Japan

Japan

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Capital:

Tokyo

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Government type:

Fascist

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Faction:

Neutral(1936), Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere(1939)

 Japan was the leader of the Axis powers in the Pacific Theater. Some consider that World War II actually began with the invasion of  China by Japan, first by taking Manchuria and installing their puppet the  Manchukuo regime. In 1937, after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Japan declared war on China, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War in which Japan invaded and conquered much of eastern China, installing additional puppet regimes along the way, including  Mengkukuo and the "Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China". After invading China, Japan struck southwards, invading and conquering  British Malaya and the  Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), in hopes of securing their resources, followed by an invasion of the  British Raj.

On August 6, 1945, the  United States dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, flattening the center of the city. Late in the evening of August 8, according to the Yalta agreements, the  Soviet Union declared war on Japan, and shortly after midnight on August 9, attacked Manchukuo and Mengkukuo. Only hours later, the Americans dropped a second nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, destroying a small portion of it. The total shock of these events forced Emperor Hirohito to intervene and compel the big six to agree on the terms of ending the war, taken by the Allies in the Potsdam Conference. After several days of backroom negotiations and failed attempts to destroy the stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons of Unit 731 in Manchuria, which were captured by Soviet paratroopers, and the collapse of the Kwantung Army, in August 15, Hirohito addressed the nation by radio and announced the surrender of Japan. The signing ceremony of the Act of Capitulation took place on September 2 aboard the United States Navy battleship USS Missouri (BB-63).

Geography

Japan is located in the far east of Asia. It is mainly made up of the four major islands: Kyushu, Shikoku, Honshu, and Hokkaido. Japan also owns the Korean peninsula, East Hebei, the city of Dalian, South Sakhalin and a lot of strategic islands in the Pacific including: Taiwan, Okinawa, Saipan, Guam and Iwo Jima. Japan also controls the puppet states of  Manchukuo and  Mengkukuo.

Mainland Japan is dominated by mountains, which run through almost the entire country. It has a couple of urban areas, namely Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. Flat, arable land can be found around the major cities of Japan.

Japan borders with the  Soviet Union, both directly through the Sakhalin island and the northern Korean border as well as the northern border of their puppet  Manchukuo. They also border  China through East Hebei and their puppet  Mengkukuo. Mainland Japan is surrounded by sea, with the Sea of Japan to the west, the East China Sea to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the east.

Historical background

After Japan's unification during the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the Japanese Empire had undergone a period of rapid westernization and industrialization, with the goal of making Japan a power on par with the other western nations. With its newfound power, Japan sought to make up for its lack of resources by securing them overseas, through invading neighboring nations, starting with its invasion of Korea in 1895, the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894-1895, where Japan conquered Taiwan. Succeeding in this, Japan later fought and won the Russo-Japanese War against the Russian Empire in 1904-1905, cementing itself as one of the world's great powers and first non-European nation to achieve this status. Allying itself with the United Kingdom in 1902, Japan joined World War I on the side of the Entente, conquering Germany's possessions in the Pacific and China.

During the Great Depression, the Japanese government had become increasingly militaristic, leading to the conquest of Manchuria in 1931, creating the puppet state of  Manchukuo. In 1933, further Chinese border territories were also conquered, leading to further puppet states, like  Mengkukuo.

The government of Japan is still not satisfied, however, and seeks to further expand Japan's dominion in East Asia, its "Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere" at the expense of all caught in its way. Japan has countless plans drawn up for its conquest of Asia, some involve an invasion of the Chinese mainland and splitting up  China into loyal puppets, others calling for an invasion of  India and others involve invading European possessions in Indonesia and Indochina. Even more tenuous plans call for an invasion of Soviet Siberia, to claim its vast resources and wealth, another plan involves targeting  Australia and  New Zealand with Japan's biggest ambition being the concept of an invasion of the  United States in order to secure the nation's resources and industry and to topple Japan's perhaps biggest rival in the Pacific.

The Japanese Empire stands as the greatest power in East Asia, ready to raze anyone that gets in its way.

Events

Main article: Japanese events

National focus

Japanese national focus tree.

Main article: Japanese national focus tree

 Japan, as one of the seven major powers, has a unique national focus tree.

The Japanese national focus tree can be divided into 7 branches:

The Unthinkable Option Branch

The Communist branch is based around the idea of establishing a Communist state in Japan with the possibility of either joining the  Soviets or forming a faction with  Communist China. It requires Waking the Tiger.

This is the hardest path in the focus tree, as it causes a civil war to erupt in the country and if the communists win, it will also cause the entire Japanese Navy, all of Japan's colonial possessions ( Korea and  Mengkukuo) and most of the generals and field marshals to revert to  Manchukuo, which becomes independent.

Purge the Kodoha Faction Branch

The historical Fascist tree, it focuses around the aggressive conquest of China, Indochina, the  Dutch East Indies,  British Malaya and the  Philippines and an alliance with Siam. Please do note that this path is also highly likely to lead to a war with the  United Kingdom, the  United States and  France (all at the same time potentially), as it involves attacking their puppets.

• National Mobilization Law/ National Defense State Sub-branches

Two Sub-branches that is shared by the Purge the Kodoha Faction Branch and the Support the Kodoha Faction Branch. It accelerates economy laws, mobilises more manpower and gives a Research Slot. It also enables Kamikaze Strikes and unlocks a unique type of aircraft; the Suicide Bomb Craft, which are essentially flying human-guided missiles that deal extremely high damage, but both the pilot and the aircraft are lost in the endeavour.

Support the Kodoha Faction Branch

The Non-Aligned Monarchist Branch is focused on deposing the fascists and either empowering the Emperor of Japan or restoring the Japanese Shogunate in a modern form. Furthermore, it focuses on preparing for war with the  Soviet Union and joining the  German Reich's faction. This path notably militarises  Manchukuo even further, by giving them Infantry Equipment and Aircraft Research Bonuses and it also creates a Non-Aggression Pact with China, however, it also requires Japan to join the London Naval Treaty, thus restricting their Ship sizes.

Strengthen the Civilian Government Branch

The Democratic branch starts a civil war with the fascists and installs a Consitutional Monarchy. It allows Japan either join the Allies or form its own faction; the West Pacific Treaty Organisation. It also makes Japan liberate  Korea and  Manchukuo but, in exchange, allows Japan to puppet or annex the  Philippines, the  Dutch East Indies,  British Malaya and Indochina. It requires Waking the Tiger.

Similar to the Communist above, this path will cause a civil war to erupt in the country and will cause  Manchukuo to become independent and gain control over  Korea and  Mengkukuo, however, Japan will retain control of both its navy and army.

The Manchurian Project Branch

If  Manchukuo is a subject, this branch improves  Manchukuo's Stability and War Support, expands their Industry and improves the Infrastructure and also builds forts on the Soviet Border and adds resources and building slots in the interior.

Army Expansion Law Branch

This branch improves  Japan's army through research bonuses, though it will also unlock Bicycle Infantry, a unique unit for Japan.

• Fighter Modernization Sub-branch

This sub-branch improves  Japan's Airforce through research bonuses and connects to both the Army and Naval branches.

New Naval Estimates Branch

This branch improves  Japan's naval research and naval industry.

