The Army of Jimmu and the Rising Sun (Would the Japanese Wartime Army have close to a billion men?)

I understand that The Japanese wouldn't have a wartime military of a billion, but how large would it be? Also would a war between Japan, and the Reich mean there would be Civil war in Japan between those who want independence? Or would Japan Liberalize quickly, and make some type of United States of Greater Austria with all it's colonies, giving colonies representation?
 

Japhy

Banned
I understand that The Japanese wouldn't have a wartime military of a billion, but how large would it be? Also would a war between Japan, and the Reich mean there would be Civil war in Japan between those who want independence? Or would Japan Liberalize quickly, and make some type of United States of Greater Austria with all it's colonies, giving colonies representation?
I really don't mean to sound rude or cruel asking this but have you ever read on this subject matter before? Because this has literally no connection to the Japanese Empire and it's policies.
 
I understand that The Japanese wouldn't have a wartime military of a billion, but how large would it be? Also would a war between Japan, and the Reich mean there would be Civil war in Japan between those who want independence? Or would Japan Liberalize quickly, and make some type of United States of Greater Austria with all it's colonies, giving colonies representation?

Japan can't give China representation the same reason Britain can't give India representation. They'd be dominated by their colonies.

Realistically, you only need a military of a few million, max. Basically like Cold War-era USA/USSR/China/India. Japan probably can't support much more than a million soldiers or so with its population, but they should make it for it with supercarriers, nuclear submarines (Japan would go for at least a few subs of Typhoon-class or even bigger since they loved the idea so much in WWII), strategic bombers, modern MBTs, and a sizable nuclear arsenal. This gives you the power to deploy your military anywhere on the planet in short notice. Wartime, you can scale it up a few notches (not that much bigger than WWII sizes) but if you're fighting a great power then both of you are dead to nuclear warfare anyway.
 
I think it might be worth elaborating on 'they won't give representation'.

If Japan gives China representation equal to them, or not less than 1/10th as Japan, there will be more Chinese votes than Japanese. If you are envisioning a historically accurate system, replace voters with power because the Japanese empire was not a democracy, if you want equal representation then you mean they have equal power. They may use it to deny representation to Japan. They may use it to follow industrial and economic policies that move industry to China. They may use it to create a military full of Chinese soldiers sailors pilots, and lead by Chinese officers. They may use this vote to leave the Empire, perhaps after doing those things, perhaps immediately, or even never, instead keeping Japan as a colony.

Japanese voters and politicians or whoever holds the power in your theoretical system, knows this too. They know that making Chinese people equal to Japanese people means they will be put at their mercy and they have not exactly given them reason to be merciful, additionally they would find the idea of equality insulting.
 
Japan can't give China representation the same reason Britain can't give India representation. They'd be dominated by their colonies.

Realistically, you only need a military of a few million, max. Basically like Cold War-era USA/USSR/China/India. Japan probably can't support much more than a million soldiers or so with its population, but they should make it for it with supercarriers, nuclear submarines (Japan would go for at least a few subs of Typhoon-class or even bigger since they loved the idea so much in WWII), strategic bombers, modern MBTs, and a sizable nuclear arsenal. This gives you the power to deploy your military anywhere on the planet in short notice. Wartime, you can scale it up a few notches (not that much bigger than WWII sizes) but if you're fighting a great power then both of you are dead to nuclear warfare anyway.

Yes Realistically you'd only need a few million, I was asking how much could Japan enlist in an army in a future large war against the Reich for example. Nuclear warfare might render military useless, but there may be a three-way Cold war. Japan might just use its large military to govern the large empire. If Japan used the same tricks other empires used on their population, they could survive for a long time. I don't know if Japan would resort to Genocide, but they'd have the military to do so unless it's their own nation.

All I was interested in this thread is how much men could Japan bring into the military against a large military power.
 
All I was interested in this thread is how much men could Japan bring into the military against a large military power.
Your OP really does not communicate that at all.

Anyways, if the Japanese General Staff decides the best way to stop the German panzers is to throw "fresh combatants" under their treads, then they have the Kenpeitai to eagerly ensure that those orders are carried out in full.
 
The only way Japan could win WWII was by not getting into it at all. Have the Nazis lose the Battle of France so that the invasion of Indochina and thus the imposition of U.S. sanctions never happens. Japan gets a half loaf. Best anyone can hope for.

Japan lost WWII on December 7th, 1941 the minute the first wave crossed into Hawaiian airspace. There is a popular misconception that the Pacific War was ever a close-run thing or that the Japanese had even the slightest chance. They didn't. I blame History Channel "documentaries" and other things breathlessly nattering away with stuff like "if the third wave had been sent in at Pearl Harbor the course of history might have been changed."

The Japanese declared war while lacking HALF!!!!! the merchant shipping capacity they required to feed the population of the Japanese Home Islands.

Them winning is literally mathematically impossible.
 
Well, they COULD have won by joining Britain and France as a co-belligerent against Germany, but that's just as ASB as anything else discussed here.
 
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