What if the Japanese Empire Reunited Today?

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During the middle of World War II, in 1942, the Japanese Empire was a key player in the fight between the Axis Powers and the Allied Powers, possessing a massive imperial empire dominating the entirety of East and South-East Asia, all the way from the Northern tip of Japan, to the southern tip of Indonesia, and as far east as Kiribati, in Oceania. However, the empire's glory and power did not last for long. As Nazi Germany began to lose the war in Europe, the Japanese began to suffer from insufficient support from them which led them to the tables turning. And in 1945, the United States dropped Nuclear Bombs (Known as Atomic Bombs at the time) on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki forcing them to surrender, bringing an end to their once glorious empire. But what if it reunited today? Also, let me just start off by saying this will never happen and completely impossible in the real world but it would be interesting to speculate this scenario.

Population and Land

The first thing we need to think about the reunited Japanese Empire is the population and land it would have in possession. To start off, 27 modern-day countries would lose all or some of their territory with most of them being located in East and Southeast Asia.
Due to many modern-day countries making up the recreated empire, the Japanese would control a formidable amount of land standing at a huge 2,896,212 sq miles (7,431,250 sq km)! This would be enough to make it the 7th largest country in the world, easily beating other massive countries like India (1,269,010 square miles) and Argentina (1,073,234 square miles), making the empire around the same size as Australia (2,969,121 square miles), but still slightly behind it.
Even more impressive than the Japanese Empire's land area would be its population standing at a gargantuan 1,677,000,000! In fact, this is so large that it would easily make it the most populous country in the world, even speeding ahead of the population giants of India (1.392 Billion) and an independent China (1.453 Billion). Such a massive population would most likely be the cause of the huge population centers within the empire like Southeast Asia, Eastern China, and Japan itself.
Sticking with the population theme, the Japanese Empire would also boast some big cities with millions of people. The choice of a capital city would most likely be Tokyo as not only is it already the current capital of Japan but also a massive financial and global center in the world. However, despite Tokyo's huge population, it still wouldn't be the most populous in the empire and would instead retain second place. The beastly Guangzhou/Shenzhen urban area would be the most populous in the empire and is actually the most populous city in the entire world with a population of 47,600,000! Here would be the rest of the top 10 largest urban areas in the empire.
  1. Guangzhou / Shenzhen (47,600,000)
  2. Tokyo (40,500,000)
  3. Shanghai (34,100,000)
  4. Jakarta (32,100,000)
  5. Manila (26,300,000)
  6. Seoul (25,000,000)
  7. Beijing (20,000,000)
  8. Osaka (17,700,000)
  9. Tianjin (13,200,000)
  10. Ho Chi Minh City (10,600,000)
Land area of the recreated Japanese Empire on a map

Money and GDP

The next thing we need to think about is the GDP and economy of the empire. Starting off with GDP, the Japanese would also be a huge economic powerhouse with a Nominal GDP of a whopping $16.695 Trillion. This would put the empire in 2nd place, in terms of GDP, making it around the same size as an independent China's GDP ($16.642 Trillion), but slightly larger. It would still remain well behind the United States ($22.675 Trillion).
The Nominal GDP Per Capita of the empire however would not be as great as its Nominal GDP standing at a quite low $9,955, which is slightly below the global average of $11,922. This is mainly due to the quite poor living standards in parts of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. Nonetheless, this would put the empire in 86th place, in terms of Nominal GDP Per Capita, just ahead of the living standards in Kazakhstan ($9,828) but remaining quite behind the living standards in Bulgaria ($11,321).

Religion and Ethnic Groups

Due to the many cultures, the recreated Japanese Empire would span across, it would be very ethnically and religiously diverse. Starting with religion, Traditional Chinese Folk Religion would be the largest followed within the empire at 31% of the population adhering to it. Islam would make up the next largest block not far behind the former at 22%. This would be followed by Buddhism at 18%, Christianity at 9%, split between 7.5% Catholics and 1.5% Protestants, and finally, Atheists or Irreligious people would make up the final block at 10% of the population.
Focusing on Ethnic groups now, Han Chinese would be the largest ethnic group in the empire at 41% of the population. Javanese would be next at 38% followed by Japanese at 10%. Koreans would make up a further 6%, and the remaining 5% would be a mix of various other ethnicities.

