Manchuria and Japan aren't comparable, though... Japan had alot more people, Manchuria became Sinicized because the Manchu emperors allowed Chinese people to settle the sparsely populated area.
Manchuria and Japan aren't comparable, though... Japan had alot more people, Manchuria became Sinicized because the Manchu emperors allowed Chinese people to settle the sparsely populated area.
Actually the settlement of Manchuria by Han Chinese was only allowed in the mid-19th century, to avoid further Russian encroachment on the Empire's northern frontiers, whereas the Sinicization of the Manchu elites was more or less complete by the early 18th century. So while it's true that Japan is more densely populated than Manchuria, in this context it wouldn't be much of a factor; the archipelago would remain overwhelmingly Japanese in ethnic terms, and the lower classes would retain their cultural identity, but the imperial elites would "go native" nonetheless.