Technology

Army Technology	Naval Technology	Air Technology	Electronics & Industry
Infantry Equipment I Motorized Interwar Armored Car Marines I Support Equipment Engineer Company I Recon Company I Great War Tank Light Tank I Artillery	Early Destroyer Hull Basic Depth Charges 1940 Destroyer Hull (1939) 1936 Cruiser Hull Basic Cruiser Armor Scheme 1940 Cruiser Hull (1939) 1936 Heavy Ship Hull Super Heavy Battleship Hull (1939) 1936 Carrier Hull 1940 Carrier Hull (1939) 1936 Submarine Hull 1940 Submarine Hull (1939) Basic Light Battery Basic Dual-Purpose Battery Basic Medium Battery Basic Heavy Battery Improved Ship Torpedo Launcher Transport Ship Contact Mine Minelaying Submarine Without Man the Guns: Destroyer I Destroyer III (1939) Light Cruiser II Light Cruiser III (1939) Heavy Cruiser II Heavy Cruiser III (1939) Battlecruiser I Battleship II Battleship III (1939) Super Heavy Battleship I (1939) Carrier II Carrier III (1939) Submarine II Submarine III (1939)	Basic Small Airframe Inter-War Medium Airframe Basic Medium Airframe (1939) Bombs Light MG Aircraft Construction Engines II Range Improvements (1939) Without By Blood Alone: Interwar Fighter Interwar Carrier Fighter Close Air Support I Carrier CAS I Fighter I (1939) Carrier Fighter I (1939) Naval Bomber I Carrier Naval Bomber I Interwar Bomber Tactical Bomber I (1939)	Synthetic Oil Experiments Oil Processing (1939) Fuel Refining I Fuel Refining II (1939) Advanced Machine Tools (1939) Concentrated Industry III (1939) Construction III (1939) Radio Detection (1939) Computing Machine (1939) Without La Resistance: Encryption - Polyalphabetical Ciphers (1939) Decryption - Frequency Analysis (1939)
Doctrines
Trench Warfare Grand Assault (1939)	Base Strike Carrier Task Forces (1939)	Dispersed Fighting (1939)

Designers, concerns and theorists

Bonuses from tank, naval and air design companies are only applied to equipment whose research is completed while the design company is hired. For example, if a tank design company is hired 1 day before research is completed for a relevant tank, that tank will receive the design company bonuses, along with any relevant tanks that are researched in future.

Bonuses are not retroactive and will not be applied to equipment that was fully researched prior to hiring the design company. However, new variants will be affected.

Tank designers

Designer	Type	Effect	Cost
Osaka Army Arsenal	Tank Designer	Armor Research Speed: +15% Armor: Reliability: +5%	150

Ship designers

Designer	Type	Effect	Cost
Kure Naval Arsenal Requires Supremacy of the Battlefleet	Battlefleet Designer	Naval Research Speed: +15% Capital Ships: Armor: +15% Heavy Attack: +15% Screens: Torpedo attack: +25% Sub detection : −25%	75
Yokosuka Naval Arsenal	Pacific Fleet Designer	Naval Research Speed: +15% Carriers, Capital Ships, Screens and Submarines: Max Range: +25% Carriers: Deck size: +1 Armor: −15%	150
Maizuru Naval Arsenal	Escort Fleet Designer	Naval Research Speed: +15% Screens: Max Range: +30% Sub detection: +10% Max Speed: +10% Production Cost: +10%	150
Sasebo Naval Arsenal	Coastal Defense Fleet Designer	Naval Research Speed: +15% Carriers, Capital Ships, Screens and Submarines: Production Cost: −25% Max Range: −50% Capital Ships: Armor: −20% Heavy Attack: −20%	150

Aircraft designers

Designer	Type	Effect	Cost
Mitsubishi Requires Agility Focus	Agility-focused Aircraft Designer	Air Research Speed: +15% Fighters and Carrier Fighters: Agility: +20% Max Speed: +10%	150
Aichi Requires Range Focus	Range-focused Aircraft Designer	Air Research Speed: +15% Fighters and Heavy Fighters: Range: +10% Heavy Fighters and Tactical Bombers: Reliability: +20%	150
Nakajima	Heavy Aircraft Designer	Air Research Speed: +15% Strategic Bombers: Strategic Bombing: +10%	150
Yokosuka	Naval Aircraft Designer	Air Research Speed: +15% Naval Bombers, CV Naval Bombers and Carrier CAS: Range: +10% Naval Attack: +10% Carrier Fighters: Range: +10% Agility: +10%	150

Materiel designers

Designer	Type	Effect	Cost
Tokyo Arsenal	Infantry Equipment Designer	Weapons and Equipment Research Speed: +15%	150
Nissan	Motorized Equipment Designer	Motorization Research Speed: +15%	150

Industrial concerns

Designer	Type	Effect	Cost
Kawasaki	Industrial Concern	Industrial Research Speed: +15%	150
Sumitomo	Electronics Concern	Electronics Research Speed: +15%	150
Idemitsu Kosan	Refining Concern	Industrial Research Speed: +5% Synthetic Resources Research Speed: +10%	150

Theorists

Name	Type	Effect	Cost
Tomoyuki Yamashita	Grand Battleplan Expert	Grand Battleplan Doctrine Cost: −15%	150
Hisaichi Terauchi	Military Theorist	Land Doctrine Cost: −10%	100
Isoroku Yamamoto	Naval Aviation Pioneer	Base Strike Doctrine Cost: −15%	150
Minoru Genda	Naval Theorist	Naval Doctrine Cost: −10%	100
Yoshitoshi Tokugawa	Assault Aviation	Operational Integrity Doctrine Cost: −15%	150
Hino Kumazo	Air Warfare Theorist	Air Doctrine Cost: −10%	100
Yoshio Nishina	Nuclear Scientist	Nuclear Research Speed: +15%	100
Hideo Itokawa	Rocket Scientist	Rocket Research Speed: +15%	100

Equipment variants

Tank variants list

Type	Chassis	Role	Main Armament	Turret	Suspension	Armor (level)	Engine (level)	Special Modules	Cost
Type 97 Chi-Ha^	Basic Medium	Medium Tank	Close Support Gun	Two Man	Bogie	Riveted (2)	Diesel (4)	Basic Radio	8.24
Type 95 Ha-Go	Basic Light	Light Tank	Small Cannon	One Man	Bogie	Riveted (2)	Diesel (2)		3.88
Type 89 I-Go	Inter-War Medium	Medium Tank	Close Support Gun	One Man	Bogie	Riveted (2)	Diesel (3)		7.36
Type 94 Tankette*	Inter-War Light	Light Tank	Heavy Machine Gun	One Man	Bogie	Riveted (1)	Gasoline (1)		2.64

Aircraft variants list

Type	Airframe	Role	Main Armament	Secondary Weapons	Engine	Special Modules	Cost
A6M Zero-Sen Requires The Zero	Improved Carrier	Fighter	2x Light Machine Gun	2x Cannon I	1x III	Drop Tanks, Extra Fuel Tanks	38.50
G3M2^	Basic Medium	Tactical Bomber	Medium Bomb Bay	Torpedo Mountings	2x II	Light MG Defense Turret 2x, Extra Fuel Tanks	56
Ki-21^	Basic Medium	Tactical Bomber	Medium Bomb Bay		2x II	Light MG Defense Turret	49
Ki-30/32^	Basic Small	CAS	Small Bomb Bay		1x II		26
B5N^	Basic Carrier	Naval Bomber	Torpedo Mountings	Bomb Locks	1x II	Extra Fuel Tanks	32.50
A5M^	Basic Carrier	Fighter	2x Light Machine Gun		1x II		27.50
Ki-27^	Basic Small	Fighter	2x Light Machine Gun		1x II		24
B4Y	Basic Carrier	Naval Bomber	Torpedo Mountings	Bomb Locks	1x II		31.50
B2M	Inter-War Carrier	Naval Bomber	Torpedo Mountings		1x I		27
A4N	Inter-War Carrier	Fighter	2x Light Machine Gun		1x I		24
Aichi D1A2	Inter-War Carrier	CAS	Bomb Locks		1x I	Dive Brakes	25
Ki-3	Inter-War Small	CAS	Bomb Locks		1x I	Light MG Defense Turret	23
Ki-1	Inter-War Medium	Tactical Bomber	Medium Bomb Bay		2x I	Light MG Defense Turret	45
Ki-2	Inter-War Small	CAS	Small Bomb Bay		2x I	Light MG Defense Turret	40
Ki-10	Inter-War Small	Fighter	2x Light Machine Gun		1x I		22

• * marks a variant as "outdated".
• ^ marks a variant that is only available in the 1939 start.

