Notes: this timeline is not intended as a serious alternate-history exercise, particularly as the cardinal alt-hist sin was committed (I started with an end-point and back fit things. It is instead offered to give a more completely background to the story.
Thanks to Sheppard and Frigidmagi for helpful discussion
APPENDIX A
Timeline to 2380
1534
Oda Nobunaga is born in Owari Province, Japan.
1543
Portuguese traders introduce the arquebus to Japan.
1559
Nobunaga solidifies his control of clan Oda by defeating the last efforts of the rival claimants. He travels to Kyoto to announce his complete control of Owari to the Shogun.
1560-62
Nobunaga defeats invasions of Owari by rival neighboring daimyo, and forms an alliance with Matsudaira Motoyasu (later Tokugawa Ieyasu).
1567
Nobunaga conquers Mino province; this is the beginning of his ambition to conquer all of Japan, calling it "Tenka Fubu," or "conquer through military force."
1571
Nobunaga attacks and razes Enryakuji warrior monk complex on Mount Hiei.
1573
Nobunaga conquers Echizen and Wakasa provinces, and deposes the last Muromachi Shogun.
1575
Battle of Nagashino. First major deployment of muskets in Japanese warfare. Nobunaga commands the most powerful armies in Japan and establishes effective domination of Honshu.
1579
Akechi Mitsuhide captures Yakami castle from Hatano Hideharu by taking Hideharu's mother hostage. Nobunaga initially decides to have the woman executed, but later relents and releases her to house arrest.
1585
Nobunaga appointed Shogun. He pledges to complete the unification of Japan.
1585-1590
Nobunaga defeats all remaining rivals (principally clans Mori and Uesugi), seizing complete control of Japan. He enacts a massive redistribution of daimyo estates to reward and strengthen his allies while weakening potential rivals. Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi are his principal allies.
1590-1592
In order to help quiet internal dissent, he begins to prepare an invasion of Korea. The army raised for this purpose is designed to absorb the vast numbers of masterless ronin and other soldiers who have been dispossessed by the land redistribution. Nobunaga preceeds spies to Korea, who bring back reports of Korean "turtle ships" with thick armor plate and powerful guns. Nobunaga's invasion fleet is reinforced with heavier warships designed to counteract this threat. Wary of Tokugawa Ieyasu's potential ambition, Nobunaga appoints him to command the invasion force so as to remove him from a position of influence on the home islands.
April 1592
About 180,000 Japanese troops invade Korea under Tokugawa Ieyasu. With the advantage of surprise, discipline, and firearms, they take control of the entire country up to the Yalu river by the end of the campaigning season. The Japanese navy suffers severe losses against Yi Sun-sin's ships, but is successful in defeating his forces and maintaining their supply lines. The population fo Korea begins a revolt, with token support from China. Tokugawa destroys the weak Chinese forces, humiliating the court at Beijing, which immediately mobilizes to safe face.
January 1593
A Chinese expeditionary force of about 100,000 troops, together with around 20,000 Korean auxiliaries, launches an attack on Japanese positions in Korea. Tokugawa's forces are dispersed to suppress uprisings and the Chinese enjoy substantial early success, leading to the commitment of still more Ming forces. Tokugawa gathers his forces and appeals for reinforcements from Japan. Nobunaga sends 40,000 men, who arrive as early as March.
April 1593
Tokugawa Ieyasu gathers 80,000 men on the approaches to Seoul to confront roughly 100,000 Korean and Chinese troops advancing on the key city. Tokugawa proves a superior tactician, and his canny exploitation of his gunpowder advantage allows him to pin the enemy in place, while his cavalry envelops the Chinese flanks. The Chinese-Korean force is virtually annihilated with light losses on the Japanese side; the routing soldiers pursued by contingents of cavalry all the way back to the Yalu. Ming China cuts its losses and signs a peace treaty recognizing Japanese control of the Korean peninsula.
