As we all know, the Imperial Japanese Army joined in Operation Barbarossa in June 22, 1941 with a series of attacks coordinated with the German invasion of the Soviet Union in which the Imperial Japanese Army invaded the Soviet Far East. So, what if Japan pursued a "southern strategy" and went after the European colonies in Southeast Asia? Would it have been more or less successful than the invasion of the USSR? What would have happened to the Soviet Union if Japan went south? Could it have survived the war as opposed to being partitioned by the Axis?