Cosmetic names

Japan has a number of unique names and appearances for various technologies and equipment, listed here. Note that generic names are not listed.

Infantry & motorized techs

Type	1918	1936	1938	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944
Support Weapons	Type 3 Heavy Machine Gun & Type 11 Mortar		Type 11 LMG & Type 10 grenade discharger		Type 99 LMG & Type 94 Mortar		Type 1 HMG & Type 2 12 cm Mortar
Infantry Equipment	Type 38	Type 99		Type 100/40			Type 100/44
Infantry Anti-Tank							Type 2 Rifle Grenade	Type 4 AT Rocket Launcher
Motorized		Type 94
Mechanized					Type 1 Ho-Ki		Type 1 Ho-Ha		Type 4 Ka-Tsu
Amtrac						Ka-Tsu		Ka-Tsu-Kai
Armored Car		Osaka			Chiyoda		Kokusan (Type 4 Armored Car)

Armor techs (Without )

Tech year	Amphibious	Light (TD/SPG/AA)	Medium (TD/SPG/AA)	Modern (TD/SPG/AA)	Heavy (TD/SPG/AA)	Super-Heavy (TD/SPG/AA)
1918		Ko-Gata
1934		Type 94			Type 95 (Ka-To / Ji-Ro / N/A)
1936		Ha-Go (N/A / Ke-Nu / Ko-Hi AA)
1939			Chi-Ha (Ho-Ni I / Ho-I / N/A)
1940	Type 2 Ka-Mi
1941		Ke-Ni (Ho-Ru / Ku-Se / Ta-Se)	Chi-Nu (Ho-Ni III / Ho-Ro / N/A)		Iwakuro (Ho-Ri / Ho-Chi / N/A)
1942	Type 3 Ka-Chi
1943			Chi-Ri (Na-To / Ha-To / N/A)		O-I	Type 2604
1945				Type 61

Artillery techs

Tech year	Anti-Air	Artillery	Rocket Artillery	Anti-Tank
1934		Type 95 75 mm
1936	Type 98 20 mm			Type 94
1939		Type 91 10 cm
1940	Type 2 20 mm		Type 4 20 cm	Type 1 47 mm
1942		Type 96 15 cm
1943	Type 3 80 mm		Type 4 40 cm Rocket Mortar	Type 4 75 mm

Naval techs (Without )

Type	1922	1936	1940	1944
Destroyer	Minekaze Class	Asashio Class	Akizuki Class	Shimakaze Class
Light Cruiser	Tenryu Class	Light Mogami Class	Agano Class	Agatsuma Class
Heavy Cruiser	Furutaka Class	Heavy Mogami Class	Tone Class	Ibuki Class
Battlecruiser	Amagi Class		Design B-65
Battleship	Fuso Class	Kongo Class	Tajima Class	Iwami Class
Super-Heavy Battleship		Yamato Class		Super Yamato Class
Carrier	Kaga Class	Soryu Class	Shokaku Class	Taiho Class
Submarine	Kaichu Class	Kaidai VI Class	Ko/Otsu/Hei-Gata Class	Sen-Toku Class

Aircraft techs (Without )

Tech year	Close Air Support (Carrier)	Fighter (Carrier)	Naval Bomber (Carrier)	Heavy Fighter	Tactical Bomber	Strategic Bomber	Scout Plane
1933		Type 91 (A4N)			G3M Rikko
1936	Ki-32 (D1A2)	Ki-27 (A5M)	G3M1 (B5N)	Ki-38	Ki-21	Ki-20	Ki-46
1940	Ki-51 (D3A)	Ki-43 Hayabusa (A6M Zero-sen)	G4M (B6N)	Ki-45 Toryu	Ki-48	Ki-49 Donryu	J1N1-C
1944	Ki-66 (D4Y Suisei)	Ki-84 Hayate (A7M Reppu)	P1Y Ginga (B7A)	Ki-102	Ki-67	G8N Renzan
Jet Engine Technology
1945		Kikka
1950		J7W Shinden-Kai

Politics

National spirits

Japan starts with four national spirits in the base game:

State Shintoism

• Factory Bomb Vulnerability: −10%
• Division Recovery Rate: +10%

Since the Meiji Restoration we have sought to use the worship in Shinto shrines to promote imperial loyalty and aid in nation building. This has allowed us to build up a country that is ready to sacrifice much in the name of the state.

Zaibatsus

• Daily Political Power Cost: +0.25
• Trade Laws Cost: +25%
• Economy Cost: +25%
• Civilian factory Construction Speed: +5.00%
• Military factory Construction Speed: +5.00%
• Naval dockyard Construction Speed: +5.00%
• Consumer Goods factories: 5%

Duplicate Research Efforts

• Air Research Time: +10%

Militarism

• War Support: +20.00%
• Mobilization Cost: -25%
• Justify War Goal time: -20.0%
• Research Time: +5.00%
• Civilian factory Construction Speed: -10.00%

With the Waking the Tiger expansion enabled, Japan starts with an additional national spirit:

Interservice Rivalry - Balanced

With the Man the Guns expansion enabled, Japan starts with an additional national spirit:

London Naval Treaty Signatory

• Carrier Max Cost: 9500
• Cruiser Max Cost: 5300
• Heavy Ship Max Cost: 10000

We have signed the London Naval Treaty and accordingly are restricted in the size of our capital ships.

Interservice Rivalry starts as "balanced" but can be affected by the Interservice Rivalry (IR) decisions. The decisions are comprised of four pairs of mutually exclusive decisions, with any pair offering to either favour the navy or the army, giving a national spirit for the decision and changing the balance of the Interservice Rivalry national spirit.

Mechanics

The national spirit uses a 5 step scale of Army dominant to Navy Dominant. While a balanced rivalry has no effect, strengthening either branch of service results in modifiers to factory output and construction speed with "branch strengthened" and further modifiers to research and planning speed with "branch dominant".

Interservice Rivalry Status	Dockyard/ Factory Output	Dockyard/ Factory Construction Speed	Other effects
Army dominant	-20%/+10%	-20%/+10%	Land doctrine cost +5% Naval doctrine cost -10% Naval research speed -10%
Army strengthened	-10%/+5%	-10%/+5%	-
Balanced	-	-	-
Navy strengthened	+5%/-5%	+10%/-10%	-
Navy dominant	+10%/-5%	+20%/-20%	Naval doctrine cost +5% Planning speed -10% Land doctrine cost -10%

Decisions

Each decision is mutually exclusive with its counterpart, so the effects are mutually exclusive as well. It costs 50 PP to take a decision and after each decision comes a 180 day cooldown before the next one can be taken. However, there is no strict order in which any decision can be taken. Furthermore, a decision taken affects the Interservice Rivalry national spirit, taking it one step towards the last choice. So, a "balanced" rivalry becomes "army strengthened" after the first pro army choice and becomes "balanced" again when choosing the navy next.

