Hmm, I just thought some may look (and yes a very few and extremists) might look to the soviet union as a time of renewed russian hegemony, great industrial power, rising education (through likbez) and military power and scientific process (notably innovation in weaponry).Privatisation, as you say, was a fairly slow process (a lot of ex-communist party members that don't want to lose their control), that's one of the big jobs the Allied occupation had to help with. Urban workers are still doing all right (they're not expected to fulfill quotas at risk of death any more, and they have a chance to partially own their businesses now)
The army wasn't technically limited (Versailles is proof enough that that doesn't really work), but a large demobilisation was "encouraged" by the Allies and the money needed to rebuild a 6M man army didn't really exist throughout the 50s. After that the cost of maintaining a really large force was such that there's no public support for it. An F-100 costs a lot more than a P-40 after all.
There's always going to be fringe groups, but Stalinists aren't ever going to get close to power again in Russia - modern Russians see Stalinism as "starve us, take God away and get in wars", three things that the population is very much opposed to. Those groups blame everyone from the Americans to the Jews for whatever they perceive to be "problems", which reduces the amount of support that they could theoretically get in tough times.
Japanese culture is very strong across much of Asia ITTL - everything within Japanese borders has by now been rebuilt into a Japanese-style look (even Vladivostok is more distinctly 'Japanese' than 'European' by 2020). A fair number of high-ranking Japanese businesses also have major presences in various countries (the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam chief among them), with all the cultural influence that comes along with that. Emigration out of Japan is quite minimal (it is generally frowned upon within Japan and there's not much reason to leave for most people - if they don't like the Home Islands there is always Manchuria), so most influence comes from the corporate world rather than the establishment of large Japanese communities outside Japan.
- BNC
In terms of Japanese influence, is Japanese architecture contain more traditional elements in this timeline without having to completely rebuild tokyo after firebombing? I assume some skyscrapers would still be built as during the 70s/80s they are necessary to keep up with a dense population, and the modernistic style I think could spread to also dense Manchuria and Korea, while Vladivostok might look more traditional due to a smaller population. I do think however the skyscrapers would be kept fairly separate from important cultural sights and traditional architecture, notably shinto temples id think.
Sorry, these are my last questions, I promise. I just find it fascinating.
This may be my favorite timeline, if not it is up there.