Not sure if this post should be topic here or in general WW2, but in forums today calendar theres an event. This event is about Japanese forces becoming “masters” in Asia. Ι know that after Pearl Harbor attack they attacked Guam, Philippins and Thailand, but did they managed to drive US and British forces so fast to capture all those countries?
Yes they were, because news of Pearl Harbor did not reach those Islands and countries that were occupied by the Allied forces. Not only that but the equipment that the forces had were out of date to the modern Japanese forces so they were either quickly eliminated or a miscommunication caused a surrender (wake island). I could be wrong about that since most of this information was books I read about 5 years ago. so it could be somewhat off.
Thanks kilroy, by outdated equipment i suppose you mean tanks, radio and AT weapons. In the part of rifles and stuff if i recal right the marines were used springfields until the summer of 1942.
Yes correct, I am glad that I could provide some support. Cuz usually a lot of my information is shallow, old, and sometimes out dated.
Definately i am outdated and most of those things i used to read, are forgotten, because of my current occupation. Thanks to this forum though we can find info fast and mostly accurate because of the debate 
I don’t know why I’m bothering with correcting such hopelessly ill-informed comments, but the speed of communication of the attack on Pearl Harbor had nothing to do with co-ordinated Japanese attacks elsewhere which were part of Japan’s overall strategy and operations planned long before, and as part of, the war plan which included Pearl Harbor.
Also, Philippines was not occupied by Allied forces. Nor Malaya, Singapore, or the Netherlands East Indies which were all colonies of different European powers. Meanwhile, what is now Thailand was independent under its own government.
Yes, you are seriously wrong about that.
For practical purposes, the rifles of the Japanese infantry were about equal to Allied opponents. If you doubt that, offer yourself to be shot in the standard centre of the chest at any range you choose under 100 metres, which is much, much longer than average engagements in jungle, by the earlier and later Arisakas; a Lee Enfield; and a Garand. If the marksman is accurate, you won’t experience the last two.
The deficiencies in forces opposed to Japan in Malaya were primarily a lack of air power combined with a host of other factors which put the British Commonwealth forces on an unwinnable defensive.
In the Philippines, generally it was inadequately trained and, primarily, at the top (MacArthur) strategically incompetent and inadequately led local and American troops.
In both cases the problem was not with the courage of the troops but a range of incompetence and decisions at higher levels which deprived troops on the ground of the ability to fight to their full effect.
If you want to learn more, check my many posts on the Pacific War.
There was a hasty surrender on Wake Island, and the Marines (and civilian contractors) there could have gone down into an Alamo-like glory after machine-gunning or shooting nearly the entire first wave of Japanese Naval Infantry and damaging a couple ships - but in the end no one was coming to relieve Wake after Pearl Harbor. So any sustained resistance was in vain. The confusion was based on the fact that the commander there lost communications with individual outposts and saw Japanese battle markers all over the island when he came out of the command bunker to appraise the situation. What he didn’t see was that most of the markers marked numbers of dead Japanese Marines more than any high-water mark…
RS* Said, "For practical purposes, the rifles of the Japanese infantry were about equal to Allied opponents. If you doubt that, offer yourself to be shot in the standard centre of the chest at any range you choose under 100 metres, which is much, much longer than average engagements in jungle, by the earlier and later Arisakas; a Lee Enfield; and a Garand. If the marksman is accurate, you won’t experience the last two. "
This is absolutely true. The 7.7 x58 type 99 Arisaka Rifle was a very well made,finished, and accurate firearm, and arguably the strongest action then in use by any Nation. The cartridge fired a bullet of .311 " and 175 troy grains to a velocity of 2,440 feet per second (740 M/S) and 2,313 Ft. Lbs (3,136 J ) of energy. This placed the type 99 squarely among its opposite numbers in performance. The Springfield bolt rifle 1903-A3 used the .30 M-1 Ball munitions (30-06 or 7.62x63) which with the 174 grain bullet gave 2,640 FPS (800M/S) velocity and 2,692 Ft. Lb. (3,650j ) energy. This performance was continued, or slightly bettered in the later M-1 Garand Rifle.
The venerable .303 British, (7.7x56R ) fired a .311-.312" 174 grain bullet to 2,500 FPS (761M/S) and had 2,408 Ft. Lb (3,265j) energy. There were sometimes other weights of bullets used, but the norms were in this range.
So taken as a whole, they are all eggs in the same basket.
Note. The Japanese Gov’t of that time produced a variety of training arms that while looking the same, or nearly, to the service Battle Rifle, were not intended for use with service ammunition, and in some cases any ammunition at all. Some of these had mild steel receivers, some even of cast iron. Allied Troops knowing no better may have tried to fire them, and after being bandaged up, began the rumors of dangerous last ditch weapons. There were last ditch weapons, but they were normally, despite being crudely finished, safe to fire. Over the years I had a gun business, Type 99’s and 38’s would come through the door, and were usually inexpensive, as ammunition was nearly impossible to get easily. I had the fun of being able to see how they were really made. There is an apocryphal story of a U.S. company, Ladish and that they had produced a small run of prototype receiver forgings for the 99.