Prioritize Steel for Guns - get +2 MIC in 2 random states

Prioritize Steel for Ships - get +2 NIC in 2 random states

Prioritize Army Aircraft Construction - -10% production cost for CAS and tactical bombers

Prioritize Navy Aircraft Construction - -20% production cost for carrier fighters, carrier CAS, carrier naval bombers and naval bombers

Institute Indiscriminate Conscription - +2% recruitable population

Grant Draft Exemptions - +5% MIC and dockyard output

Form Raiding Regiments - +2% special forces multiplier

Form Special Air Landing Forces - +5% attack and defense for special forces

Diplomacy

Puppets : Japan has two puppets at the start of the game;  Manchukuo and  Mengkukuo. Both of these countries are located in Northern China and are quite lackluster in terms of industry and military.

Political parties

Political Party	Ideology	Popularity	Party Leader	Country Name	Is Ruling?
Taisei Yokusankai	Fascist	100%	Hirohito	Japan	Yes
Nihon Kyosan-to	Communist	0%	Kyuichi Tokuda	Japanese People's Republic	No
Rikken Minseito	Democratic	0%	Tetsu Katayama	State of Japan	No
Kodoha Faction (After complete Support Kodoha focus)	Non-Aligned	0%	Hirohito	Japanese Shogunate (Empire of Japan If Completed National Focus Showa Restoration)	No

Political advisors

These are the ministers available for the Empire of Japan.

Political advisors

Icon	Advisor	Type	Effect	Cost
	Sanzo Nosaka	Communist Revolutionary	Daily Communism Support: +0.10 Has completed focus ‘The Unthinkable Option’	150
	Kijuro Shidehara	Democratic Reformer	Daily Democracy Support: +0.10 Has completed focus ‘Strengthen Civilian Government’	150
	Kingoro Hashimoto	Fascist Demagogue	Daily Fascism Support: +0.10	150
	Mitsumasa Yonai	Silent Workhorse	Political Power Gain: +15%	150
	Hiroshi Oshima	Prince of Terror	Non-core Manpower: +2.00% Foreign subversive activities efficiency: -30% Damage to Garrisons: -25.00%	150
	Chiune Sugihara	Compassionate Gentleman	Improve relations opinion: +15%	150
	Takuo Godo	War Industrialist	Military Factory construction speed: +10.0% Dockyard construction speed: +10.0% Fuel Silo construction speed: +10.0%	150
	Tsugumichi Arisugawa	Illusive Gentleman	Operative slots: +1 Agency upgrade time: -15.0% Has created an Intelligence Agency	150

Economy

Resource-wise, Japan finds itself in much the same place as Germany. While Japan has access to a satisfactory amount of chromium, tungsten, and steel, it suffers from a shortage of aluminum, and an extreme shortage of oil and rubber. Japan's shortage of oil and rubber at the game's beginning mostly shoehorns the Japanese player into the historical bog of an infantry army. Even a complete annexation of China will not solve Japan's problems, as China has more or less the same resource pool as Japan has. While the Japanese player can trade with the United States in the early game for oil, this ties up civilian factories, and the United States has an early focus to embargo Japan (which they will be likely to pursue with historical focus turned on).

Japan is in luck, however, as all the rubber and oil are a short boat ride and a war with the Allies away. Specifically, the largest supplies of rubber and oil in the game can be found in French Indochina, British Malaysia, and the Dutch East Indies. While Japan won't have complete control of these resources until they reach a high enough compliancy percentage or a peace conference with France, Britain, or the Netherlands, the available resources are more than abundant enough to fuel the construction of planes, ships, tanks, as well as any motorized designs Japan might have for the duration of the war. If the Japanese player does not desire war with the Allies, they will have access to the first technology allowing synthetic oil refineries in 1936, which opens up options for medium-scale production of aforementioned planes, ships, and tanks, without conquest. One thing to keep in mind when taking this route is that synthetic oil refineries are extremely expensive and time-consuming to construct, eating away time that could be used to build up other military and civilian factories with which to build up a force to take all the resources Japan could ever require to fulfill its dreams of Pacific domination.

Laws

1936

Conscription Law	Economy Law	Trade Law
Limited Conscription 2.5% Recruitable population	Partial Mobilization 25% Consumer Goods factories +10% Military factory construction speed −10% Factory (type) conversion cost –10% Fuel gain per oil	Limited Exports 25% Resources to market +1% Research speed +5% Factory/Dockyard output +5% Construction speed +10% Civilian intelligence to others +5% Navy intelligence to others

1939

Conscription Law	Economy Law	Trade Law
Service by Requirement 10% Recruitable population +20% Training time –10% Factory/Dockyard output –10% Construction speed	War Economy 20% Consumer Goods factories +20% Military factory construction speed −20% Factory (type) conversion cost	Closed Economy 0% Resources to market

Industry

Year	Military Factories	Naval Dockyards	Civilian Factories	Fuel Silos
1936	16	14	22 (-10)	3
1939	27	19	42 (-15)	3

Numbers in red indicate the number of civilian factories required to produce consumer goods, based on economy laws and the total number of military and civilian factories, rounded up.

Resources

Year	Oil	Aluminum	Rubber	Tungsten	Steel	Chromium
1936	4 (-1)	7 (-2)	0	23 (-6)	78 (-20)	88 (-22)
1939	4	7	0	23	85	88

Numbers in red indicate how many resources are reserved for export due to trade laws.

Military

Here the player can type some informative bits about this nation's armed forces in-game in 1936 and the following years.

Army

Army

	Type	# 1936	# 1939
	Infantry	45	90
	Cavalry	9	9
	Light Tank	3	3
	Motorized	2	2
	Marines	1	3
	Total divisions	60	107
	Manpower used	482.20k	857.10k

In 1936, Japan has mixed seasoned and green troops. To reflect historical realities, Japan begins the game with a number of divisions that begin with experience 2 and weapons 1. This, combined with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident national focus, allows the Japanese player multiple avenues for warfare with China as early as 1936. Japan also has some troops with basic equipment, good targets for a garrison of Japan's home island and Japan's matrix of pacific islands.

