Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan, (日本帝国 Nippon Teikoku), commonly called the Japanese Empire, or just Japan, is a country in East Asia. It is an alternate timeline of the real Japanese Empire which was defeated in WWII.

History
In the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894-1895, the Empire of Japan had defeated the Qing dynasty of China after six months of unbroken successes by Japanese land and naval forces, and the loss of the port of Weihaiwei.

In the Treaty of Shimonoseki, China was forced to recognize the independence of Korea under the Japanese sphere of influence. China also ceded Taiwan, the Pescadores Islands, and the eastern portion of the bay of the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan.

A few years later in 1898, Japan laid its eyes on the Spanish East Indies south of them, which consisted of the Philippines and various Pacific islands that Japan wanted. Japan declared war on the Spanish Empire, starting the Spanish-Japanese War.

During the 19th Century, Spain's power and position in the world had gradually slipped, losing their colonies in the Americas and the Caribbean. By the dawn of the 20th Century, Spain's power in the Pacific had long since dwindled down to nothing. Japan, on the other hand, had begun asserting itself militarily and politically. In 1898, Japan laid its eyes on the Spanish East Indies south of them, which consisted of the Philippines and various Pacific islands.

On March 18, 1898, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the Spanish navy harbored in Manila, starting the Spanish-Japanese War. The Japanese air force decimated any Spanish aircraft while the Japanese navy quickly took over all of the Philippines' strategic ports. Meanwhile, the Japanese had captured the Marianas, Carolines, Palau, and Guam from Spain.

Japan had landed troops on the Philippine Islands, and quickly occupied all of the Visayas and Mindanao, and the army was marching its way up to Manila on Luzon Island. The Japanese won the Battle of Manila, and Spain surrendered. Spain was forced to cede the Spanish East Indies to Japan. The Marianas, Carolines, Palau, and Guam were annexed by Japan, and the Philippines were turned into a Japanese puppet state.

In 1904-1905, the Russo-Japanese War was fought over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea. Japan stunned the world by defeating the Russian Empire. It was the first major military victory in the modern era of an Asian power over a European one. Russia ceded the Guandong Leased Territory and South Sakhalin to Japan.

Korea became a protectorate of Japan in 1905. In 1910, the Empire of Japan formally annexed the Korean Empire. Japan never made comfort women or try to assimilate Koreans to Japanese customs in this timeline.

The Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria following the Mukden Incident on September 18, 1931. After the war, the Japanese established the puppet state of Manchukuo.

On July 7, 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War started following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. Starting from the Japanese puppet of Manchukuo, the Japanese invaded China downwards, creating a puppet state in Inner Mongolia. Japan scored major victories, capturing Beijing, Shanghai, and eventually the Chinese capital of Nanjing in 1937. Japan never massacred Nanjing in this timeline.

After failing to stop the Japanese in the Battle of Wuhan, the Chinese central government was relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior. By 1939, World War II had broken out in Europe. Japan chose to stay out of the war. After Chinese victories in Changsha and Guangxi, and with Japan's lines of communications stretched deep into the Chinese interior, the war reached a stalemate. While Japan ruled the large cities and most of the coast, they lacked sufficient manpower to control China's vast countryside.

Eventually, Japanese reinforcements came into China, and more naval invasions led to Japan controlling all of China's coast. The Japanese led a slow push inwards, and allied themselves with rebels in Xinjiang, as well as Tibet who wanted its historical lands back. The Japanese defeated the Chinese in the Battle of Chongqing, and the Republic of China surrendered.

The Treaty of Beijing was signed on March 12, 1940. Xinjiang gained independence from China, Japan annexed Hainan, and decided to split China into two puppet states to prevent rebellion, Kahoku and Kanan, meaning North China and South China in English.

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany initiated Operation Barbarossa, and invaded the Soviet Union. With 3 million troops, Hitler launched the largest ground invasion in history. Germany made staggering progress, with huge encirclement movements capturing huge numbers of Soviet troops.

Eventually, the Germans were outside Moscow, the Russian capital. The Russian Winter then came, and the Germans were stalled in sieging Moscow. Nazi Germany then sent a request to the Empire of Japan to become allies and invade the Soviet Union. Japan accepted, and got ready to launch an attack on the Soviet Union. They did not declare war on the rest of the Allies, however.

On November 16, the Empire of Japan declared war on the Soviet Union. The Russians were now facing a two-front war, and had to bring troops to the Russian Far East, thus taking away troops from the western front and defending Moscow.