1594-1596
As ordered by Nobunaga, Korea is placed under a Japanese-style feudal administration system. Tokugawa's forces put down the last revolts.
19 August 1596
Oda Nobunaga dies suddenly of unrecorded causes (cerebral hemorrhage is suspected by modern historians). Toyotomi Hideyoshi plays the central role at the funeral and is expected to succeed Nobunaga as military leader of Japan, but Tokugawa Ieyasu accuses him of poisoning Nobunaga and begins gather select sections of his Korean army for an invasion of Japan. Tokugawa supporters in Japan, mostly those unwilling to recognize the ill-bred Hideyoshi as leader, begin agitating.
July 1597
Tokugawa lands with 40,000 elite troops of his Army of Korea, joining a further 40,000 allies in Japan and marching on Hideyoshi's headquarters at Kyoto. Hideyoshi assembles 90,000 men, and they meet on the field of Sekigahara. The superior experience of Tokugawa's core troops is pivotal, and they are victorious. Hideyoshi commits seppuku, and Tokugawa Ieyasu is proclaimed shogun. He quickly follows the example of Oda Nobunaga and begins reordering the daimyo to promote stability. The capital is moved to Tokyo, from where his line will rule Japan for 200 years.
1635-1639
Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu supervises the effective eradication of Christianity in Japan, and closes all Japanese ports except Nagasaki and Pusan to foreign trade.
1636-1662
Severe civil unrest and chaos reigns in China. In 1644 Beijing itself is sacked by rebels, effectively ending the Ming dynasty. The Manchu Qing dynasty invades China, establishing total control and crowning Emperor Kangxi in 1662.
1716-1736
Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune begins Kyoho Reforms, intended to improve the financial conditions of the Shogunate and establish a more effective front against Manchu designs on Korea. Japanese ports were gradually eased open to foreign trade, though with strict regulations, and Dutch mercenaries were recruited to help bring the Shogun's armies to a higher standard of effectiveness. Light artillery and more modern firearms are adopted, together with a streamlined chain of command.
1738
Japanese sailors explore the Kuril islands, Bering strait, and Aleutian islands. Later missions establish fur trading posts on the Aleutians and eventually lead to the claiming of those lands for Japan, which halts Russian expansion at the east bank of the Bering Strait.
1760
The Qing Emperor Qianlong, known as an able general, undertakes an invasion of Korea. Japanese forces, with advanced weapons and tactics, inflict severe defeats on the Manchu banner armies, capturing Qianlong himself and driving into Manchuria. Chaos consumes China with the fall of Manchuria and the loss of the Emperor. The Qing dynasty suffers a temporary collapse of authority and the Japanese Empire is left in possession of Manchuria, simply by virtue of their being no extant government to dispute control. The effectiveness of the reformed Shogunate army is so impressive that further reforms become desirable.
1785
The First Great Mission. Japanese diplomats travel to America and Europe, bringing back information on military tactics and technology, particularly with regard to naval operations. Interest in the construction of a modern fleet grows.
1790
Qing armies finally suppress most of the rebels and are able to enthrone an Emperor in Beijing, though most of China remains under the control of warlords owing nominal allegience to the Emperor of China.
1795
A complete reform of the Japanese army and navy is undertaken, with construction of warships on the European pattern. Opposition among the samurai class and conservative scholars is rife, and multiple revolts are suppressed. In Europe, the legitimate government of the Netherlands is deposed by French forces and the Batavian Republic is proclaimed.
1800
With unrest severely threatening stability, Tokugawa Ienari takes advantage of the uncertain position of the Dutch East Indies colonies and launches an invasion. The untried modern Japanese navy suffers teething troubles but pulls out a victory thanks to Dutch weakness and local numerical superiority, and the government of the stadtholder-in-exile recognizes then a Japanese possession in 1803. He gives the remaining Dutch colonial possessions to Britain in order to safeguard them from further opportunism.
