Why didn't America take over Japan after WW2? Why was Japan allowed to continue existing as an independent nation...

Why didn't America take over Japan after WW2? Why was Japan allowed to continue existing as an independent nation? Japan could have been admitted as the 51st state, or more likely, an unincorporated territory like Puerto Rico.

What would be the point even

What was the point of annexing Hawaii?

It would've most likely pissed off China or the USSR.
What's important to consider is the fact that the USSR towards the end of the war was preparing to invade the Japanese home islands with the USA, and if the US took territory the USSR would've likely had requested some land as well

Military bases.

The U.S couldn't exactly demand that the British and French give up their colonies and directly control Japan themselves. They had to do it more subtly than that.

When are you going to get it through your thick fat head that America is an exceptional nation? That we're not about global dominance? That we're not about annexing enemies' countries? That we just want to be left the fuck alone, but barring that, that we will utterly and completely push your shit in to the point where your god emperor has to admit he's impotent?

1. We did
2. Protectorates are much more profitable.
3. No one likes controlling raging gooks.

Lol

>Requested land
It would've never got it. USSR was borrowing shit from the US and wouldn't be able to launch an invasion without the US pushing their shit in.

The entire invasion of Japan was mainly just the US by itself because it wasn't going to let the Soviet Union cuck its victory and kill.

The US fought war against Japan against Imperialism.

I guess I should "re-phrase" the question. Simply put, why did the US stop trying to expand national territory? What changed after Alaska and Hawaii were admitted in 1959 that the US suddenly didn't feel the urge to create new "states" anymore?

>America
>we just want to be left the fuck alone
Poor bait, even by Veeky Forums standards

The US would have been seen as either the Bad Guys or the Opportunistics

If we're specifically gonna compare Hawaii to Japan, Hawaii had around 60k people there when it got annexed, while Japan was half as big as the US itself in 1945. Controlling a country THAT BIG on the other side of the planet, full of culturally incompatible people who can't even speak English and who just a few months ago were your mortal enemy, that wouldn't end well.

>Why did the US stop trying to expand national territory.
1) There is no point to expansion.
2) The US isn't imperialist. You can say it tried it out Imperialism, but didn't work out for it and the US has always promoted Republicanism.
3) The Soviet Union was a more important problem to deal with and it was spewing about the US being an imperialist, despite the Soviet Union being more imperialist than the US was-ever is.

*on the other side of the ocean

When the US stated out it only had around 360,000 sq. miles. Now, the US is around 3,800,000 sq. miles. That's 9,830,000 sq. km. How do you explain that?

Think of Austro Hungary, countries consiting of varied peoples, yearning for ancestral homelands, who were taken into the empire through conquest will allways wish to be free, texas was an independent republic fora yer, yet it's still a massive part of texan identity, now imagine if texas had been loyal to the crown for hundreds of years, and didn't speak the language of their occupiers, whom they were at war with a few weeks ago, and were charecterized as a mortal enemy.

There's a reason that hitler's early expansion targeted nations within the german sphere of influence, especially in austria, where the idea of a greater germany was strived for.

Buying territories and winning wars against other countries in which they hand over land with the US sometimes giving money to them.

>Puerto Rico
>Mexico
>Phillipines
>Hawaii
>Marshall Islands

Don't forget Manifest Destiny and rolling over the indigenous peoples after they helped us get our foot in the door.
I mean shit you don't have to live here, you don't even have to like us.
But at the end of the day, where would you rather be?
Here, or there?

>indians
>helped us get our foot in the door
gee thanks for getting raided and scalped mr. redskin

There were almost no Indians in the west, it was sparsely populated as fuck.

But they did.

USA basically controlled the nation for many years, heavy military presence and economic support made them totally dependent. A state wouldn't have been possible because they're too big and too independent.

Also America's colonialism time where we acquired all our other colonies such as Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, etc. was coming to an end. In a modern world where things like the UN and community of nations exist it's much harder to make land grabs, doesn't look good especially after a major war.

many natives were depopulated because of diseases brought over before colonists even got there, but to say there were no Indians is just blatantly false.

not to mention too far away for easy control.

So you're just outright denying the pilgrims on the Mayflower made contact with any natives, and they survived the harsh Winter after arriving? They must of been amazing human beings.

>That we just want to be left the fuck alone

Toppest of keks, American exceptionalism at its finest. The Anglo cries out in pain as he strikes you.

therefore "almost"
i'm saying that saying just "indians helped" is false
some indians helped, a lot did their best to stop us.

Sugar plantations and guano

>conveniently ignored the word 'almost'

>Mayflower
>Manifest Destiny
Is this entire board populated exclusively with brainlets?

>Mexico
Mexico literally started the war.

>Phillipines and Puerto Rico
Spain literally started the war.

>Hawaii
Rich businessmen from the United States did that.

>Marshall Islands
I don't really know?

Not an argument, so assume yes, and enlighten us.

Mayflower was early 17th century while Manifest Destiny was early 18th century. Mayflower landed in the east, while I was exclusively talking about THE WEST. You're stupid.

Manifest Destiny was early 19th century*

There being a smaller amount of natives on the west coast does not change my statement.
So you agree, some native americans did help. Arguably at a time when we needed it the most, when first arriving and establishing a colony. Hence, (some natives) helped us get our foot in the door (establish a stable colony).

Okay so your question was how did the US go from 360,000 sq miles to 3,800,000 sq miles. I said it was the idea of Manifest Destiny, combined with and us fucking over the indigenous peoples. That's how/why we expanded west. I'm simply giving you an answer, nowhere did I say all these things happened at the same time. What are you even trying to argue at this point user?

That wasn't my question, that was some different user.