Asia for the Asiatics!

Asia for the Asiatics! is the story of the rise of a indepedent, democratic Asia. Primarily, this timeline revolves around the evolution of a democratic PanAsianist Japan that leads the continent to a bright future.

The POV for the timeline is the survival of Itō Hirobumi after the assasination attempt on him in Manchuria on October 26, 1909 fails. As a result, Japan fails to develop into the militarist monarchy it became in the OTL. Instead, it becomes the largest supporter of PanAsianism and the Taisho Democracy era of the 1920s never ends.

Do not edit this timeline. All unauthorized edits will be removed. Comments are welcome however.

==	Introduction==

Itō Hirobumi was a major political figure in early post-Meiji Japanese history. After holding many lower posts, including Home Minister, he became Japan's first prime minister in 1885. During his previous years, he had observed Western institutions and implemented many of them back home in Japan. As a result of his efforts, Japan developed a modern political system. He remained a major political force in Japan until his death in 1909. The last position he held was Resident-General of Korea, a post that essentially oversaw the country while it was a Japanese protectorate. While he did push through the Japanese-Korean Annexation Treaty and other pro-annexation measures, he was personally against annexation. He saw Japan as being the leader of Asia. He believed they should bring Korea, and possibly other Asian territories, unders its influence, but not annex them. His assasination ultimately accelerated the passage of the Annexation Treaty.

In this ATL, what if he had survived and managed to use his political influence, despite the opposition of the Imperial Japanese Army and others, to prevent Korea's annexation, or at least guide it in a new path? In this ATL, he lived and remained a powerful force in Japanese politics. While his opponents would turn out to be too powerful to completely prevent annexation, he would organize a different arrangement. He would create a dynastic union between Japan and Korea. The Emperor of Korea would retain his throne, but Korea would become a autonomous territory of Japan. The Japanese and Korean militaries and diplomacy would be united, but many internal powers would be kept by Korea. A union of this sort was a major idea of many PanAsianists at the time who believed a union of Japan, Korea, and China was the only way to oppose Western imperialism. The creation of this union would both achieve the result of annexation, while maintain nominal Korean independence and preventing the effects of the Japanese occupation. And most importantly, this would deprive the Imperial Japanese Army a major power base and political victory. As a result, the military would slowly slip out of Japanese politics and remain subserviant to the elected Japanese government. This new democratic Japan would soon become determined to liberate Asia as its doctrine of PanAsianism spread.