In fact, on the day of the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, the Japanese Foreign Minister put forward the proposal that the Kwantung Army attack the Soviet army northward. But in the end, Japan did not go to war with the Soviet Union, but chose to go to war with the United States and Britain on the southern and eastern fronts for the following reasons.

1 There is no need to use force against the Soviet Union: the Siberian wasteland is not attractive to Japan. Apart from Vladivostok, the reason why Japanese troops confronted the Soviet Union in northeast China and Mongolia was because Japan was afraid that the Soviet Union would threaten its interests in China. Now that the Soviet Union is at war with Germany, it is impossible to have the strength to go south to attack the Japanese army.

The south has greater benefits: the rich strategic resources in Southeast Asia are extremely important to Japan, a small country. Moreover, Britain and the United States gradually began to block Japan's resources, which made Japan's intention to dominate East Asia even stronger.

3 naval opinion: the northern faction of Japan is mainly the army, and the southern faction is the navy. In Japan, the position of the navy is higher than that of the army, so its opinions are more valued.

4. Contain the United States: Although the United States is neutral, its interests determine its hostile stance with Japan. It is necessary to completely expel the United States from Asia before it enters the state.

The strength of Kwantung Army is not good: the battle of Nomenkan taught the Japanese a vivid lesson. General zhukov taught the Japanese what a real modern war is. 194 1 year, when the Soviet-German War broke out, the Soviet Union transferred a large number of troops from Asia to the western front, but to the surprise of the Japanese army, the number of Soviet troops confronting it in the northeast increased instead of decreasing. In terms of the number of tanks and planes, the Soviet Union has an absolute advantage. In this situation, once the war breaks out, the Japanese army will pay a huge price.

Germany doesn't need Japan's help: the situation three months before the war between the Soviet Union and Germany was extremely clear. The Soviets collapsed thousands of miles, and the Germans marched straight in. There is no need for the Japanese to get involved. By the time Germany needed help, Japan was already mired in the Pacific battlefield.

That's about it ... I can't remember anything else for the time being ...