1837
Tokugawa Ieyoshi ascends to the office of Shogun and immediately begins efforts to reverse many of the reforms of his predecessor. The liberal faction at court immediately begins intrigues, causing counter-plots by the conservatives.
March 1839
Ninko Restoration. Liberal reformers launch a coup d'etat, proposing to return the Emperor to ultimate rule over Japan. This is successful in winning over the majority of the population of Japan and the army itself, while most of the aristocracy opposes them.
1839-1841
Low-level civil war in Japan. The liberal forces are ultimately successful through their superior mobilization of popular support and their effective command structure. The conservatives are unable to offer a united front, and are defeated by 1841.
1841-1853
Second Great Mission. Japanese diplomats travel through Europe and America, returning with information and Western experts. With Imperial funding, a massive industrialization and modernization effort is undertaken in Japan. There are concurrent modernizations of culture, including the mandatory adoption of western dress by aristocrats and a reform of the table of ranks. Private armies are abolished and the Japanese noble class becomes similar in most respects to that of Europe: priviliged but powerless.
1848-1861
Significant Japanese influence is exerted on the Kingdom of Hawaii. Efforts by Kamehameha IV to reduce Japanese control simply result in a tug-of-war between the American and Japanese merchants and businessmen on the islands and their respective governments. The status of the kingdom is in contention until the United States is distracted by its civil war, and Hawai'i is forcibly annexed in 1861. Large scale Japanese immigration follows, and a naval base is established in Pearl Harbor.
1856
Japanese traders are harassed in Vietnam. By way of flexing their muscles, the Japanese threaten war if an immediate apology, reparations, and an unequal treaty are not forthcoming. Vietnamese refusal brings off an invasion. The Imperial Army quickly takes control of Vietnam. Vietnamese guerrillas continue operations out of Laos and Cambodia, compelling the IJN to conquer them as well. Qin protests are ignored.
1856-1871
Low-intensity warfare with (primarily Vietnamese) guerrillas in Indochina.
1863-1871
Sino-Japanese War. The Qing, still miffed about Japanese conquest of Indochina, give orders to expel all Japanese from China. The situation spirals out of control into a general massacre, however, and the Emperor Komei declares war on China. Japanese forces drive out of Manchuria and Indochina, and landings are effected on Formosa and Hainan, as well as on the coast near Shanghai. The Chinese armies are weakly organized and primitively equipped and pose little threat. After only a year all important regions are under control, and the remainder of the war is spent putting down independent warlords and suppressing popular revolt.
11 January 1872
The Treaty of Nanking ends the Sino-Japanese War. The Emperor Mutsuhito (or Meiji) is crowned Emperor of China, but Japan does not directly administer China. A native, pro-Japanese puppet government is established with it's capital at Nanking. The Liaotung Peninsula, islands of Formosa and Hainan, as well as a swath of coastal region surrounding Shanghai are directly annexed to Japan. France and the German States are embroiled in war and offer no protest, but Great Britain and the United States remain to be pacified. The introduction of a new, iron-clad stability in China is actually welcomed by some, especially in the United States, but strong efforts by Japan are required to mollify Great Britain. Both are granted special trading rights in China and Japan signs a "permanent treaty of non-aggression" with Britain, guaranteeing peace on the Indian border. At this point in history, Japan is considered to have fully arrived on the world stage as the dominant power in Asia.
1872-1900
Fearful of the potential of being swallowed by the vast colonial population under its control, the Imperial government enacts programs designed to stimulate public confidence and population growth. Free public education is enacted in 1879, social security in 1886 (patterned after the German pension program), health and accident insurance in 1887, and unemployment insurance in 1895. Citizens of Japanese descent are encouraged with tax credits and government services to raise large families and to emigrate out of the home islands, marriages between Japanese and subject ethnicities (though not including Koreans, who are by this time regarded as fairly innocuous) are banned in 1874. At the same time, efforts at population suppression are undertaken among the subject nationalities, especially in China.
