Japan rewriting history books

[Neil]

But here we're talking about a situation where there was no Manchurian Incident. By then the militarists were already on their way to taking control and it was too late.
Keep the economic situation in the 20s more stable, have Japan keep good relations with the UK and US, and they wouldn't necessary go down this path.

You misunderstand.  Hirohito's ambiguity is what allowed militarists to do whatever they wanted and say they were fulfilling the Emperor's will.  The only times where Hirohito was unambiguous was in berating Tanaka over the assassination of Tso-lin by Japanese officers, and during the coup attempt.  The Japanese system was designed to protect the emperor from politics, which is the whole reason the genro was there in the first place.  And even in the Taisho period, the tides of militarism were on the rise, the government wasn't really responsible to the Diet, and the economic situation was probably beyond the ability of anybody to really manage.  There was always going to be a postwar hangover, labour was going to cause issues due to Marxist thought and rising standards of living, and the Japanese were going to have to struggle for resources and markets.

American relations were probably going to be impossible to maintain.  Even before WWI, there was a lot of tension between them over American racism, and their differences in China policy didn't help.  So long is Britain's security was better served by maintaining a relationship with the US rather than Japan, the relationship just couldn't be maintained.  Remember, the men who were actually in control in Japan during the Taisho era were steeped in Victorian imperialism and power politics.  They had earned their stripes struggling against Britain and the US and the unequal treaties they imposed on Japan.  When the Washington Treaty was being negotiated, it was easy for men like Yamagata to see it as just another unequal treaty.