Assuming the Japanese push the Spanish back and take Luzon, and can't see them pushing any further even in the future - Luzon itself will be enough of a headache for the Japanese
It could also just be some particularly adventurous leader coupled with a Japan wealthy enough to fund exploration - we're already seeing that at the very top at least, the desire to cement themselves in history and prove themselves has lead to expansionism, although there is still resistance to...
For Sakhalin and Kamchatka, I imagine it depends on what got nuked - if Petropavlovsk-kamchatskiy and yuzhno-sakhalinsk get plastered, there isn't exactly much of anybody left to really... resist.
The Japanese also proposed directly compensating individuals at the time. The Koreans (or at least syngman rhee) at the time rejected that, which only came to light in 2005 and caused a sizable scandal in Korea.
South America is a bridge too far with solid Portuguese and Spanish presence there but parts of the west coast of North America I can see Japan taking - California is basically the limit for how far south they go though.
Will they do that though is another question entirely
I'm not even sure if there's any benefits to Japan owning Sakhalin that can't be accomplished with the good old satellite state/good relations thing. Like, Sakhalin has resources, but just sign some trade agreement - I'm sure whoever controls the place wants money (and, like, everything else...
That "direct contact" is a journey that takes months at best and occurred a grand total of twice a year - the Pacific is really big, with a whole lot of nothing in between - Manila could hold out for some time, but Japan is practically right there in comparison to Spain. There isn't exactly any...
Great chapter, but I feel as though an urban agglomeration centered on the Kanto plain (whether it is called Edo or Tokyo or whatever is irrelevant) is more or less destined to surpass any other location in population on the home islands in the long run, - there is just so much more flat land...
That's definitely fair (France's demographic history is pretty interesting ) although part of the relatively higher populations early on has to do with the crop package - wheat and barley just isn't going to sustain the population that rice could early on (before the introduction of high yield...
The thing is some equivalent countries in Asia had higher populations by the industrialization period - Japan had an estimated population of 30 million in 1700 where Great Britain had a population of just 5 million during the same time period. Britain's population increased by like a factor of...
Japan is waaaay more of a formidable opponent than the Philippines too - the Americans would not be able to without millions of casualties, and assuming the Americans got involved through German shenanigans in Mexico it's entirely possible that Japan and America come to some sort of agreement...