What if we beat the rest of the Axis powers like we did, but lost to Japan?

[Buzz cook]

42. Sounds good

We need some big changes to have the Soviets stay on the German side.
Leaving the US war weary is a great move. If we want to add some intrigue we could have the Nazis playing up to die hard confederates.

Pacifying East Asia and bringing them into the empire requires a big leap to. The way the Japanese dealt with the subjugated peoples would have to change dramatically. It wouldn't be hard to treat the Chinese people better than Chang. Loyalty often follows a full belly and tens of thousands died because Chang's rule was so corrupt they couldn't move food from places with abundance to places with famine. Mao would be a harder nut to crack.

Having an infrastructure that could process and transport material around the empire would also be a daunting task. Our Japanese would have to start planning in the teens or twenties. Prefab factories that could be placed on a transport ship and assembled where the resources were.

Man Power, our Japanese need to get conscripts and semi-skilled labor that will serve the empire with good will. Slave labor would not be enough.

Better equipment, The Zero was a great plane but... Almost all of the Japanese war making machines were inadequate for fighting the allies.

Time: Smoot Haley was passed in 1930, I think that has to be when we start the clock on our alternate history. Before then there was enough of a non-military group in Japan to keep our plans from being implemented. After Smoot the militarists took over.
At best we have a small group of men that did all the paper prep, but building our mobile factories can't start earlier.

Japan invaded Korea in 1910, so there is some wiggle room there. They invade China in 1931, not much to work with there.