Well I can agree with you on Japan if you want to play the Axis, but when I was sent to play England (and this was actually my first game), I was sent back home with a stinging defeat. The main problem, is that even with US support, chances are that England is going to have the socks knocked off them. I went to Africa, I lost. I built a navy, lost that to the Luftwaffe. I tried building an IC in India and the Japanese managed to take that over. By the end of the third round, I had almost lost all my territories in Africa and SE Asia. For the rest of the game, I mainly sent forces to Russia to help them defend against Germany – not very fun.