1898
Shortly after the opening of hostilities in the Spanish-American War, Japan offers to purchase the Philippines and Guam with a large cash payment. With the archipelago nearly overrun by rebels, and a disastrous war with the USA beginning, Spain recognizes that the Philippines will be lost one way or the other and agrees to the sale. Reaction in the USA is angry but muted, as the Philippines scarcely appears in the American consciousness and the purpose of the war was not Pacific expansion but the salvation of the Cubans and vengeance for the USS Maine. Though no war will be fought, relations between the USA and Japan are significantly chilled.
1898-1906
Philippine insurrection. Thousands of Filipino rebels are killed but the revolt is finally crushed by Japanese forces.
1914-1918
World War One. Japan is officially neutral in the conflict, but in reality ships a great deal of war goods to the allied powers, especially Russia. Japanese banks make significant loans to the Tsar. (the conflict is otherwise as historical)
1917
Russian revolution. The Kerensky Government affirms a continuing commitment to the war and to paying the war debts, but sentiment among Japanese business is unsettled with fears that the new Russian government will default on its obligations.
1918
Bolshevik revolution. Communists seize power in Petrograd, Moscow, and other major cities, opposed by the White armies. Alarmed by the Communist uprising, Emperor Yoshihito (or Taisho) orders the occupation of the Russian far East (with it's principal city at the terminus of the trans-Siberian railway, Nikolaevsk). Local Communists are suppressed.
1918-1922
Russian Civil War. Japan throws support behind the arch-Conservative dictator of Siberia, Admiral Kolchak, giving him arms, supplies, and funding. With diplomatic pressure on the Whites and the other intervening powers, Japan succeeds in gaining Kolchak recognition as the overall leader of the White armies. With the coordination thus achieved, and Japanese monetary and logistical support, Kolchak makes considerable headway. A "volunteer" division of elite Japanese army troops participates in Kolchak's push on Moscow. By 1922, the Communist revolution has been stamped out, and most of pre-war Russia has been regained (Poland, Finland, and the Baltic states survived). A Romanov cousin was placed on the throne, the Tsar having been murdered in 1918, but Kolchak retained all real power. The Russian Empire is saddled with a crippling war debt and was still riven by dissent that Kolchak's best efforts cannot quash. It is not a de facto puppet state of the Japanese Empire, but Kolchak depends heavily on funding from Japanese banks and this consideration often colors the decision-making process.
1929
Worldwide economic depression. Japan passes harsh protective tariffs intended to safeguard native industry, which backfire and further harm the economy. Despite crop failures in the provinces, food shipments to Japan are not allowed to drop, leading to unrest in the colonial territories.
1933
Hitler ascends to Chancellery, Nazi takeover of Germany begins. German expansionism continues as historical.
1936-1943
Unrest in Japan's colonial territories boils over into open insurrection in China, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita leads the force detailed to reestablish order in the Philippines, in which he is stunningly successful, annihilating the rebels there in a matter of months. He is transferred to the Chinese theatre, where he achieves continued success until the insurrections are officially declared at an end in 1943. Yamashita is promoted to the highest officer in the Japanese Army and is created Duke of Manila, among other less notable titles. Kampeitai founded as an intelligence/counter-intelligence service with broad-reaching powers.
1938
An elderly Kolchak signs a treaty of non-aggression with Hitler's Germany, believing that their common political leanings (read: fascist) will allow them to coexist peacefully.
1938-1954
The Holocaust. Nazi Germany exterminates all Jews, Gypsies, and other undesirables in the lands under its control. What little information reaches the outside is ignored, and after the war there is no one to tell the world. All victims are dead, German records are meticulously destroyed, and those few Nazi officials who cannot be trusted to keep the secret are at Hitler's deathbed order.
1939-1944
World War Two. Japan is officially neutral, but makes significant arms sales to the allied powers.
