Remember the Matsushima!
Prevent the Spanish-American War from escalating outside Cuba (or minimize the incidents in the Pacific), or prevent the war itself.
The Japanese protected cruiser IJS
Matshushima (commssioned 1891) was destroyed by an internal explosion in April, 1908; have her visit Manila in April, 1897 and suffer the same fate.
The situation escalates; the Spanish deny any responsibility, and blame the Japanese warship's crew; the Japanese are insulted; the Filipino nationalists make the Japanese an offer, and before you can say "Greater South Seas Co-Prosperity Sphere" Japan and Spain are at war.
Japan's fleet amounts to one capital ship and nine (reasonably) modern protected cruisers (less
Matsushima), and has the experience of the 1894-95 war with China under its belt; the Imperial South Seas Fleet steams south and disposes of the Spanish East Indies Squadron as quickly as Dewey et al did (historically) in 1898...
The Phillipine nationalists rise, and with a mix of Japanese-supplied weapons and advisers and their own guts drive the Spanish garrisons into the fortifications of Manila and the other larger cities.
A Japanese division is transported to Lingayen Gulf, and lands amidst crowds of cheering Filipinos, marching south towards Manila; in the meantime, small Japanese squadrons have shown up at what passes for the centers of Spanish authority in Micronesia and had raised the rising sun.
The Americans decide this is the time to make their interests in Hawaii and various points east of the Dateline clear, and the Republic of Hawaii rapidly petitions for annexation as a territory, which petition is rapidly granted, The battleship
Oregon weighs anchor from San Francisco and arrives with a small squadron and an infantry brigade made up of regulars and California militia and lands amidst crowds of cheering Hawaiians...
In addition, the US Atlantic Squadron begins a series of exercises in Tampa Bay, where a mixed division of marines, regulars, and militia is practicing amphibous landings...
The Spanish, seeking to cut their losses, ask for a conference, and acknowledge the independence of the Philippine "state" which calls itself a republic but which rapidly becomes a protectorate of the Empire of Japan. The Japanese annex Micronesia outright, establishing their headquarters on the island of Guam.
A year later, the US "intervenes" in Cuba and Puerto Rico at the invitation of the "Provisional Government of the Spanish West Indies" and both Cuba and Puerto Rico are "liberated" by combined American and Cuban republican forces; both islands become "independent republics" but rapidly become protectorates of the United States.
There you go.
Best,