With a POD no earlier than January 1st, 1900, and changing as little else as possible, mainly in regards to events in the outside world and popular culture and technological development, can you somehow get it so that Japan is a state in the United States of America?
State of Japan
- Thread starter Romulus Augustulus
- Start date
Romulus Augustulus said:
If the POD was 1950 or so, I could probably find a way to make this fly, as there actually were groups in Japan after WWII who though that Japan should inducted into the Union but I think that 1900 is too early for this type of scenario.
Japan would be an insanely powerful state... the House of Representatives has 1 rep for every 30,000 people... so Japan would have what, 4000 reps?
I think Japan, weighing in at 127,000,000 people, would simply be too large and too powerful to be a single state. Maybe a state of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu...
I think Japan, weighing in at 127,000,000 people, would simply be too large and too powerful to be a single state. Maybe a state of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu...
No, the limit is 435. The proportions are adjusted accordingly. Besides, 4000 reps for a country with about half the population of the rest of the US?tetsu-katana said:
So just have everything stay the same till 1950.Mike Stearns said:
It says no earlier than 1900.
So we have about 217 representatives for one state? The population thing is really going to hurt this from happening, the US doesn't want to be dominated by Japanese representatives...DominusNovus said:No, the limit is 435. The proportions are adjusted accordingly. Besides, 4000 reps for a country with about half the population of the rest of the US?
And by WW2, I think that self-determination was too popular of an idea to go and annex Japan... Maybe if we go into one of those scenarios where Japan is all but depopulated (Note that much of the US's permanent annexations have been of less populated areas- Makes them easier to settle with Americans)
Maybe if around the turn of the century US philosophy shifted towards expansionism, maybe causing us to annex some caribean and central american nations. If we continued to make new territories into states as opposed to colonies we might already have a few majority non-white non-english speaking states by WWII. Assuming the war goes as usual, we might consider dividing Japan up into a number of states. I would guess that a good number is 6, with the main island having three states and each of the smaller important islands being a state.
Imajin's got it right. The only way this would work if Japan is completely depopulated after WWII. Say the Atomic bombs are not ready and Japan is just starved to death by blockade and bombing of agriculture. If Japan is reduced to say only a few million rural people I could see it becoming a territory of the US, just because the lack of enough educated people to run the country as a modern nation-state (and to prevent some kind of rural inspired communist revolution in such a strategic position).
Then in say the 70's after enough years have passed (US servicemen/women settle there after serving in the Far East during the Cold War, those seeking opportunity, current Japanese-Americans going home to repopulate the islands, and the new generation of Japanese-Americans born in Japan) Japan joins the Union as the 51st state (maybe 52 if the population is high enough).
Then in say the 70's after enough years have passed (US servicemen/women settle there after serving in the Far East during the Cold War, those seeking opportunity, current Japanese-Americans going home to repopulate the islands, and the new generation of Japanese-Americans born in Japan) Japan joins the Union as the 51st state (maybe 52 if the population is high enough).
Starvation, then invasion might be one way... The remaining survivors band together to try to kill the Americans (who they are, and likely rightfully, really angry at)...Wendell said:
The thing is, commiting what amounts to genocide on the Japanese probably violates the original scenario (especially the part about popular culture)
gen·o·cide (jn-sd)Wendell said:
n.
The systematic and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group
I suppose the starvation of Japan here wouldn't really count, since we would stop the blockade if they would surrender to us, so it wasn't really planned... But people would call it genocide anyway, just as people bring up the Holocaust when issues concerning Germany come up, the "Japanese Genocide" charge will be often weighed against the USA.