1939
Germany overruns Poland, Denmark, and Norway.
1940
Germany conquers the Low Countries and France. With the fall of France, the French fleet comes under German control, and in conjunction with Italian forces it will give the Axis control of the Mediterranean. Churchill orders the French Fleet taken, but in the event Somerville refuses on "point of honour" to ruthlessly fire on Britain's erstwhile allies. Staring the loss of Africa and the vital Suez in the face, support for Churchill's government folds. His replacements negotiate a peace settlement even as Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia are overrun. Roosevelt backs Britain with the veiled threat that America will use all necessary force to defend its shipping. In consideration of the dangers of the USA's entrance into the war, Hitler's terms are generous. Britain is granted "administrative guardianship" over virtually the whole of Africa, while German continental hegemony will be recognized.
1941
Operations in the Balkans in support of Fascist Italy are successful in bringing the entire region under Fascist domination. The Third Reich then invades Russia in violation of the 1938 pact. Russian armies, though substantial, are poorly equipped and organized and rapidly defeated. Moscow is captured late in 1941, leading to Kolchak's capitulation. Belarus and the Ukraine are surrendered to Germany, and Russia becomes effectively a satillite state of the Third Reich. Japan issues protests, but is fully occupied with the prosecution of the insurrections, and in any case is unprepared to offer effective support over the trans-Siberian railway to Russia. Nationalist Spain and Portugal join the Axis.
1946-1955
The Third Reich exercises diplomatic and economic pressure on Turkey, Sweden, and Finland, reducing them to satillite states. Virtually every continental European state is under fascist domination.
1946-1958
Economic instability in the Third Reich. Creation of the Mitteleuropa economic league, in which every other European state is economically subordinate to the Reich, is unsuccessful in stabilizing the problems. After Hitler's death (suspected poisoning) in 1954, Baldur von Schirach is appointed his successor and undertakes necessary reforms at the prodding of Albert Speer. The Reich's economy is thereafter reasonably controlled, but still uncertain.
1947
The United States of America test-detonates an atomic bomb in New Mexico.
1948
Oceanic Treaty Organization (OTO) founded by USA. It will include the British Empire and all its dominions, plus all the nations of the Americas. Britain rewrites the boundaries of Africa and the Middle East, creating six large administrative districts--Greater South Africa (with Madagascar), the Congo Free State, West Africa (or Mali after the ancient empire), Victoria, and Arabia. Ethiopia is ceded virtually the entire horn of Africa. All nations are governed as dominions of the British Empire, and are members of OTO.
1949
Assisted by operatives in the US atomic program, Germany detonates the atomic bomb.
1950
Germany launches first artificial satillite into space. The USA will follow three years later.
1952
United Kingdom detonates atomic bomb. USA develops hydrogen bomb, eventually followed by the other great powers.
1954-1970
In order to develop the atomic bomb and catch up technologically with the west, Japan makes significant investments in education, light industry, and electronics. By 1970 it has largely caught up with Germany and is gaining rapidly on the USA.
1958
Japan develops atomic bomb.
1964
Japan launches its first orbital satillite.
1965
First man on the moon, German astronaut Helmut Baedecker. The USA will follow in 1968, Japan in 1975.
1977
"Star Wars: A New Hope" released.
1983
US President Ronald Reagan proposes the Strategic Defense Initiative, a system of armed satillites that will intercept ballistic missiles.
1990
OTO deploys massive permanent orbital research station "Liberty."
1991
Japanese indices of production surpass the Third Reich for the first time.
2005
First manned mission to Mars, USA. (Germany follows in 2008.) Human genome completely mapped.
2010
USA deploys satillite based anti-ballistic missile shield, eventually expanding it to cover the rest of the OTO. Japan and Germany follow by 2018.
2015
USA places permanent research base on the moon.
2030
Zefram Cochrane born in Bozeman, Montana.
