By late January, Tokyo was bitterly cold. A great deal of snow had piled up on the rooftops, and some houses had even collapsed under its weight. The streets were a sea of mud, filthy everywhere.
Tokyo in this era was nothing like the Tokyo of half a century later. Almost all of the nation's gross domestic product had been poured into military development, naturally leaving the Island Nation government with little to invest elsewhere. The government was even buried under debt, teetering on the brink of collapse. If not for the Americans' constant aid and the Island Nation government's frenzied exploitation of ordinary people, it would have long since been unable to hold on.
After its bid to join the Allied Powers failed, the Island Nation government gave up those impractical notions. It continued serving as the Americans' dog and began mobilizing, preparing to enter the war.
The Island Nation government's elites understood this perfectly well. Once Germany had rejected their request, peaceful coexistence between the two sides had become impossible. They would be enemies. Therefore, the only thing they could do was throw themselves into this war with everything they had and win it, so that they could emerge victorious from the conflict. Only then could the Island Nation continue to exist and grow stronger still! If Germany won the war, then in order to secure its position as world hegemon, it would certainly destroy the Island Nation. Thus, the Island Nation had no other choice.
As a nation with more than seventy million people that had completed industrialization, the Island Nation's strength was beyond question. Although its army's tactics were still stuck in the previous World War and its weapons and equipment could not be considered particularly advanced, its fearless will to fight still filled other nations