Japan Joins the Central Powers

If Japan teams with Germany, Russia's screwed.

Tsarist Russia fighting a two front war will get clobbered. Maybe it will fall and become Communist sooner.
 
I'm not seeing a reason for Japan to ally with the Central Powers.

A transfer of control of Tsingtao and perhaps all pacific territories to Japan, in exchange for an attack on Russia (only)?

Japan didn't have the capability of fighting the Entente, and only joined the Entente because of the German colonies

What variables are there to a Russo-Japanese war here? Could a separate war be arranged to allow a Japanese intervention prior to the civil war without a full-out war with Britain?
 
Only way I could see Japan joining the Central Powers is if they stayed neutral for whatever reason when the war started and when it was clear Germany was winning they'd kick Russia and Great Britain after Germany had already knocked them down.

Imperial Japan was basiclly one of the most oppurtunist nations the modern world has known.
 
Have Britain be neutral, and then it would look fairly palatable to the Japanese (no Anglo-Japanese Alliance urging them to join the side of their ally, significantly worse position for the Entente in the Pacific).
The problem is of course that that would have lots of effects on its own, and would require significant changes to be achieved.
 
The main issue with Japan's position in WWI is that they were torn between Germany and Great Britain. Japan had developed a close relationship with both powers as part of its post-1868 modernization, and public sentiment regarding both was very good. The decision to join the Entente against Germany ultimately had to come down to calculation. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was a vital part of Japan's security arrangement. Something that, as much favorable Japanese sentiment as there was, it didn't share with Germany and it didn't want to threaten. Further, Germany's Pacific holdings were the easiest to attack, making the choice of sheer manpower figures an obvious one. Finally, Japan had labored at great length to put forth the image that it was a developed nation with modern and progressive political institutions worthy of inclusion in the Western "club". As the Entente powers (specifically France and Great Britain) nominally possessed greater levels of democracy than those of the CP, Japan saw more to gain in international prestige by allying itself with them. Systemic Realism at its finest.

In order for this situation to be different, I would say the most likely scenario is for Great Britain to also be a member of the Central Powers. In such a scenario, with its two closest allies both in the same camp, Japan's allegiance more naturally follows suit, with less room for calculation. Another possibility is that of Britain's neutrality in the conflict, but that is less likely on the whole, as if Japan were to join the CP only to have Britain join the Entente later, it would put Japan in a compromising and unenviable position. Alternately, one could push for a much earlier POD and remove the Anglo-Japanese pact from the equation entirely, replacing it with further ties to Germany. This however would likely leave the IJN, really the linchpin of Japan's military projection, in a less powerful state than in OTL, influencing their ability to actually wage the conflict.
 
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yourworstnightmare

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Japan would never be able to beat Britain, so they'd rather take "easy to grab" German colonies, than commit suicide by fighting Britain (combined with Russia and France, bad combination for WW1 Japan).
 
Only way I could see Japan joining the Central Powers is if they stayed neutral for whatever reason when the war started and when it was clear Germany was winning they'd kick Russia and Great Britain after Germany had already knocked them down.

Imperial Japan was basiclly one of the most oppurtunist nations the modern world has known.

I don't know about that.... The Anglo-Japanese alliance was considered, in some ways, quite a long term commitment. If it weren't for heavy American pressure on the UK to break it after the Great War, it's not improbable that Japan would never have been a member of the Axis in WW2, or at least that Tokyo would have not actively worked against British territories in Asia until the writing was on the wall in Europe.
 
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