Thanks guys, I wanted to be sure. The book refers to neutral “territories”, but that appears to only be Mongolia.
I thought FIC was also, but the errata update suggests they’re with the allies, even though a Japanese attack on FIC sparks no war.
“Japan may attack French territories at any time, requiring no declaration of war against any Allied power before doing so.”
“France’s capital has been captured by Germany. As a result, French territories are treated in the same way as any Allied territories whose capital is held by an enemy power”
I dont think I qualify the Dutch as neutral since they are directly allied with the UK/ANZAC. So if Japan attacks Celebes, that brings the UK and ANZAC into the war, and by extension the US.
Mongolia is an advance Japan can perform in a nonJ1 scenario. Other than that, they appear to be surrounded by eggshells. It seems like Japan is almost forced to go to war or find itself in bad position at the beginning of round 3, the round in which it might as well go ahead and declare.