What were Japans reasons for joining WW2?
The Imperial Government of Japan entered the war because they saw a unique opportunity for the expansion of their empire into South East Asia. France and the Netherlands had defeated and occupied by Nazi Germany. The French colony of Indochina (modern day Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia) had already fallen into the control of Japan when they forced the Vichy government to allow Japan to station military forces in Saigon and Hanoi. The Dutch colony of the Netherlands East Indies (modern day Indonesia) was defenseless since the Dutch colonists did not have the means of expanding their military forces. The British Empire appeared to be on the brink of defeat at the hands of the Germans. The British colonies of Malaya, Burma, Sarawak, Brunei, and North Borneo were very weakly defended because the British were defending their homeland and engaging the Italians and Germans in North Africa. The Japanese knew that the British did not have the ability to defend their colonies. In addition, the vast
