What if Japan discovered North America?

I'd recommend for next time uploading the images to Imgur and then linking them via the image tags.

It's also unrealistic. Why do they have so much land when Japan can hardly afford to expand that much? Is it politically connected to Japan or is it independent?

In OTL when an island empire tried to colonize a large amount of North America, it didn't go well...

It's still connected to Japan. Also, Canada was part of Britain for a long time. But I do understand what you mean.
 
What about this image?
 

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Why stop at the Washington/Oregon border? Who would be stopping them? Especially considering geography with the Columbia River which would basically make whoever controls it control most all of western Oregon including the very productive Willamette Valley.

Sure, there's a limit to how much Japan could take and actually colonise, but that wouldn't stop them from "painting the map" with their claims. Look at Spain/Mexico, claiming all the American West with barely anyone on the ground enforcing it outside of a few clusters of settlements in California, New Mexico, and Texas (the latter two frequently besieged and looted by Indians).

Maybe a cluster of settlements in California (around San Francisco and San Diego certainly), some in coastal Oregon (Coos Bay, Tillamook, around the Columbia River mouth), and then around the Puget Sound and Vancouver Island. The ones in the north would come first, and everything north of California would fuse into one, with the two main regions being in the Willamette Valley/Columbia River and around the Puget Sound.

North of that is difficult, since it's so rugged, but maybe around Prince Rupert, and then from there something in the Inside Passage, and some settlements around the Gulf of Alaska. Probably something in a sheltered fjord, near where the major seaports are OTL. The main settlement would probably before long shift to the Pacific Northwest, since I believe you can grow rice (very highly prized) there and thus can grow more than buckwheat and whatever else you can manage to grow in Alaska.
 
Why stop at the Washington/Oregon border? Who would be stopping them? Especially considering geography with the Columbia River which would basically make whoever controls it control most all of western Oregon including the very productive Willamette Valley.

Sure, there's a limit to how much Japan could take and actually colonise, but that wouldn't stop them from "painting the map" with their claims. Look at Spain/Mexico, claiming all the American West with barely anyone on the ground enforcing it outside of a few clusters of settlements in California, New Mexico, and Texas (the latter two frequently besieged and looted by Indians).

Maybe a cluster of settlements in California (around San Francisco and San Diego certainly), some in coastal Oregon (Coos Bay, Tillamook, around the Columbia River mouth), and then around the Puget Sound and Vancouver Island. The ones in the north would come first, and everything north of California would fuse into one, with the two main regions being in the Willamette Valley/Columbia River and around the Puget Sound.

North of that is difficult, since it's so rugged, but maybe around Prince Rupert, and then from there something in the Inside Passage, and some settlements around the Gulf of Alaska. Probably something in a sheltered fjord, near where the major seaports are OTL. The main settlement would probably before a long shift to the Pacific Northwest since I believe you can grow rice (very highly prized) there and thus can grow more than buckwheat and whatever else you can manage to grow in Alaska.

Interesting. Is it possible for them to reach the great plains or buy out the French Lousiana? Also is the great plains a good place to settle?
 
Interesting. Is it possible for them to reach the great plains or buy out the French Lousiana? Also is the great plains a good place to settle?

Why would whoever owns the Great Plains sell so easily, especially since they'd be European and would probably rather sell to a European power? Why would it be French Louisiana and not owned by someone else, someone who could easily settle it better? Hell, even France could settle Louisiana far better.

The Great Plains is a poor place to settle (with some exceptions) until you have good plows to break the soil, a way to irrigate the land (like pumping water from the Ogallala Aquifer), and a market for your crops. Not to mention ample protection from the natives. And coming from the West, you get the worst part of the Plains first, with the least rainfall. It just doesn't make sense.
 
Sea otter fur was highly desired in China by the time of the Qing
I mentioned this in my first post in this thread. The difference between China and Japan in this regard is due to the Manchurian cultural influence, and even then, I believe furs were valuable mostly due to their use in ranking for mandarins. So pre-Qing/Manchu influence, China would be the same as Japan in their disdain of wearing fur or the use of most animal products.
 
This thread was originally supposed to be a fictional nation in Asia that Japan was supposed to be in it. I made a couple maps. I hope this might help you guys...
 

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