I have a fairly simple question here, and I'm curious what people's thoughts are. How much of China could Japan take without getting bogged down in a war? There can be a "brief" conflict with the KMT in order to secure some land, but nothing protracted. They don't have to hold the land forever, I think most agree that a reasonably intact China is going to be able to take on Japan eventually, but just avoid a large scale war during the WW2 era.
I'm of the opinion at the moment that they could have reached an agreement with the KMT to sign over a lot of territory after the war had begun, had they been so inclined, but I'm open to having my mind changed.