meter marks seen in the image.

Photo (3) is the same as the one used in the article, but unaltered (I found it here, though the website works poorly). And there we can clearly see a mark.

Photo (4), also from the article, confirms this.

Next, photo (5). The author claims this shows the 140-meter mark, and the Sekai no Kansen graphic also places the wind director at the 140-meter position (I checked).

But let’s check. In my graphic (photo 6), the 140-meter mark should be at the end of the dashed line — yet in the actual photo, the mark is in front of it.

You might argue that all deck markings were changed in 1941. But notice the arresting gear cable visible just a few meters from the wind director. The nearest arresting gear was positioned beyond the 160-meter mark — far too distant.

In photo (7), I highlighted all visible arresting cables in green.

So, what are the possible explanations?

180-meter mark? Perhaps. In photo ( 8 ) I think another arresting gear can be seen, though this is uncertain.
Anti-skid surface? On carriers like Hiryū, Sōryū, and even Zuihō, the surface was retained until the end. It’s unlikely it was removed on Kaga.
Deformation joint? There should be one visible here, but it isn’t — and the spot is very close to the censored elevator platform.
150-meter mark? No, because no arresting gear cable is located there. Looking closely at photo (9), something is visible (red circle), but there should also be a cover from the old arresting system, and we don’t see it. So this is also improbable.

That leaves the 170-meter mark as the most likely. Why? Because there is nothing else in that area (and it shouldn't be anything according to the known photos), it’s close enough to the elevator, another arresting gear is visible, and most importantly, the arresting cable is positioned about 1–1.5 meters from the mark. At every other candidate position, the distances are either too short or too long.

If this is correct, then the central dashed line must have been repainted.

P.S. I compared Akagi and Kaga, and if we follow the same logic as on Akagi, the wind direction indicator on Kaga should be located somewhere between the 140- and 150-meter points of the flight deck. The problem is that on Kaga there was no arresting gear in that area. According to Shizuo Fukui’s data for 1941, one arresting gear on Kaga had been removed. But here we would need to add one, which doesn’t make sense.

Another point is that in the Sekai no Kansen graphic the wind direction indicator is shown as very wide, but the photos clearly show that nothing like this existed — just as on Akagi, it was already the narrower forward type.