What if, the Japanese, seizing an opportunity to snatch territory (the Philippines and other Spanish islands in the Pacific), formed an alliance with the United States against Spain in the Spanish-American War? According to some sources, Japan and Spain had sour relations. The U.S. accepts this alliance knowing that they won't have to sail around the tips of Argentina and Chile in order to fight Spain; only if the Japanese complacently settled for the Philippines only, would the U.S. have to go after the other Pacific Islands. Come 1945, the Philippines and the other Pacific Islands would be liberated if the Japanese still performed Pearl Harbor; which is another interesting point. Without the Philippines in the way, the Japanese could attack the European colonies without alerting the United States.