Examples of alternative division template names for Japan include:

• Mountaineers - Yamahei-dan Shidan
• Marines - Tokubetsu Rikusentai or just Rikusentai (naval infantry, as opposed to marines)
• Paratroopers - Teishin Shidan
• Motorized - Jidousha Shidan
• Mechanized - Kikaika Shidan
• Armor - Sensha Shidan

Field Marshals

Name	Skill	ATK	DEF	PLN	LOG	Traits
Hisaichi Terauchi	4	5	4	3	2	Politically Connected  Samurai Lineage  Offensive Doctrine
Shunroku Hata	4	4	4	2	4	Samurai Lineage  Offensive Doctrine

Generals

Name	Skill	ATK	DEF	PLN	LOG	Traits
Akira Muto	2	2	2	2	1	Career Officer
Harukichi Hyakutake	3	2	2	3	3	Infantry Officer
Hatazo Adachi	2	1	2	2	2	Reckless  Trickster  Infantry Officer  Samurai Lineage
Hitoshi Imamura	3	3	1	3	3	Career Officer  Infantry Officer  Commando
Iwane Matsui	1	1	1	1	1	Old Guard  Reckless
Jo Iimura	2	1	2	2	2	Career Officer
Kanji Ishiwara	1	1	1	1	1	Samurai Lineage
Keisuke Fujie	3	1	3	3	3	Career Officer  Politically Connected  Fortress Buster
Kenji Doihara	1	1	1	1	1	Career Officer  Substance Abuser
Kenkichi Ueda	4	3	2	4	4	Old Guard  Reckless  Cavalry Officer
Kiichiro Higuchi	2	2	2	2	1	Career Officer  Cautious
Kuniaki Koiso	2	2	2	2	1	Old Guard  Politically Connected  Samurai Lineage
Masaharu Homma	2	2	2	1	2	Cautious  Media Personality
Masatane Kanda	2	2	2	1	2	Cautious
Naruhito Higashikuni	3	3	3	2	2	Politically Connected  Samurai Lineage
Rikichi Ando	3	1	3	3	3	Career Officer
Sadao Araki	2	1	2	2	2	Samurai Lineage
Seishiro Itagaki	3	3	4	2	3	Inflexible Strategist  Reckless  Samurai Lineage
Shigeru Honjo	1	1	1	1	1	Old Guard  War Hero
Shizuichi Tanaka	4	4	3	2	4	Career Officer  Infantry Officer  Trickster
Takashi Sakai	3	2	2	3	3	Career Officer  Infantry Officer
Tomoyuki Yamashita	5	5	5	4	4	Brilliant Strategist  Politically Connected  Trickster  Engineer (trait)
Toshizo Nishio	3	4	2	4	2	Brilliant Strategist  Infantry Officer
Yasuji Okamura	1	1	1	1	1	Reckless
Yoshijiro Umezu	3	3	3	1	3	Cautious  Politically Connected

Division composition list

Division	Name list	Support companies	Combat battalions
Hohei Shidan	Infantry	Engineer, Cavalry Recon	12x Infantry
Chugata Hohei Shidan^	Infantry	Engineer, Cavalry Recon	9x Infantry
Chuton-shi Shidan	Garrison		6x Infantry
Kihei-Shidan	Cavalry		6x Cavalry
Jidousha Shidan	Motorized Infantry	Artillery*, Engineer, Motorized Recon	12x Motorized Infantry
Dokuritsu Konsei Ryodan	Mixed Brigade	Engineer	2x Light Tank, 5x Infantry
Senshadan^	Armored	Engineer	3x Light Tank
Rikusentai	Marine	Engineer	6x Marines
* marks a company or division that is removed in the 1939 start. ^ marks a company or division that is only available in the 1939 start.

Navy

Navy

	Type	# 1936	# 1939
	Carrier	4	6
	Battlecruiser	3	3
	Battleship	6	6
	Heavy cruiser	16	20
	Light cruiser	19	20
	Destroyer	94	101
	Submarine	52	59
	Total ships	194	215
	Manpower used	115.30k	135k

Japan starts with several upgraded tier I ship classes. The Akagi carrier and Nagato battleship in particular have an especially high number of upgrade points. Japan also starts with 3 Kongo-class battleships which are tier II and 2 Mogami-class heavy cruisers that are also tier II. Under construction are 1 Soryu-class carrier, 1 Kongo-class battleship and 1 Mogami-class heavy cruiser along with 3 destroyers and 4 submarines. Japan starts with comparably high naval technology. Japan can also acquire Long Lance torpedoes from a national focus, which gives their torpedoes a longer range than any other nation.

Admirals

Name	Skill	ATK	DEF	MNV	COR	Traits
Gengo Hyakutake	2	1	2	2	2	Gentlemanly
Hiroaki Abe	2	3	1	2	1	Battleship Adherent
Isoroku Yamamoto	5	5	2	3	6	Bold  Aviation Enthusiast  Superior Tactician  Spotter  Air Controller  Flight Deck Manager
Jisaburo Ozawa	5	5	3	3	4	Bold  Career Officer  Aviation Enthusiast  Blockade Runner  Superior Tactician
Kiyoshi Hasegawa	2	2	2	1	2	Gentlemanly
Mineichi Koga	4	4	2	4	3	Battleship Adherent  Superior Tactician  Bold  Spotter
Nobutake Kondō	3	4	2	2	2	Battleship Adherent  Naval Lineage  Fly swatter
Shigeyoshi Inoue	2	2	1	1	3	Career Officer  Aviation Enthusiast
Soemu Toyoda	4	3	4	4	2	Old Guard  Bold  Ironside
Tadashige Daigo	1	1	1	1	1	Career Officer  Sea Wolf
Takeo Takagi	3	3	1	3	3	Spotter
Zengo Yoshida	2	2	2	1	2	Old Guard

