What IF the US had left Japan to its own direction after WWII?

[grumbler]

Back to a Japan alternate history: in the ruins of the society it could have gone communist. Japanese communists were a bad bunch. A communist China united Communist Korea and a pissed off communist Japan would have been a nightmare. Although I realize getting those guys to work together on anything would have been a challenge.

Well, soviet socialist, of course, not communist, but I agree with this. In fact, I would argue that paternalistic socialism would have fit existing Japanese cultural values far better than market capitalism did.

[grumbler]

It sure as hell will not be imposed by external powers. Change will have to come from withtin and ironically, the only place where I see that happening is Iran.

I don't think that Iran's turn away from theocracy will be ironic at all. The countries likeliest to reject theocracy in the next twenty years are always the ones where theocratic parties have come to power. They always poke the pooch and discredit theocracy. That's why it was a mistake to take out the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt before they (and the country) were forced to choke on their own incompetence and dogmatic decision-making.

The Islamic republic of Iran rather strongly reminds me of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland under Cromwell. And we all know how that turned out, in the end.