In point of fact the Japanese were running wild and it was frightening even their nominal allies. They had lost no major battles (until Midway) and scarcely a single engagement to any Western armed force including all of the colonizing powers - for three and a half decades. This wasn't just a gradual expansion, it was an explosion, and the fact that there was very little "co" in the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere was obvious to everyone concerned by 1937.
I know you weren't meaning to offend, but the truth is that the Chinese, Koreans, Malaysians, Indonesians, Burmese, Indians, and Filipinos (and forgive me please for not mentioning everyone) - all former or current colonies - resisted vigorously and heroically. This isn't simply an artifact of memory or the fact that the United States won, it's the truth, and it is reflected in the histories of all of those countries. We were, in many places, only a bit player.
Their resistance was predicated upon Australo-Anglo-American supply. Its not as though the Asian lands were overrun with munitions factories and ore mines to give them the material to fight.
Again, I put it to you that their “resistance” such as it was, is remembered in the rose colored lenses of history which magnifies good deeds performed on our side and minimizes deeds performed for the Japanes or simple indifference. What you are claiming reminds me of nothing more than the claims of the French to have herocially resisted, when in fact they were enormous colaborators.
The internet is so great.
Here’s something from just a quick random search on this topic.
http://countrystudies.us/philippines/21.htm
“The Japanese military authorities immediately began organizing a new government structure in the Philippines. Although the Japanese had promised independence for the islands after occupation, they initially organized a Council of State through which they directed civil affairs until October 1943, when they declared the Philippines an independent republic. Most of the Philippine elite, with a few notable exceptions, served under the Japanese. Philippine collaboration in Japanese-sponsored political institutions—which later became a major domestic political issue—was motivated by several considerations. Among them was the effort to protect the people from the harshness of Japanese rule (an effort that Quezon himself had advocated), protection of family and personal interests, and a belief that Philippine nationalism would be advanced by solidarity with fellow Asians. Many collaborated to pass information to the Allies. The Japanese-sponsored republic headed by President José P. Laurel proved to be unpopular.
“Japanese occupation of the Philippines was opposed by increasingly effective underground and guerrilla activity that ultimately reached large-scale proportions. Postwar investigations showed that about 260,000 people were in guerrilla organizations and that members of the anti-Japanese underground were even more numerous. Their effectiveness was such that by the end of the war, Japan controlled only twelve of the forty-eight provinces.”
So at the beginning, the Phillipine people eagerly collaborated with the Japanes, but after awhile, once the course of history was becoming clear, the tide turned and people turned towards collaboration with the Anglo-American forces. Similar turns of events canbe found for Indonesia and elsewhere.
People are always eager to collaborate if it keeps their headon their shoulders and even better, gives them a shot at riches and power, and they are very willing to switch sides should events turn.