>>>Ens. Hikaru Ichijo, IJN - A young Japanese naval officer
>>>assigned to the Macross as part of Imperial Japan's small but
>>>vocal contribution to the Grand Alliance. In training to be an AAS
>>>pilot. Ichijo is a devotee of flight and a great admirer of Fokker
>>>and Lilienthal, who he sees as the foremost pioneers of the most
>>>significant new frontier in human history - the air. Serious-minded
>>>and steeped in the Japanese mode of military thought, with its roots
>>>in that country's not-so-distant samurai past,
>First, I'll apologise for any details of timing I get wrong - I don't
>have the energy to research this properly right now and am working
>from memory.
>
>At this point in history (c. 187X-8X), the biggest concern of the
>leadership of Japan is not ending up like the Congo.

Actually, more like, ending up like China and Vietnam, who were much more visible reminders than anything in Africa.

>They know
>that it's the European countries who have the power, and that, in the
>eyes of same, they themselves are just another flavor of gooks.
>
>Thus, their number-one priority is obtaining enough power -
>military power, because it's the most final sort - to say 'no'
>and make it stick.

>So, when the Macross comes down, they're in the process of importing
>military technology of all sorts

Yes, that's all true. The Japanese side of things is not where I think things would get snarled, but rather on the European/American side of things.

>So when they go to ask to be let in to the Grand Alliance, whatever
>polite words get used, in the background is the awareness that the
>Japanese fleet is sailing on a 'Goodwill Mission' in easy shelling
>range of the Macross herself, or could be, anyway.
>
>No, that would not go down easily, but it's not like they're in
>a position to try to take sole control, is it. So it would be tense,
>but livable...

That's assuming when the Macross came down that the technology transfers would continue - with all the Machiavellian politicking at the time, I could easily see those transfers getting held up to keep the Japanese under control.

Obviously, it didn't happen in the story, but I've just studied this period enough (exact dates elude me right now, but that was a VERY busy time in Japanese history, starting with the Black Ships in 1856) that I know it would have been incredibly nasty behind closed doors.