Kon'nichiwa! Hello and welcome to Japan’s proper Dev Diary where we, I, PDX_Danne, and D3vil, will be talking about what’s new for historical Japan in the upcoming DLC, No Compromise, No Surrender. We’ve already touched on a lot of this in our Dev Corner, but we’ll go a lot more in-depth this time around. Let’s get right into it, shall we?
Historical Recap
I think it’s worthwhile to start with a quick historical recap of where Japan found itself in early 1936, since this will inform a lot of our design decisions we’ll be discussing. Even though Japan had fought on the Allies’ side during WW1 and had received German territory throughout the Pacific, they never felt like they were treated as equals by the Western Great Powers. This, together with the lesson that wars could only be fought and won through total war, as well as the lack of natural resources in Japan, was part of the reason why a belief in militarism took hold and grew stronger in the nation. This would hit a boiling point in the 1930s and would lead to Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931, as well as the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, where part of the Japanese army invaded China on their own accord, and the civilian government couldn’t stop them from doing so. In fact, the army and navy were the ones coercing the government, and even assassinated ministers and prime ministers whenever these would become too inconvenient for the military. It’s safe to say that the political (and military) situation was a total and utter mess, because not only were the army and navy busy with pushing the civilian government around - they had a fierce rivalry going on between themselves too. This would lead to a lack of coordination, and both a waste of and a struggle for resources. Ok, that’s a lot of…. Lore dumping - but it hopefully provides you with a background check and an understanding of where Japan stands in 1936. Speaking of, let’s take a closer look at the 1936 Bookmark for Japan!
So many new things! New Focuses, new National Spirits, a new Country Leader, and a different Ideology
Well, that’s intriguing, isn’t it? Let’s find out what all of this means.
The Political Situation in Japan 1936
The reason why Japan starts out as Non-aligned now is because they were actually a Democratic nation with free elections in early 1936, but they were rapidly pulled towards authoritarianism in the starting months and coming years. We considered having them start out as Democratic and then switch to Non-aligned, and then end up as Fascist as you progressed through the Focus Tree, but there wasn’t much to be gained game-mechanically by doing this. Therefore, they will adopt fascism as their national ideology with the formation of a true one-party state in the early 40s. Now, let’s move on to the new, shiny National Spirits!
There is plenty to unpack here. As you might have noticed, the Imperial Army looks a bit different from other National Spirits as it’s kind of split in two parts: The Japanese Armor Doctrine at the top and the rest of the modifiers below. This kind of thing has been made possible with last year's DLC Götterdämmerung, and we’re using it here to differentiate armor-related modifiers from the rest of the army modifiers. The reason being that Japanese tanks had started to lag behind Western ones in terms of armor, firepower, and technology. Looking beyond that, at Japan’s overall tactics, they relied heavily on surprise attacks - on hitting hard and hitting fast - and found it disgraceful to ever retreat. But perhaps their biggest weakness was logistics - both on land and sea. All of these factors contributed to why Japan eventually got stuck deep in China and couldn’t push further inland.
The Japanese naval doctrine was all about Kantai Kessen, the decisive battle, where they sought to have one big sea battle to settle the dominance over the seas. This led to a very aggressive approach to all things navy (well, military really, since the army had a similar mindset), so much so that they designed and built their ships with enough firepower to make them top-heavy and suffered from accidents and damage because of this. This also resulted in an inability to detect the USA’s submarines and protect the all-important naval convoys shipping resources, food, and materiel all across the Empire. What they excelled at, on the other hand, was torpedoes.
Historically, Japan had two different air forces; the army’s and the navy’s - and they would guard any technological advancement jealously from one another (yeah, their inter-servis rivalry was intense). In the game, we bundled both of them into one National Spirit; Army and Naval Air Services, but once again we can see that this Spirit is also split in two with the Separate Air Services research debuff and the rest of the modifiers. Japan probably had the best carrier air wings at the beginning of the game, but also suffered immensely later on when they started to lose pilots at a rapid pace because their training was so rigorous. This meant that they couldn’t replenish their losses fast enough, but had to use untrained pilots.
Japan had industrialized at a never-before-seen pace in the late 1900s, frantically trying to catch up with the West. And while they achieved something truly impressive with their rapid industrialization, they never really got on the same level as the other major powers. The biggest issue facing Japanese industries was the lack of natural resources within the home islands - and the reason why the military wanted to expand and acquire these through aggressive means.
Japan suffered from political infighting between various factions and unchecked military aspirations during this period. The inter-service rivalry between the army and the navy is reflected in the Imperial Influence, where both are vying for influence and the limited resources Japan possesses; if one faction gains influence over the other, it’ll produce its equipment at a cheaper cost, while the opposing faction will face more expensive production costs. But there are two other factions that’s struggling to attain the Emperor’s attention; the industrial Zaibatsus and the civilian government.
Ok, so why didn’t we use the Balance of Power to simulate the inter-service rivalry between the army and the navy? It’s perfect for that purpose, after all. And it is - if that’s all you want to simulate. But we’re trying to showcase more of the messed-up political situation that was going on in Japan during this time, so instead of having two different BoP mechanics you have to keep track of, we smashed them all into one and placed it in the middle of the Focus Tree.
