The german purchase you guys are suggesting is wrong. On the first turn you should still maintain some armor. You should buy 4 Inf and 4 Arm. You need the armor to counterattack any allied landing in france. The destruction of an allied landing really slows down the allied advance and makes things easier for japan. Thus, the allies are forced to try to go through finland and karelia to defend russia, which is a really slow process. If you have 4 Arm coming out a turn, then you can wipe out an invasion of 20 some infantry, when the US lands in around 4-5 turns.
I also disagree with your japanese strategy. Japan should concentrate all their forces on India and on Russia in the beginning of the game. Having an IPC and you’re navy there is a huge bonus, because you get battleship shots, and you can grab infantry sitting on the islands. The IPC factory is absolutely necessary. That way you can drop 3 tanks in every turn, which is an incredible amount of offensive firepower, which transports would be very slow in providing. You also need the constant production of tanks to be flexible in going from india up to russia, because infantry take a lot longer to walk. Right after taking India, Japan can start a nice little bastion out in novosibirsk, which russia cannot counter. Thus, using the rapid movement of the tanks, with the infantry that have built up from using the two transports you have in the beginning, Russia will be deprived of money, and facing 6 tanks a turn, infantry, and a superior japanese airforce.
However, I do agree that the game becomes whether russia or germany falls first, and in my experience, it is germany.
Clayton Keir