Naval units list

Type	Class	Hull	Engine	# 1936	1936	# 1939	1939	Design note
CV	Shokaku^	1940 Carrier	Carrier II				1	4x Hangar Space, Anti-Air II
CV	Ryujo*	1936 Carrier	Carrier I	1		1		2x Hangar Space, Anti-Air I, Secondary Battery I
CV	Soryu	1936 Carrier	Carrier I		2	2		3x Hangar Space, Anti-Air I, Secondary Battery I
CV	Kaga*	Converted Battleship	Heavy I	1		1		3x Hangar Space, Anti-Air I, Secondary Battery I
CV	Akagi*	Converted Battleship	Heavy I	1		1		3x Hangar Space, Anti-Air I
CV	Hosho*	Converted Cruiser	Carrier I	1		1		Hangar Space
CV	Zuiho	Converted Cruiser	Carrier I		2			2x Hangar Space, Anti-Air I, Secondary Battery I
SHBB	Yamato^	Super Heavy Battleship	Heavy II				1	2x Super Heavy Battery, Anti-Air II, 3x Secondary Battery II, Super-Heavy Armor, Anti-Air I, Floatplane Catapult I
BB	Fuso/Ise	Early Heavy Ship	Heavy I	4		4		2x Heavy Battery I, Anti-Air I, Secondary Battery II, Battleship Armor I, Floatplane Catapult I
BB	Nagato	Early Heavy Ship	Heavy I	2		2		2x Heavy Battery II, Anti-Air I, 2x Secondary Battery I, Battleship Armor I, Floatplane Catapult I
BC	Kongo	Early Heavy Ship	Heavy II	3	1	3	1	2x Heavy Battery I, 2x Anti-Air I, Secondary Battery I, Battlecruiser Armor II, Floatplane Catapult I
CA	Izumo	Coastal Defense Ship	Cruiser I	2		2		Heavy Cruiser Battery I, 2x Secondary Battery I, Cruiser Armor II
CA	Mogami	1936 Cruiser	Cruiser II	2	2	4		2x Heavy Cruiser Battery II, Anti-Air I, Secondary Battery I, Cruiser Armor II, 2x Torpedo Launcher II, Floatplane Catapult I
CA	Tone	1936 Cruiser	Cruiser II			2		2x Heavy Cruiser Battery II, Secondary Battery I, Cruiser Armor II, Torpedo Launcher II, 2x Floatplane Catapult I
CA	Myoko*	1936 Cruiser	Cruiser II	8		8		2x Heavy Cruiser Battery I, Secondary Battery I, Cruiser Armor II, 2x Torpedo Launcher I, Floatplane Catapult I
CA	Aoba*	Early Cruiser	Cruiser I	4		4		Heavy Cruiser Battery I, Secondary Battery I, Cruiser Armor I, Torpedo Launcher II
CL	Katori*^	1936 Cruiser	Cruiser I				2	Light Cruiser Battery I, Anti-Air I, Torpedo Launcher I, Floatplane Catapult I
CL	Okinoshima	Early Cruiser	Cruiser I		1	1		Light Cruiser Battery I, Anti-Air I, Minelaying Rails
CL	Kuma/Nagara*	Early Cruiser	Cruiser I	11		11		2x Light Cruiser Battery I, Cruiser Armor I, Torpedo Launcher I, Minelaying Rails
CL	Tenryu*	Early Cruiser	Cruiser I	2		2		Light Cruiser Battery I, Cruiser Armor I, Torpedo Launcher I, Minelaying Rails
CL	Sendai*	Early Cruiser	Cruiser I	3		3		Light Cruiser Battery I, Anti-Air I, Cruiser Armor I, Torpedo Launcher I, Floatplane Catapult I, Minelaying Rails
CL	Yubari*	Early Cruiser	Cruiser I	1		1		Light Cruiser Battery I, Cruiser Armor I, Torpedo Launcher I, Minelaying Rails
CL	Chikuma*	Early Cruiser	Cruiser I	2		2		Light Cruiser Battery I, Cruiser Armor I
DD	Hatsutaka^	1936 Destroyer	Light I				2	Light Battery I, 2x Minelaying Rails
DD	Kagero^	1936 Destroyer	Light II				9	Light Battery II, Anti-Air I, 2x Torpedo Launcher II, Depth Charge I
DD	Asashio^	1936 Destroyer	Light II			10		Light Battery II, Anti-Air I, 2x Torpedo Launcher II, Depth Charge I
DD	Katsuriki	Early Destroyer	Light I	3		4		Light Battery I, 2x Minelaying Rails
DD	Fubuki	Early Destroyer	Light I	29	7	39		Light Battery II, 2x Torpedo Launcher II, Depth Charge I
DD	Momi*	Early Destroyer	Light I	25		7		Light Battery I, Torpedo Launcher I
DD	Mutsuki*	Early Destroyer	Light I	37		41		Light Battery I, 2x Torpedo Launcher I, Depth Charge I
SS	I-121	Early Submarine	Submarine I	4		4		Torpedo Tubes I, Minelaying Tubes
SS	Ro-26	Early Submarine	Submarine I	21	1	22		Torpedo Tubes I
SS	Kaidai III	Early Submarine	Submarine I	27	6	33		2x Torpedo Tubes I
SS	A1/B1^	Cruiser Submarine	Submarine I				7	Torpedo Tubes I, Floatplane Catapult I
* marks a variant as "outdated". ^ marks a variant that is only available in the 1939 start. Ship type terminology: CV - Carrier SHBB - Super-heavy battleship BB - Battleship BC - Battlecruiser CA - Heavy cruiser CL - Light cruiser DD - Destroyer SS - Submarine

Naval variants list (Without Man the Guns

Class	Type	+Reliability	Deck Space	+Torpedo	+Gun	+ASW	+Armor	+Anti-Air	+Stealth	+Engine
Hiryu^	Carrier II	1	1
Akagi*	Carrier I	3	5				2			2
Nagato*	Battleship I	3			4		3			4
Ise*	Battleship I	2			1		1			3
Myoko*	Heavy Cruiser I	2			3		2			2
Sendai*	Light Cruiser I	2			1			2		3
Kuma*	Light Cruiser I	2			1			1		2
Kagero^	Destroyer II			2		2		2		3
Fubuki	Destroyer I			2		2		2		4
Kaidai III*	Submarine I	3		2					1	3
* marks a variant as "outdated". ^ marks a variant that is only available in the 1939 start.

Air Force

Air Force

	Type	# 1936	# 1939
	Close air support	331	360
	Fighter	362	640
	Naval bomber	126	437
	Tactical bomber	54	108
	Total planes	873	1545
	Manpower used	18.54k	33.06k

Military staff

These are the military staff candidates for appointment of Imperial Japan.

Chief of Army

Icon	Candidate	Type	Effects	Cost ()
	Prince Kan'in Kotohito	Army Offense (Specialist)	Division Attack: +5%	150
	Hajime Sugiyama	Army Drill (Genius)	Division training time: −15% Has completed focus: ‘Army Expansion’	150
	Hideki Tojo	Army Morale (Expert)	Division recovery rate: +8%	150

Chief of Navy

Icon	Candidate	Type	Effects	Cost ()
	Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu	Naval Aviation (Expert)	Naval Air Attacks from Carriers: +6% Naval Air Targeting from Carriers: +6% Naval Air Agility from Carriers: +8%	150
	Osami Nagano	Commerce Raiding (Specialist)	Convoy Raiding Efficiency: +10%	150
	Shigetaro Shimada	Decisive Battle (Expert)	Capital Ship Attack: +10% Capital Ship Armor: +10% Screen Attack: +10% Screen Defense: +10%	150

Chief of Airforce

Icon	Candidate	Type	Effects	Cost ()
	Torashiro Kawabe	Night Operations (Specialist)	Night Operations Penalty: −10%	150
	Korechika Anami	Ground Support (Specialist)	Air Superiority: +5%	150
	Kenji Doihara	All-Weather (Specialist)	Bad Weather Penalty: −10%	150

Military High Command

Icon	Candidate	Type	Effects	Cost ()
	Hitoshi Imamura	Army Logistics (Expert)	Division Attrition: −8%	150
	Yasuji Okamura	Infantry (Expert)	Infantry Division Attack: +10% Infantry Division Defense: +15%	150
	Shunroku Hata	Concealment (Expert)	Enemy Air Support: −10%	150
	Mitsuo Fuchida	Tactical Bombing (Expert)	Ground Support: +15%	150
	Tateo Kato	Air Combat Training (Genius)	Ace Generation Chance +15%	150
	Chuichi Nagumo	Carriers (Expert)	Sortie Efficiency +15%	150
	Nishizo Tsukahara	Naval Strike (Specialist)	Naval Bombing: +2% Naval Targeting: +2% Naval Agility: +2%	150
	Soemu Toyoda	Capital Ships (Specialist)	Capital Ship Attack: +5% Capital Ship Armor: +5%	150
	Matome Ugaki	Naval Air Defense (Expert)	Naval AA attack: +15%	150

Strategies and guides

The below is one of many player suggested strategies for Japan. Bear in mind, due to the dynamic nature of the game, it may unfold differently for other players.

The Interservice Rivalry (IR) national spirit functions very similarly to a focus tree branch and should be considered as one for the japanese build up. While individual decisions and their respective bonuses must be considered, the IR national spirit and its effects also do play a role. If engaging in a landlocked conflict early on, like against China or the Soviet Union, it is advantageous for Japan to first choose an army favouring decision(s). This gives both the national spirit bonus for the decision itself as well as the added bonus from army strengthened or army dominant national spirit. As in the later game, Japan will almost inevitably confront the allies, it needs to favour the navy in later decisions. A "navy strengthened" or "dominant" national spirit can give Japan an edge in the naval buildup between 1938 and 1942 before confronting the Royal Navy and the US navy. Since not all IR decisions are created equal in terms of the benefits they offer, especially given their interaction with Japan's national focuses, they can be discussed as follows:

Pritoritize Steel for Army/Navy: very much comparable in terms of the benefits. Depending on Japans buildup strategy, either one makes sense. With the early war against China or the SU looming, steel for guns comes out slightly on top.