Imperial Influence
The four stages of Influence
If you work with the various factions within the Imperial Influence, they can be of great assistance to you and your ambitions, but you will have to pick and choose which one(s) you support - and when. There are four levels of influence a faction can be at; Subdued being the lowest, and then rising to Meddling, Influential, and then Dominating at the very top of the hierarchy - each stage giving you different modifiers (and changing the frame around the factions’ icon in the inlay window, as seen above). There can only be one Dominating faction at any given time, and only two Influential factions at the same time. 
All of this means that you can focus your attention on a specific thing to make it more effective; the Army faction and Navy Faction will decrease production costs towards their respective equipment, while the Zaibatsu faction will increase Civilian factory and Infrastructure Construction Speed, and the Civic Faction will increase your Political Power and reduce the cost for changing Trade Laws.
Due to their inter-service rivalry, the Army and Naval Factions are the only ones that directly affect each other; as long as they are on the same level, they will suffer slight Production Cost maluses, while if one of them rises above the other one, the more influential of them will gain bonuses towards its Production Costs, while the other one receives even more severe maluses. This means you can start out supporting the army by building lots of infantry and artillery equipment before and during its invasion of China, before pivoting to support the navy and building up a strong fleet to face off against the allies.
The level of Influence within the Imperial Influence not only determines the bonuses for each Faction, but it will also determine if you can take certain Focuses or not:
The Influence level can also boost the rewards you get from some focuses. So, how do you go about increasing (or decreasing, for that matter) the level of a faction? This can be done by completing focuses or by simply spending some Political Power and either Endorse or Suppress a Faction within the Imperial Influence inlay window.
If a faction becomes influential enough, they will also start to send Demands. If you complete these Demands, they will gain additional influence, but if you fail, they will lose it instead. If you’ve played historical Italy you should be familiar with the “Missiolinis”, where Mussolini will want to do certain things, you have a pretty good idea of what the Faction Demands are all about.
With that out of the way, it’s high time we take a look at the actual meat and bones of this Dev Diary; the Focus Tree! And let’s start with:
Industry
The Industrial Branch for Japan
Here, you can choose to focus on your colonial possessions and subjects, or on the home islands. 
The Ministry of Colonial Affairs sub-branch is all about building up your puppet Manchukuo and your colonies throughout the Pacific with Civilian and Military Factories, Dams, Infrastructure, and Resource Prospecting - all the while helping your own economy.
When developing the home islands, you first have to choose between Continue Takahashi Korekiyo’s Policies or Increase Armament Spending. And after that, you get to approach one (or all four) of the Big Zaibatsus, industrial conglomerates - each one unlocking at least an Industrial Concern. 
The Fund the RIKEN Institute has one of those effects we talked about above, where if the Zaibatsu Faction is at least Influential within the Imperial Influence, you gain a Nuclear Research facility - pretty fancy if you ask me.
With the last focus in the branch, the Resource Security, you transform your Early Industrialization Efforts to The Economic Miracle - but it comes with hefty requirements:
There are also a lot of new Industrial Concerns and MIOs - why don’t we have a look at them? Just a quick sneak peek ;)
We’ve talked about how to build up your industry now - but why is that so important? Well, because you need a strong industrial backbone if you want to be successful in waging wars. Speaking of, let’s talk about…
Military
The Japanese military, from the army to the navy, was more or less all about striking hard and striking fast. The army focused on fast-moving and mobile infantry units, intended to win quick wars, while the navy followed the Kantai Kessen, the decisive battle way of thinking - where they aimed to knock out an enemy navy (*cough*USA*cough*) in one single battle. The military branches, therefore, all start with The Imperial Defense Plan, which grants National Spirits if you declare war on countries that meet a specific goal:
With that focus out of the way, you can progress down the individual branches of the military.
Army
Almost from the get-go, you have a choice to make when going down the Army Branch; do you embrace tank superiority and Reform the Army, or do you accept the supremacy of Will and Rely on Infantry Offensives? Either choice will boost your research for and usage of armor or infantry and artillery equipment, letting you lean into those categories further and streamline your army and doctrines.
The Imperial Army’s National Spirit after specializing in tanks, infantry, and artillery, respectively
During WW2, the idea of Bushido (a moral code and lifestyle for samurai) became very prevalent, and with Instill the Spirit of Bushido, you’ll rally the army and unlock the Grand banzai Charge Tactic.
The final important decisions you’ll have to make are probably dependent on how the war is going; will you Pivot Towards Defensive Measures, or Strengthen the Supply Lines?
Having looked over Japan’s ground forces, it’s time to look up at the sky, and the….
Air Force
Rejoice, all Japan players, for no longer do you have to choose between the Zero or the Yamato! You can now, as the second focus in the Army and Naval Air Service Air Force branch, choose to develop the Zero with the Develop New Fighters and then make it even better by completing the 7075 Aluminum Alloy.
