AHC: Communist Japan

The title says it all: Create a communist Japanese republic with a POD of your choice between 1900 and 1939. Bonus points if this state also controls Korea and Taiwan. Even more bonus points if the Kanji system becomes abolished in its entirety and gets replaced solely by a Hiragana/Katakana or a Romanji system.

It would'nt be that hard to do with the POD. Have a war or two go badly for Japan, and then after the effects of the Kanto earthquake and Great Depression, leftist elements could certainly rise. By default the country would control at least Korea; not sure if a foreign power would intervene to take Taiwan or not however.
As for abolishing Kanji, that seems like a horror given all the words in Japanese that sound the same. More kana, yes, no Kanji, no. They might even adopt the Chinese simplification if there is a Communist China TTL (I doubt it, since Mao relied heavily on the Japanese invasion to win).

I think that this is a bit hard to do, but a far left government? Oh, that's quite plausible. But it would be peculiarly Japanese, with an emphasis on nationalism and a harmonious state. Hrm...

I always got the feeling that the Japanese had a particularly strong feudal mindset, which persists today in the form of zaibatsus and yakuza. It would be interesting to see how this works (or doesn't work/is destroyed) under an authoritarian left-wing society.

That's really interesting. I wonder how the Chinese would've kept Shikoku, and what would happen to it after 1949?

I'd like to see a "Communist" Empire of Japan TL with an early POD. Could be some fascinating butterflies, particularly through the mid to late 20th century.

And by "Communist Empire", I'm sure you all know exactly what I mean...

Regardless of Chiang's views, couldn't there easily have been a division of Japan had the war gone on longer and the Soviets invaded?