Japanese units in China and across the Far East would remain dependent on shipping, fuel, equipment, grease, ammunition, and replacement flows from Japan. A blockade could leave garrisons loyal yet progressively unable to fly aircraft, operate guns, or sustain movement. Early 1939 gives Japan fewer ready ships and deployable forces than the familiar 1941 comparison suggests. Japan would also begin the conflict without the concentrated invasion forces and staging grounds it later possessed. Britain, by contrast, had already practised several pre-war mobilisations and could begin moving ships while Japan was still organizing its response. The proposed war aim is therefore to defeat the fleet and isolate overseas forces rather than invade the home islands.
Notable Point · 1:44:04-1:47:13
A blockade, not an invasion, as the likely war aim
The proposed Allied objective is to isolate Japan and exhaust its forces rather than immediately conquer its home islands.