Prioritize Army/Navy Aircraft construction: hands down, navy is the winner here. The reason for this is that CV aircraft are actually cheaper than their land based counterparts, the bonus affects more types of aircraft, all of which are vital to Japan. The final reason being the Zero NF and Mitsubishi designer. Combining the designer, the 1940 fighter NF and this national spirit makes the IJN air arm a force to be reckoned with.

Indiscriminate Conscription/Draft exemptions: Recruitable population can become an issue as japanese land forces tend to cover extensive territories. However, this can be mitigated by using colonial troops after pupetting China. The factory output increase through draft exemptions benefits both branches of service and, together with the existing game mechanics' substitutes for recruitable population increase, makes it come out on top.

Raiding Regiments/Air Landing forces: Despite Japan getting an increase of special forces by national focus already, the meagre +5% attack/defense increase for special forces does not look appealing in comparion. This can be chosen either way, but the favour navy decision looks better.

The Empire of Japan is by far the strongest nation in East Asia when it comes to military strength and has plenty of options for expanding its sphere of influence. That being said, Japan suffers from a chronic lack of resources, given the size of its military and will, as it realized in real life, become very dependent on trade to fuel its war machine unless the problem is properly addressed. Japan is also not a very popular nation globally—the  United Kingdom, the  United States and the  Soviet Union all have national focuses that enable them to go to war with Japan and the Together for Victory DLC will also turn  Australia and  New Zealand into possible enemies.

Japan's national focus tree contains many helpful perks and boosts that can greatly assist in early-game endeavors. The National Focus New Naval Estimates gives 4 naval dockyards while "Spiritual Mobilization" and "Warrior Traditions" raise the recruitable population by a noticeable margin.

Japan starts the game with a total of 52 factories (16 military, 22 civilian and 14 naval dockyards) which is comparable to most of the other major nations and this gives Japan the biggest industrial capacity in East Asia.

The Imperial Japanese army consists of a rather colorful mix of units, ranging from Regular to Green in experience and with varying levels of equipment. Many of the division templates are also somewhat questionable when it comes to composition. A lot of rearming and reorganizing will be needed in order to bring up the military to par with the other major powers.

The Imperial Japanese Navy is the third-largest navy in the world and the largest one in East Asia. Because Japan is an island nation and also controls a large matrix of smaller islands throughout the pacific ocean, the navy will be vital to ensure that the Japanese Empire remains properly connected and that supply lines remain open. As such, Japan will need to build up its naval dockyard capacity in order to allow it to expand its naval force and replace lost ships.

Once the initial buildup is completed there are several paths for Japan to take:

Initial conquest options

The Second Sino-Japanese War

Located to Japan's Southwest,  China presents a relatively early conquest goal for Japan. The Japanese national focus tree contains the necessary focuses to grant a war goal against China very early on in the game and this makes China a perfectly logical conquest option in the early game. When taking on China, the Japanese player must be aware of two crucial facts: first, China has the second highest (highest after unification) starting core population in the game and this grants it a near-bottomless manpower supply. As such, a war of attrition is not an option for Japan as Japan will run out of manpower long before China. Instead, the recommended path is for Japan to strike fast and strike hard, using equipment such as artillery and either heavy fighters or tanks to deal maximum damage to the Chinese forces. Second, it is recommended that the player strike China from multiple directions by opening new fronts through naval invasions. Once the war starts, two possible option for additional strikes would be a naval invasion of the Shandong peninsula through Qingdao, followed by a rush inland to cut off supply line to Beijing or an invasion of Southern China to capture a large portion of China's resources.

Once China falls, the player is left with two options: Annexation or Puppeting. Annexing China will grant Japan a good amount of build slots for construction (which is mostly useless as you have enough construction slots in your capital and way better infrastructure) as well as providing a boost to Japan's resource pool but an immense penalty will be applied to the local recruitable population, greatly reducing available manpower.

If the Japanese player elects to puppet China and has the Together For Victory DLC enabled, then they will be able to fully exploit China's immense manpower pool by recruiting colonial divisions or by requesting forces from China at any point, as China will retain full access to its manpower pool as a Japanese puppet. If the player elects this path, they should only fully annex coastal states, and perhaps even all states except Sichuan (which is the highest population state). China should still be left with enough manpower. Annexing the state of Hainan is highly recommended as this state can serve as a staging area for the Japanese Navy when fighting in Southern Asia.

With 1.9 alongside La Resistance, the Sino-Japanese War can easily turn into a meat grinder for Japan. You want to end the war as quickly as possible as garrison requirement will wear you down by attrition. You can set up collaboration government via espionage beforehand to make things easier and give you an alternative to puppeting China. Be sure to complete Develop Chinese Resources focus first before allowing the collaboration government to form or you will lose out on its bonuses. You can form the Collaboration Government with either Nationalist China or Communist China. Using Communist China as collaboration government might be a preferable option given their better national spirits and conscription laws but you will need more garrison during the time you are completing the focus as the compliance will only form in their starting area. Keep in mind that just like normal puppets, collaboration government will not give you access to their docks and the collaboration puppet will immediately form over all their core territory you possess during their formation which including Dalian, East Hebei, and Taiwan.

Southern strike

Just south of Japan lies Indonesia and Indochina. These territories are very valuable for Japan as they contain large amounts of rubber as well as a moderate amount of oil, both which Japan sorely needs for tanks, trucks, planes and ships for its military.

Unfortunately for Japan, these territories are controlled by European colonial nations (the  Dutch East Indies and  British Malaya) and as such Japan will likely not be able to achieve full control of these areas until later in the game unless the player can somehow force through a peace treaty. Still, simply occupying the areas will be enough to extract the resources needed. As far as enemy opposition is concerned, the colonial nations are usually not very well defended so Japan's starting military power alone should be sufficient to capture the colonies if one acts fast enough. Invading the colonies will likely involve a lot of naval invasions or paratrooper drops (depending on personal preference) as well maintaining naval superiority around the islands.

Once the colonies are occupied, a good course of action would be to fortify the coast and station troops in the area to repel enemy attempts at retaking the areas. This is where puppet troops can come in handy, recruiting colonial troops or, if the division templates are good enough, requesting forces from puppets can allow the player to station puppet troops to garrison occupied areas for reducing resistance and repelling or at least delaying enemy incursions.

In La Resistance it is possible to form Collaboration Government on both Malaya and Dutch East Indies using espionage and it might be well worth the effort as your puppets will form immediately once they capitulated without the need of subduing the rest of the Allies. Likewise, be sure to complete Exploit the Southern Resource Area focus first before allowing the collaboration government to form or you will lose its bonuses, though this is only possible in the Fascist path.

Japan's national focus tree also contains focuses to aid in this path, allowing Japan to turn  Siam into a puppet as well as pressuring  France to give up Indochina.

Alternatively it's possible to justify on Dutch East Indies or Netherlands in the beginning and temporarily join Axis to take out Netherlands before they can join Allies.

