Plausibility Check: U.S. Annexes Japan Scenario

Here's a scenario I devised for a U.S. annexation of Japan in the aftermath of WWII. The actual "story" would take place a generation later and involves the National Guards of the post-annexation states plotting a Teutoberger Wald of U.S. regular troops in Japan in an attempt to restore Japanese independence. This is the back-story:

POD: There's some kind of problem with the Manhattan Project, delaying the use of the atomic bomb. Conventional bombing and blockade continue, with all the attendant mass starvation.

Things get really nasty when a ship from Manchuria containing Unit 731 goodies, including lots of plague-infested rats, is sunk near the Japanese coastline. It's close enough that the rats can swim to safety and disperse throughout the nearby countryside, spreading the Black Death.

Basically there's a massive outbreak of the plague on top of the starvation caused by the blockade and the deaths from the conventional bombing. Due to the weakened condition of most of the Japanese population, it's ridiculously effective.

Essentially Japanese society totally collapses and the U.S. invades and occupies the country. The destruction is so great that the U.S. has to take over the day-to-day administration of Japan. Statehood comes on by inertia.
 
How does that make annexing Japan any more savory? And the Japanese would have down what most did and quarentined the areas. I would also think that a ship sinking with that stuff would involve the rats still being in the cages and drowning. Mybe you could see if you could settle all the people from Eastern Europe who fought the Axis down there. Doesn't make sense, but ehh. Oh, and remember the mountains. And how far the Soviets would have gotten. And the killing of all those prisoners by the Japanese. Probably relase the plague elsewhere, as well.
 
How does that make annexing Japan any more savory? And the Japanese would have down what most did and quarentined the areas. I would also think that a ship sinking with that stuff would involve the rats still being in the cages and drowning. Mybe you could see if you could settle all the people from Eastern Europe who fought the Axis down there. Doesn't make sense, but ehh. Oh, and remember the mountains. And how far the Soviets would have gotten. And the killing of all those prisoners by the Japanese. Probably relase the plague elsewhere, as well.

My scenario thus far features the entirety of Korea in Soviet hands, since the U.S. troops that occupied the southern half are a bit busy elsewhere.

About the rats in the cages, I figured most of them would have drowned, but maybe some cages were broken open due to the bomb hits or torpedo strikes.

About who'd live there, I wasn't thinking much beyond the army of occupation deciding that it'd be a nice place to stay and perhaps hooking up with local women (those who are left)--apparently a lot of Pacific vets brought Asian women home with them OTL. I figured if the U.S. applied the Homestead Act to Japan, a lot of war refugees could end up there too.
 
Those can be removed.

Plus OTL's American West required...efforts before it could be successfully colonized.

How far do you think the infected people would even get? They weren't exactly moving around from their spots and any rats would infect the GIs. If you want to go into actually colonizing it though, I suppose you would need to deal with the likely Russian claims to Hokkaido and northern Honshu, the claims from China to occupy portions of Japan, and the Japanese holdouts throught Asia and the Pacific. Plus how the Japanese would be willing to kill anyone, themselves included, who got infected. But that is all a bit disjointed on my part. There would be bound to be unmeritted arguements to ship the Jews there for a homeland, arguements to give it to those of Japanese decsnet from Canda, the mainland United States, and Hawaii, and of course the issue of the Fillippinos. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------How much being annexed by the US are we talkinb about here, anyways? Maybe you should look up the numbers of whites from the colonies throughout Asia and Africa and see if a decent amount would be available for a British Dominion. Perhaps have Karafuto, the Kuriles, and Hokkaido go to the Ainu ASSR and Soviets (Maybe not, depending on Krea and how much they annex from China)-------Give the Kuriles to the Americans in a similar role to all the small Japanese islands to be mandaged basically as trust territories (though I would prefer them to be indepent again as they are not ethnically or historically JApanese)-----------------Give one island to the British, and the final island for the Japanese from around the world.
 
That ---- thing has disjointed your post. I had to scroll to the right to read it.

How good were the Japanese at keeping order in the Home Islands during the war?

I remember some anti-A-bomb people citing some source claiming the Government didn't view Tokyo as safe anymore, which seems to indicate problems.

If they're able to immediately quarantine plague zones, that could prevent the "everybody dies" scenario. I was thinking that the plague would spread very rapidly though, with everyone hungry and weak.
 
I put those in due to it not letting my put down paragraph seperators. And the Japanese managed to force most of an island to commit suicide. They had a fair bit of order. I am not sure what you are getting at with Tokyo not being safe. As for the anti-A Bomb people I don't see what they are talking about either. Is this because of hwo the US decided not to nuke it due to it already having been utterly flattened by regular bombing?
 
I put those in due to it not letting my put down paragraph seperators. And the Japanese managed to force most of an island to commit suicide. They had a fair bit of order. I am not sure what you are getting at with Tokyo not being safe. As for the anti-A Bomb people I don't see what they are talking about either. Is this because of hwo the US decided not to nuke it due to it already having been utterly flattened by regular bombing?

The argument is that if the Government didn't think Tokyo safe, it meant their hold on the people was weakening, which meant they might not be able to organize a massive civilian resistance to the Allied invasion.

(One of the pro-Bomb arguments involves human waves of civilians armed with bamboo spears being used as cannon fodder against the Allied armies landing in Japan.)
 
(One of the pro-Bomb arguments involves human waves of civilians armed with bamboo spears being used as cannon fodder against the Allied armies landing in Japan.)

Or millions of Japanese dying due to the famine caused by blockade, the destruction of the rail system, and economic collapse.

Come to think of it, that would be a good way to depopulate Japan and lengthen the American occupation.
 
Or millions of Japanese dying due to the famine caused by blockade, the destruction of the rail system, and economic collapse.

Come to think of it, that would be a good way to depopulate Japan and lengthen the American occupation.

Yes, that's another problem with an extended war.

Thing is, one can starve to death no matter how loyal to the government one is. Participating in a human wave is another issue entirely.
 
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