Japan (Yellowstone: 1936)

The Empire of Japan is a nation in Eastern Asia.

History
Japan had captured Manchukuo from China in 1932, and had ben in an informal state of war in 1931 with the nation of China. The nation had begun multiple programs to amp up on its military to try to become the dominant power in the Pacific. This had caused a lot of tensions with the Soviets as well as the United States, both of whom viewed the Empire in a suspicious manner.

When the Yellowstone Eruption occured in 1936, tremours could be felt in Japan. It did not take long for the Japanese government to piece together what had happened in America, and they realised they needed to take full advantage of the situation. Geological reports were also coming in by October that magma was building up in various volcanoes. The Japanese navy was quick to utilise the situation, and launched a pre-emptive strike of various American taskforces in the Philippines and also attacked Chinese ships off the coast of China in late October 1936 in what would come to be known as the.

Pacific War
The Japanese Army invaded China (officially) following the commencing of hostilities, and used their navy to engage the various taskforces present from other nations such as the British, Dutch and American navies. The American navy was not seen as much of a threat due to the fact they returned to America to try to save civilians, and so the Japanese were able to focus on Indonesia and China. In a year, the Chinese coast had been conquered and Indonesia was supplying the Japanese war effort. However, the eruption of several volcanoes and the two tsunamis which had devastated Japan by late 1937 made the government realise that the majority of the Japanese people had to be evacuated to safer lands in Manchuria and Japanese China. As a result, the navy was drafted into a major evacuation operation and began to transport civilians to lands which had been cleared out for Japanese citizens.

The Chinese continued to fight on against the Japanese and the Communist-Nationalist alliance against the Japanese held steady and provided the army with multiple problems. The air force was ordered not to bomb cities due to the fact they would be needed to house the incoming Japanese citizens, and due to this - the land war turned more bloody.