Mid-game conquest options

Indian subjugation

After securing China, one possible alternative is to continue onward to India (the  British Raj) as having both India and China as puppets will more or less make Japan immune to casualties. India, unlike China, is a puppet of the  United Kingdom so attacking them will likely lead to war with the British. Given that India is very similar to China, possessing near-bottomless manpower but lacking in industry early on, the recommended approach for Japan would be a two-front invasion of India. Specifically, one example would be a land invasion of eastern India through southwestern China (and through Siam if said country has been puppeted) alongside a simultaneous naval invasion of the island of Ceylon and from there to southern India. Another option could be securing  Tibet,  Nepal and  Bhutan and attacking from that direction as well although this comes with the disadvantage of offering a very chokepoint-heavy attack path due to the Himalayas.

Once again, Japan should preferably strike fast and strike hard in order to not give India any chance to mount an effective defense. This time, however, it is possible that the player may run into British and other Allied troops which presents a challenge in itself as these troops will (typically) be better equipped which can make them harder to fight than the typical Indian division.

Oil rush

Beyond India (the  British Raj) lies the fifth biggest oil producer in the world -  Iran. Capturing it will secure twice as much oil as the  Dutch East Indies, providing for Japan's medium-term oil needs as it expands in the Pacific.

Though small and non-aligned, Iran's border with India is very short and very mountainous, making the invasion surprisingly tough (but still a matter of weeks).

Iran also give you access to the  Soviet Union. If the  German Reich are already close to Stalingrad, an invasion via Armenia could roll up the entire front. If not, you could blitz straight to Stalingrad or even Moscow while the bulk of Soviet forces are tied up in the West (which will collapse when half the front is deployed to deal with your invasion). You can end the war by Christmas.

Continue down under

After securing Indonesia and Indochina, Japan has the option to invade and capture  Australia and  New Zealand. Capturing these territories will round out Japan's dominance of Oceania and will also remove the Allies' ability to effectively project power in the south Pacific. Australia and New Zealand are comparable to most European minor nations, possessing good technology but limited manpower. How well defended these nations are if attacked varies greatly; if Australia and/or New Zealand stay loyal to the United Kingdom, it is likely that they will send some of their troops overseas to help their overlord on other fronts. If they choose to sever ties and become independent, however (via Together For Victory), then they will be less inclined to send their troops elsewhere and may therefore be able to mount a more solid defense. In addition to that, going down the national focus trees can lead to Australia and/or New Zealand joining the Axis or Comintern and Australia can even form a faction with the USA, puppet/annex New Zealand and attack Japan.

Bringing Democracy to the Pacific

While you can go for the traditional historical path, going Democratic is arguably a more interesting option - not only does this let the European powers focus on their home front, it also allows you to bring the western colonies in Asia closer to self rule - the US can still join the allies once tension gets high enough.

First, one should strengthen the civilian government, and prepare for a civil war. You'll lose your most highly skilled generals but keep Admiral Yamamoto. Your forces will be split, so disband your army, take Army Expansion Law, and use 5 of the army XP you get to create a unit with a single artillery division, then train as many as possible (divert the majority of your military factories to produce artillery), and when the war begins, deploy the ones you kept and convert them to infantry/cavalry (because of how frail this template is, it'll fall relatively easy - a single untrained cavalry unit alone can defeat a stack of 24 of these units). If you wish to get into one additional war aside from the ones against Manchukuo and Germany, justify a war goal on Siam before the civil war fires - you'll keep on justifying after flipping to democracy, and of the nations you can attack, Siam is the only one that has no difficulties (Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan don't have anywhere you can attack from, Mongolia is allied with the Soviets, the Raj, Indies, Australia, New Zealand, and Malaya are attached to the Allies, and you can't attack China/any of the warlords) - Purge the Militarists before you justify, since the more time you have to prepare, the better.

After winning the war, you have two options - you can either create the West Pacific Treaty Organization, or join the Allies; if you're playing on ahistorical, the former might be worth pursuing (especially if the US is the only other major democracy), but on historical, go for the latter. After joining the Allies, save up 150 PP and take the Pacific Guardian focus - this will allow you to assume stewardship over the western colonies (Dutch East Indies, French Indochina, and British Malaya) in Asia (which transfers control over them, either as puppets or occupied territory) - the AI will always accept. Note that the Indies alone grants you an insane amount of manpower if you use colonial divisions, so feel free to drain them of manpower before letting them go free. By this point, your war goal on Siam should have finished if you decided to go after it - attack from French Indochina; Siam will go down easy against a land invasion. Turn them into a supervised state or annex them (it's entirely your choice). Take Liberate Manchuria, but don't return the territory you already have to China just yet.

However, we still have one leftover of Japan's ugly past left - Manchukuo and Mengkuko. Stationing troops on the territory you hold on mainland China, use the war goal you get from Liberate Manchuria to go to war with Manchukuo and it's puppet. This will kick off World War 2 early - either Germany will invite Manchukuo to the Axis when you go to war with them, allowing you to call the Allies in, or the Soviet Union will attack Manchukuo while you're at war with them, which will cause them to join the Axis, allowing you to get Britain and France involved, kicking off WW2 before Germany can make most of it's territorial demands. Send some troops to Europe (help protect the French until they can remove the Disjointed Government spirit). The Allies will always refuse the German demands for Sudetenland because they're at war (resulting in the Czechs joining the Allies), and if Germany does Danzig or war while attacking the French, the Polish will be in a better place to fight back (if Germany gets into a war before doing Reassert Eastern Claims and is doing badly when it finishes the focus, Lithuania will reject Germany's demands, resulting in them joining the Allies as well) - this can also lead to the USSR getting military access from Poland, allowing the Soviets to help fight the Germans. Focus on pushing through (consider launching naval invasions from the UK onto Northern Germany), and capitulate the Germans. Take all of Manchukuo and Mengkukuo in the peace deal, then use the decision to return all of the territory to the Chinese, righting a major wrong.

For the more ... hypocritical Democratic Japan player Korea, Manchukuo, and even all of China can be kept under Japan's thumb while still completing the focus tree. To keep Korea, release it as independent and justify a war goal on it right before the Preemptive Coup focus finishes. After conquering and annexing Korea, it can be released as a puppet when you get the "Korean Independence" mission. You still get the mission reward. Manchukuo can also be released as a puppet instead of returned to China. If you get really lucky, Manchukuo has focuses which puppet all the Chinese warlords and give them all the Chinese cores. You can also get a free war goal on China from communist sabotage, even as a democracy. Just remember to invite the UK to the war to prevent the Panay incident from firing.

Achievements

Sunrise Invasion

As Japan, conquer Mexico then Europe before 1945.

Tojo Shot First

As Japan, Nuke a core territory of the US before the US develops nuclear weapons

Countries

Europe

Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Czechoslovakia Denmark Estonia Finland France Free France Vichy France German Reich Kingdom of Greece Kingdom of Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Nationalist Spain Republican Spain Romania Slovakia Soviet Union Sweden Switzerland Turkey Republic of Ukraine United Kingdom Yugoslavia

North America

Dominion of Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominican Republic El Salvador Guatemala Haiti Honduras Mexico Nicaragua Panama United States

South America

Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Peru Uruguay Venezuela

Asia	Afghanistan Bhutan British Malaya British Raj China Communist China Dutch East Indies Guangxi Clique Iran Iraq Japan Manchukuo Mengkukuo Mongolia Nepal Oman Philippines Saudi Arabia Shanxi Siam Sinkiang Tannu Tuva Tibet Xibei San Ma Yemen Yunnan

Africa

Angola Sultanate of Aussa Botswana Kingdom of Egypt Ethiopia Liberia South Africa

Oceania

Australia Melanesian Federation New Zealand Tahiti