Eh, there are a few bits that you can tell it was actually either an admiring look or just one of, "Well, that's a perfectly good solution that just happens to be different." For example, discussing the almost-completely automatic loading system incorporated into Yamato's main gun turrets, where they acknowledged that it was a very efficient, reliable, and quick system, albeit at the cost of weighing 50% more than a US-style manual-with-power-assistance system (which about evens out with the weight reduction from the reduced manning required). No look of horror there, just acknowledgement of it being a good solution that the US didn't want to use (and a bit of casual racism in stating that it might have been necessary for 18" guns "due to the lower overall size and strength of the average Japanese sailor" as compared to Americans).
The submarines also got off fairly well (with the exception of Maruyu, but she was an Army design); while the I-400s got "...da fuck?" looks at the thought of carrying airplanes on subs, they were acknowledged as good solutions to an "oh god why?" requirement, and the I-200s were seen as "god DAMN that's a good boat... small, yes, but fast as SHIT, we need to steal as much of this as we can for the future" and played a major role in the design of the postwar GUPPY rebuild program and the pre-Albacore designs for new construction. And there was nothing but praise for the Japanese optical systems--the scorn was for not having integrated radar as thoroughly as the US had, making those massive rangefinders on the Yamatos critical instead of secondary; the optics themselves were considered to be among the best in the world and worthy of copying if it was felt that optical fire control was something that needed to be retained in future designs.
