the problem with many of these solutions is that they would hurt a game where japan did not declare war on the first turn
complex solutions, and solutions with IF statements would not work in my mind.
the best solution would be a solution that did not change any game rules, and did not create any if statements, and did not do anything that triplea could not implement without using edit mode or a second xml file
so for example,
moving the 2 UK transports out of reach of a J1 attack is a really good solution, because it does not change what a j2 setup and attack would look like, therefor you don’t need special rules or anything complex at all
whereas, giving the allies a bid or something complex like giving japan an incremental bid at the cost of starting money, or something like that, would not only completely change the rules, but it would also change the j2 attack balance, and j3 attack balance, etc. (and i won’t work with triplea)