2030-2057
Development of space travel technology. Ion-driven interplanetary shuttles developed at nearly the same time by USA, Reich, and Japan. All powers deploy permanent bases on Mars.
2057-2065
Doctor Zefram Cochrane develops faster-than-light travel designs at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After a successful test in 2063, MIT claims full legal rights to the development on the reasoning that their staff and laboratories were more responsible than Cochrane. After highly dubious wrangling, SCOTUS awards exclusive rights to MIT, which it immediately sells to NASA for an undisclosed fee, retaining control of the design for commercial purposes. Cochrane is deeply unsatisfied at the verdict, and calls the New York Times stating that he is the victim of a conspiracy to steal his intellectual property, and that he is being followed by government agents.
2066
Zefram Cochrane evades his CIA 'handlers' and escapes to Tokyo with the assistance of the kampeitai. He sells his assistance in warp-drive research for one trillion dollars and complete ownership of the Mamanuca group of islands (near Fiji). Japan successfully tests a faster-than-light capable vessel in September 2066.
2070
German operatives at MIT leak sufficient information for the Reich to develop its own warp drive.
2070-2130
Great exploration drive. Human spaceships grow more and more advanced as they push farther into interstellar space.
2080
First Space War. Exploration tensions erupt into war between USA and Germany, fought almost entirely in space. USA nominally victorious. First contact with the Vulcans occurs during this war. The Vulcans are shocked by the militarism of the human race, and make efforts to minimize contact.
2093
Second Space War. German-Japanese alliance of convenience wins several tactical victories over the USA before treaty.
2098
Imperial Japanese Navy assumes command over space fleet.
2105
Skirmishes between Japanese and German space navies.
2110
Raumkriegsmarine established.
2111
United States Space Navy founded ('space' will be dropped in 2150).
2114
Third Space War, chaotic free for all between all three powers. Ended by Treaty of Mars, which establishes three "cardinal directions" for each power to explore in. Japan will go to the galactic east, the USA north and west, Germany south and west.
2135
Nazi scientists begin refinement of genetic engineering.
2152
First contact between Romulan Star Empire and Empire of Japan. A Romulan Bird of Prey attacks a Japanese explorer ship, which is able to send a distress call before being destroyed.
2152-2154
Empire of Japan mobilizes for war, using it's warp speed advantage to scout and probe the Romulan Empire, which lacks an FTL drive. Methods developed to bypass cloaking devices with passive sensors.
2154
Imperial Japanese Navy launches a surprise attack on Romulus-Remus system. Romulan ships are unable to resist the superior firepower of IJN warships (which use powerful fusion bombs mated to missiles and shells). The Japanese fleet takes control of the system and attacks the major cities and infrastructure of the planets with nuclear warheads. The first probing attack by ground forces is unexpectedly effective, and successive waves establish control over both planets. The use of NBC weapons is common.
2154-2157
Mop-up of the Romulan Star Empire. By 2157 it is fully annexed into the Empire of Japan. The wholesale seizure of a civilized star system dramatically increases Japanese military potential. Neither the USA nor Third Reich are fully aware of the ramifications of the event; their intelligence services report Japanese involvement in a war against an alien power, but a number of factors contribute to their misreading of the situation. Because the Romulans fold so easily, the mobilization level of Japanese naval and ground forces is considered more in line with a border conflict than with a war of annihilation. The actual conflict is also rather brief and results in only minor losses of men and materiel. German and American intelligence is unaware of the extent of Japanese gains, and a similar misunderstanding occurs with respect to the Klingon War.
2155
Japanese pickets hunting for Romulan stragglers encounter a Klingon exploration ship.
2157-2190
Major buildup of IJN, mostly in secret.
2168-2170
Scouting of Klingon Empire by IJN.
2170
Surprise attack on Qo'Nos system by IJN annihilates Klingon home fleet. Qo'Nos invaded and taken by forces under General Montaro Yamashita.
