Yeah Bob - the main reasons driving this difference was to prevent one fleet from being able to react anywhere in the Pacific - it seemed unrealistic that the Japanese could sit off the Marrianas and attack or defend just about anywhere. It also forced more of an island hopping campaign and tended to spread navies out into 2-3 groups as well. The different scale of the Asia/Pacific map helped justify the differences from the Europe map.
Strategic movement of 8 spaces still allows fleets to redeploy over the 3 months of a turn as well.
*We have been playtesting the Zones of Control idea and a forced naval bomber / naval fighter ratio (discussed in the optional rules section) - though not tested very extensively yet - they both seem to add more flavor to the Pacific battles too.
cheers,
Mark