>>149622From the American perspective, Japan was hostile to American interests in the Pacific, misused the justification of national sovereignty to work toward deposing a democracy while setting up a puppet state, betrayed the League of Nations, and stomped around in what many Americans saw as their playground. Everyone thought America would work on Asia like it did Europe, but that didn't happen because the moment the Communist Chinese gained power in the North, war started against the South, and American foreign policy began a rapid slide into decolonization after it refused to militarily intervene there, meaning little-to-no support for the Dutch or French or English. After that were the pittance fight in Korea, where we humiliated ourselves by backing down to the Chinese and not using nukes, and the bureaucratic nightmare of Vietnam, where we refused to use the tactics used in Korea and humiliated ourselves again. After that was nothing. China and the Soviets had pretty much won mainland Asia, save Siam and Burma, who we propped up with the CIA, though Indochina quickly tried to distance itself from China.
We never thought China, much less Communist China, would take over and emerge as Asia's predominant native force, not without America pulling the strings. Strictly speaking, China is still trying to take control of Asia. It's surrounded by enemies on all sides except North and regularly has border skirmishes with its Southern "ally". However, even after the Maoists took China, there were still thoughts it would collapse any day, and these weren't unfounded. China would have been a massive North Korea that Reagan and Hoover would have forced to collapse in the 80s if it wasn't for Deng Xiaoping. When he came to power, America stepped back and realized China wasn't going to explode anytime soon. Deng himself was a snake. He manipulated Hua, who he stole most of his policies from, because Hua was honorable but an oaf when it came to public relations, not criticizing Mao because Mao had given him everything he had but also reversing almost every position of Mao's, including opening up politics more than Deng.
Deng's successor, Jiang, was a rat. He would support any side as long as it gave him good PR until he entered party politics, where he almost always supported conservatives unless Deng came knocking. This became clear when Jintao, a butcher, took power. Jintao's failures in doing everything but prevent the nation from falling apart set the stage for Xiping because "socialism with Chinese characteristics" was never achieved, and that's how we reached this point, with Xiping forcing everyone into his new Maoism, pursuing a hardline diplomatic stance, expanding Chinese influence overseas, and cracking down on corruption and immoral behavior. This isn't to say he's good or that I like him. He's obviously bad for the nation. However, the streets of Shanghai no longer flood with prostitutes and beggars, and developing nations want that kind of security, the kind the West can't provide. Thus, they turn to China. Economics and technological progress don't matter when you still have tribal warfare and a large gang presence, and the people telling you how to fix your nation are the same people you've come to hate for generations.
>>149628Anime and manga already existed but, due to the war effort, were nowhere near the scale they would have been at the time. Most forms of Japanese media we know today would exist, but any left wing creator would have faced the same harassment right wing creators did in real life. Otaku would still exist, but it's likely for military otaku to have become mainstream over fantasy otaku.