2170-2180
Mop-up of Klingon Empire, annexed by 2180.
2187
Japanese indices of production surpass the USA for the first time.
2190
Japanese Empire mounts surprise attack on Third Reich. The Raumkriegsmarine is totally unprepared for the size of the Japanese fleet and is severely beaten. The IJN destroys the orbital defense arrays over Europe, exposing it to nuclear attack. Every major city in Germany is destroyed, with much of the remainder bathed by radiation. German counterstrikes are largely blocked by the Japanese defense grid, but Suzhou, Haiphong, Phnom Penh, Mukden, among other cities, are struck by bombs. Nagoya on the home islands is hit by a lucky neutron bomb and largely depopulated. Losses are in the 10-20 million range and ruled easily acceptable. German puppet governments in Europe either throw off the shackles and join the attack in the hopes of saving themselves, or are overthrown by popular revolt. Ex-German territory partitioned, the nations of Europe declare neutrality in all further matters. The ramifications of the attack are far-reaching and severe. The winter of 2190-2191 is one of the coldest on record, several major river systems are poisoned with radiation, and the world economy is profoundly altered. Hundreds of millions are dead.
2191
Acting Reichsfuhrer Adolf Biermann orders draconian social policies to prepare the Third Reich for continued resistance. Called "The Leonidas Protocols," they introduce mandatory genetic engineering and Spartan lifestyles on the remaining ethnic Germans, now isolated almost entirely to the space colonies, with the intent of producing a perfect master race.
2193
Wary of the USA's potential entrance into the war, the Empire of Japan signs a status quo peace with the Third Reich. To counterract skyrocketing Japanese power, the USA enters an alliance with the Third Reich.
2194
Treaty of Johannesburg between USA and Japan bans warfare in the solar system and sets rules for conduct in military operations and treatment of prisoners, solving other issues.
2200-2380
Repeated inconclusive space wars between Empire of Japan and USA-Reich alliance.
2325
Ichiro Yamashita born.
2341-2347
Ichiro Yamashita attends Imperial Naval Academy against the wishes of his father (a general in the army). He scores very well academically, excels in athletics--particularly kendo--and is a natural leader, earning high praise from instructors.
2347
Ichiro Yamashita marries Aiko Mishima. Their first child, a son, is born the next year.
2348-2351
Border clashes with USA and Germany. Yamashita distinguishes himself as a superior young naval officer and begins his rise through the ranks.
2353-2370
Yamashita ascends to the rank of Vice Admiral. He is first 'visited' by Q in 2370.
2373
Outlying Japanese colonies attacked by unknown military force, some entirely carried away from the planet they were based on.
2375
A Borg fleet of 40 cubes (strengthened by previous assimilation of Japanese technology in the colonies) invades the Beta Quadrant. Vice-Admiral Yamashita meets them and is able to defeat them after a difficult contest. His son, commanding a destroyer during the battle, is killed during the fighting. Yamashita is promoted to full Admiral and granted command of the third Musashi-class superbattleship to be constructed and allowed to choose the name.
2375-2380
Continued Borg incursions.
2378
IJN Hiei launched from Qo'Nos naval yards. Task Force Hiei goes immediately into action against the Borg.
2379
The USA and Reich take advantage of the Japanese Empire's preoccupation with the Borg and initiate a colonial war.
2380
Force Hiei attacks the Reich colony at Neues München.
APPENDIX B
WORLD POLITICAL MAP, 2380

Dark Blue is the USA, light blue is OTO nations.
Red is
de jure Japanese provinces, dark red is China, ruled in personal union by the Emperor of Japan and legally a dominion, but a
de facto territory of the Japanese Empire.
African states are (clockwise from top) Arabia, Ethiopia, Victoria, Greater South Africa, the Congo Free State, and West Africa (Mali). India is an imperial possession of Britain.
The European situation is complicated but can be clarified at request.