This socialisation for war made it only natural for Hirohito to accept (some would say welcome) the undermining of Japanese diplomacy by the army and later the navy that set Japan on its fateful course to launching co-ordinated attacks in 1941: the airborne assault on the American fleet in Pearl Harbour and the ground landing on Kota Bharu in BritishMalaya.
The number could be cut down if existing groupings could be widened for instance if Malaya could federate with Sarawak and Borneo, British Guiana with the West Indies.