As you move into China, it might also be wise to invest in your bombers so you can truly take advantage of your almost guaranteed air supremacy to research Modern Bombers. After that, you can also lay the groundwork for a successful strike of Pearl Harbor and Improve the Type 91 Aerial Torpedo (which was specifically designed for shallow harbours).
Once you’re at war, you can Invest in Aerial Escorts before deciding if you want Sturdy Aircraft with better defenses, but less range, or Long Operational Range but less defenses - and if you choose to focus on this, you can also develop the Z Bomber Project (a programme similar to Germany’s Amerikabomber with the aim to bomb New York).
Having finished that, you can Unify the Air Forces under the same organization, effectivizing the organization and getting rid of those damn maluses.
Now, let us turn our gaze towards the rolling waves at the horizon and to the….
Navy
Before choosing what you want to focus your navy on, you can Expand the Navy’s Technical Department to gain some nice tech bonuses, and/or Prepare the Southern Fronts to improve your naval invasions of South East Asia for when that time comes around - both should be quite helpful though.
After that, it’s time to make a pivotal decision regarding your navy; do you want to Focus on Aircraft Carriers, take a Balanced Naval Approach, or go for the Battleship Initiative? Either one of them should help you lean into a specific playstyle. This decision will also dictate which of the following focuses you can take.
Depending on what you decide to focus on, the Naval Armaments Program will give you different things:
And with that, we’ve come to the conclusion of the Common Branches, and it’s time to take a look at what Japan’s politics has to offer!
Historical
Hello again, it’s me D3vil here to bring you Japan’s political branches accessible to the historical path. 
So to reiterate a bit of what was told back in the dev corner, all political paths in the Japanese tree start with the Kodoha preparing for their attempted coup d’etat, in order to replace the decadent government and return to Japanese tradition. Before they can do this however, one of their leaders needs to be let out of house arrest while his trial is happening, giving you a small buffer to prepare.
When the coup fires, the outcome you choose affects which path you go down, automatically completing the first choice of mutually exclusive political focuses, leading you down the historical, Kodoha or anti-military (which later becomes democratic or communist) paths, which all start out as locked until the attempted coup occurs. Choosing the option for the military to crack down on the Kodoha leads into the historical path.
The first thing to note is that the historical political tree shares its foreign policy branch with the Kodoha path. The branch is divided into three distinct subbranches, from left to right being about northern expansion, southern expansion as well as western and chinese affairs. 
Strike north and south are no longer mutually exclusive things, but do instead have certain requirements of time gone in between going down them, or naval and army factions respectively holding a certain amount of influence. Another thing these branches allow for is more dynamic operations against and occupations of the enemies, such as allowing you to perform a raid against the US base in Pearl Harbor. 
As was briefly shown in the dev corner, another change for Japan is that now, instead of always having full control of when or even if to go into China, they depending on the branch they are going down might have to start a war whether they like it or not, as the Kwantung Army is always seeking new opportunities to expand their zone of control. This means that, though you can choose to delay or start it early, historical Japan cannot avoid an oncoming conflict with China.
Some focuses can however increase or decrease the time for this intervention into China to happen, such as seeking temporary peace accords or reinforcing the East Hebei Garrison, giving more strength to the autonomous Kwantung Army. 
Of course these wars aren’t the only thing these branches allow you to do, as they open up the possibility to coerce and occupy other parts of Asia as well, and allow for new strategies to be developed. 
But that’s enough yapping about the foreign policy branch for now, as it’s time to move on to the internal politics branch for historical Japan. Important to note is that, though quite a few historical prime ministers are represented as country leaders in the game and the emperor is represented as a different role, some have been omitted in order to stick to the parts that would make the gameplay more interesting. The first change is when Okada steps down, and Hirota takes over to sign the military minister's attache system back into law, in an effort to appease the military. 
This leads down into the early political turmoil, which starts off when some civilian ministers decide to stand up against the growing military dominance. 
This gives two options, to either support the civilian cabinet after this debacle, choosing to appoint Hirota’s designated successor Ugaki as the new prime minister when he steps down, or to take the historical approach and favour the military, leading to Senjuro Hayashi’s cabinet which rapidly destroys itself in an effort to increase authoritarianism in the nation. 
This also presents Japan with its first choice of factions, which can later down the line be reformed into the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. 
Further down, Japan can adopt a more totalitarian approach, adopting fascism as its ruling ideology and signing the tripartite pact with Germany and Italy. Doing this unlocks the GEACPS subbranch, which allows for the exploitation and development of your newfound Asian subjects. 
In the bottom part of the tree comes the main and final choice for which person to lead Japan during the later stages of its war efforts and the zenith of its conquests. Here, depending on the strength of the internal factions, you will be able to choose either Tojo or Yamamoto, or have the Emperor step in and take command of the Taisei Yokusankai directly. 
This bottom section is about steering and aiding any potential war efforts you may have, be it by requisitioning materials or producing propaganda. 
In the end, depending on how the wars are progressing, you may be able to either proclaim the creation of the eternal empire, or do all in your power to stop the rapid collapse of the state. 
And with that, the historical part of the tree has been shown off to the world. Thank you for reading, thank you for all your feedback in our Dev corners, and hope to see you for the alt-history section in the coming weeks.