I've played two crafts so far on this patch, the A7M "REIPU" and the brand new, stock J7W1. All I can say is that the Type 99-2 model 5 is actually an acceptable weapon, unlike that old, murky Type 99-2 that fires so slowly and extremely unwieldy. This particular change to the Type 99-2 simply make the A7M the Reppu instead of REIPU. It hits hard, as usual, and now actually last long enough to drain the entire [buffed] HP pool of the Tier 5-7 Ilyushins with four cannons setup. Also, the A7M now get 15-seconds boost, which means a lot (it used to be 10).
The J7W1, despite stock, is not half bad too. The Type 99-2 model 5 has been grouped into the nose, which only mean more accuracy...Even if there's no more J4M1 to get cannon from, I doubt people will miss it, judging from all the bad reputation it gets, the J7W1 will manage, even with the stock 20mm, for everything has changed. For the record, J7W1 has 12 seconds of boost.
Solving the Type 99-2 problem has made the then sucky A7M competitive, and the dreaded stock J7W1 not as bad as one would make to be on-paper...
That said, limiting them to 1.5km above sea level make it feel so futile when you are in your J7W1 and you see jet stream up the sky...but at least it make the A7M, which had to climb pretty high for even its dark green range, usable.

So, anyone still interested in the Japanese...or had everyone been discouraged by the suckiness of them past the T5 A6M5 and not give a [insert appropriate word here] about them anymore?
P.S. The J7W1 is VERY ugly with its landing gear deployed...