Focusing on and after the Empire's acceptance as a great power and gaining of the South Pacific Mandate following the Great War, how might the Japanese Empire maintain good international relations with America and the U.K. and/or military supremacy in it's sphere of influence until the 1960's (presumably losing less-"Japanized" areas to Vietnam like wars)?
Without assuming they do everything right or things all go well for them, could things have gone right in wrong in the normal way of circumstances in a different direction to have either A. prevented the the instability and fascism of the Showa era or B. cause the Showa situation to stabilize? Would an avoidance of the more extreme of the 21 demands to the Chinese Republic or of the Siberian Intervention (that is not being more aggressive than America itself in that situation as to not be openly viewed as attempting to imperialize rather than simply aid the White Russians) be steps onto this path? Or maybe it could of begun earlier with a greater stability in it's friendship with the West, perhaps by the inclusion of the proposed racial equality clause in the Treaty of Versailles? Or could they, despite possessing "Greater Manchuria" still of had the possibility of friendly relations with the Chinese Republic following the Great War (if so would this prevent or accelerate the fall of the Republic to the days of warlords)?
Without assuming they do everything right or things all go well for them, could things have gone right in wrong in the normal way of circumstances in a different direction to have either A. prevented the the instability and fascism of the Showa era or B. cause the Showa situation to stabilize? Would an avoidance of the more extreme of the 21 demands to the Chinese Republic or of the Siberian Intervention (that is not being more aggressive than America itself in that situation as to not be openly viewed as attempting to imperialize rather than simply aid the White Russians) be steps onto this path? Or maybe it could of begun earlier with a greater stability in it's friendship with the West, perhaps by the inclusion of the proposed racial equality clause in the Treaty of Versailles? Or could they, despite possessing "Greater Manchuria" still of had the possibility of friendly relations with the Chinese Republic following the Great War (if so would this prevent or accelerate the fall of the Republic to the days of warlords)?