Japanese in the Pacific

I posted these questions recently on a Pacific War forum and got no response to them. I wonder if anyone here knows?

I have just re-read “Wings Over The Pacific” by the late Alex Horn, which is about the RNZAF in the Pacific War. A couple of things got me curious. He wrote of some NZ aircrew who went into the jungle near Henderson Field to view a downed Japanese bomber, and were surprised to find the navigator was a woman (the bodies were still onboard). Was this a commoin thing in the Japanese Army or Navy air forces, to have female aircrew? Or was it rare?

Another query that arose when I read the book; Alex Horn mentioned several times about how the RNZAF chaps found that many French plantation owners in New Caledonia and other areas supported the Vichy French view that the Germans were OK, and they resented the RNZAF setting up in their backyards to fight the Axis Japanese. What I wondered was, as the Allies used a number of French plantation owners as Coast Watchers, spying on the Japanese movements and aiding Allied pilots, etc, did any of these Vichy French guys do the same for the Japanese forces working against the Allies?