The Japanese quickly took over the northern half of Sakhalin through South Sakhalin, and also invaded Kamchatka through the Kuril Islands. Japan invaded Outer Manchuria through its puppet of Manchukuo and Sakhalin, and captured Vladivostok.

The Japanese then declared war on Mongolia to get to Russia, and invaded them along its border with Mengjiang. Japan swept through Mongolia, and captured Ulaanbaatar. Mongolia surrendered, and was annexed to the Japanese puppet of Mengjiang, which was renamed the Republic of Mongolia. The Japanese then launched another invasion of the Soviet Union through Japanese Mongolia. They gave Tannu Tuva an ultimatum to join Japanese Mongolia in order for them to not be invaded by Russia, which they accepted.

Japan had secured all of the Kamchatka Peninsula, and launched naval invasions of cities in Khabarovsk and Magadan all along the Sea of Okhotsk. The Japanese had captured all of Lake Baikal, and continued to push into the Russian Far East and Siberia.

Meanwhile, the Germans had captured St. Petersburg, the Finns controlled all of Karelia and Murmansk, and Moscow was under siege. The Soviet Union decided to sue for peace with the Japanese in order to bring troops to the western front. The Treaty of Novosibirsk was signed on May 7, 1942. The Soviets were forced to cede large swaths of territory in Siberia and the Far East to Japan. Japan annexed the rest of Sakhalin, as well as Kamchatka, Magadan, and Chukotka. Manchukuo annexed Outer Manchuria, and the Republic of Yakutia was established as a Japanese puppet.

Nazi Germany still failed in capturing Moscow, and Germany and Italy eventually surrendered. World War II came to an end, and the Paris Peace Treaties were signed, resulting in the occupation of Nazi Germany and the founding of the Italian Republic. Japan was allowed to keep everything they won.

The Cold War became a period of geopolitical tension between the three world powers: the United States, the Soviet Union, and the Japanese Empire.

Prefectures
The Second Japanese Empire is divided into 83 prefectures.

All of the Japanese prefectures in the Second Japanese Empire end with ken (県; meaning "prefecture"), fu (府; meaning "core urban zone"), dō (道; meaning "circuit"), or to (都; meaning "metropolis"). The Taiwanese prefectures end with gun (郡; meaning "county") or shi (市; meaning "city"). The East Chinese prefectures end in shō (省; meaning "province").

The Taiwanese prefectures in the Second Japanese Empire kept their kanji for their names, and just adopted a Japanese reading so they can be read with the Japanese prefectures. They continue to use their Chinese readings in Taiwan, though.

Some Traditional Chinese characters that are used to represent the names of the Taiwanese prefectures in Chinese are simplified in Japanese.

Map of the regions and prefectures of the Empire of Japan. The regions don't serve an administrative purpose, but are traditionally used as the regional division of Japan in a number of contexts.

Languages
The official language of the Empire of Japan is Japanese. Japan recognizes the languages of Ainu, the Chinese Languages of Hakka, Mandarin, and Min, the Formosan Languages of Amis, Atayal, Bunun, Kanakanabu, Kavalan, Paiwan, Puyuma, Rukai, Saaroa, Saisiyat, Sakizaya, Seediq, Thao, Truku, Tsou, and Yami, Korean, Russian, the Ryūkyūan Languages of Amami, Kunigami, Okinawan, Miyakoan, Yaeyama, and Yonaguni as minority languages.

Currency
The Japanese yen is the official currency of the Empire of Japan. For a few years after 1910 when Japan annexed the Korean Empire, the Korean won remained in circulation throughout Korea despite the Japanese yen being the official currency. The same thing happened with the Chinese yuan in Taiwan and Hainan after their annexation into the Japanese Empire.

The Empire of Japan created two new currencies for two of its puppet states of Manchukuo and Japanese Yakutia: the Manchu yuan and the Yakut ruble. The Japanese yen is an official currency alongside these currencies of the Japanese puppet states.

Allies

 * Germany - My ally in WW2. We are still good friends and have big economies.
 * Italy - My ally's ally in WW2.
 * Thailand
 * Philippines
 * Vietnam
 * India

Neutral

 * United States - Defeated my friend Germany, but we tend to get along well after the Cold War, and a lot of his people like my culture.

Enemies

 * Russia - He Tried To Take Back Siberia In 1947 ... But Failed Terribly! Ahahahaha

Trivia

 * The Empire of Japan was originally named the "Second Japanese Empire" by RedLightningStrike, the creator of this country, and had a different history and information.
 * RedLightningStrike scrapped the idea and remade the Second Japanese Empire into an alternate timeline of the original Japanese Empire, seeing it to be very unrealistic, and redeveloped the entire history.