Purple = Catholic Christianity


Yellow = Buddhism


Green = Islam


Blue = Protestant Christianity


Orange = Chinese Folk Religion

Prevailing Religions in the rough area of the recreated Japanese Empire

Military Size

Like all reunited empires we have covered, the Japanese Empire would be a huge military power with the massive ground, air, and sea forces. Starting with ground power, the empire would be in possession of around 5,750,000 active-duty personnel plus an additional 16,210,000 troops placed in reserve, bringing its total military size to a total of 21,960,000 troops. This is gargantuan and would place the empire with by far the largest man-power in the world steaming ahead of an independent North Korea's troops (7,769,000 total troops) and having more than three times that of an independent South Korea's troops (6,708,000 total troops).
The next thing we need to think about is the empire's military budget. Taking everything into consideration about its military participation, the Japanese Empire's budget would probably an estimated $250.4 Billion. Compared to other countries' military budget, this is huge but would only give it the 2nd highest budget in the world, still significantly behind the United States' gargantuan budget ($685 Billion).
The empire would also be a Nuclear Power in the modern world, inheriting some of China's nukes and the entire arsenal of North Korea's.
Overall, it looks like the Japanese Empire would definitely become a superpower, both military and economic, in the real world. However, like all countries in the world, the empire's future would be far from perfect: China would definitely be a huge threat to the Japanese, after all the valuable land they stole from the country. The rest of its future would be impossible to accurately predict but any theory is possible, and who knows, MG17, the Blog Emperor could agree to become the heroic leader of the empire to guide it through its future. Anyway, if you have any new suggestions for significant empires you want me to do in this series then please let me know and I will put it in a vote like this one. Speaking of voting, here are the voting options for this time:

Tibetan Empire | Russian Empire | Persian Empire | Khmer Empire | Yugoslavia

Finally, as always, thank you all so much for reading and goodbye! :)
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Level 63
Jul 3, 2021
Voting has finished! The request to do the Tibetan Empire won with 5 votes.

Tibetan Empire | 5 votes | 1st place

Russian Empire | 4 votes | Joint 2nd place

Yugoslavia | 4 votes | Joint 2nd place

Persian Empire | 1 vote | Joint 3rd place

Khmer Empire | 1 vote | Joint 3rd place

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Level 32
Jun 28, 2021
i vote ussr
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Level 63
Jun 28, 2021
Don't you mean the Russian Empire? I can't do the Soviet Union because another Jetpunker has already done that.
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Level 54
Jun 28, 2021
Awesome blog, very nice! Russian Empire please! :)
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Level 63
Jun 28, 2021
Thanks so much! The Russian Empire is winning so far. I will add that to a poll in a few hours :)
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Level 52
Jun 28, 2021
I'd like to hear about the Tibetan Empire, as far as I'm concerned I've never heard of it before.
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Level 63
Jun 28, 2021
Sure! I will add that to the polls. If that choice wins, I will put enough information in the blog so you will completely understand what the empire was :)
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Level 42
Jun 28, 2021
Tibetan or Khmer you decide
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Level 63
Jun 28, 2021
I will put a vote to both of them because I'm not biased towards any of the options :)
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Level 43
Jun 28, 2021
As someone who read all the blog, I can confirm that I should unite all the world, for govern Minas Gerais, Brazil, NATO, Japanese Empire, and the winner of this voting: Tibetan Empire. That’s my vote lol! But really, again, who you think would be governor of Japanese Empire?
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Level 63
Jun 29, 2021
In my opinion, the ceremonial head of state for the empire would probably be the current Japanese Emperor but a head of government would most likely be the Japanese PM.
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Level 59
Jun 28, 2021
Please do the Persian Empire!
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Level 63
Jun 29, 2021
Sure!
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Level 71
Jun 28, 2021
I'll vote Tibetan Empire!
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Level 63
Jun 29, 2021
Ok, I will put that on the polls :)
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Level 42
Jun 29, 2021
Yugoslavia

Great Blog!

+1
Level 63
Jun 29, 2021
Thanks and sure!
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Level 39
Jun 29, 2021
Yugoslavia
+1
Level 63
Jun 29, 2021
Sure :)
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Level 28
Jun 29, 2021
Russian Empire
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Level 63
Jun 29, 2021
Sure!
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Level 62
Jun 29, 2021
Can you do Tibet next? Great blog!
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Level 63
Jun 29, 2021
Thanks and sure!
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Level 15
Jun 29, 2021
Russian Empire please!
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Level 63
Jun 29, 2021
Sure!
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Level 43
Jun 30, 2021
Wait, I think you didn’t count my vote. I vote Tibetan Empire
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Level 63
Jul 1, 2021
I think I have counted your vote. As far as I know, there are 5 people who have voted Tibetan Empire and you are one of them. Please correct me if I am wrong though :)