I have significant doubts about this being true, but it's been conjectured: Disputed reports about the nuclear program in Konan in 1945

Probably from The History Channel.

Overy's Why the Allies Won talks about the Axis nuclear weapons program. It's hilarious in the extreme to suggest the Japanese program(which told it's lead physicist, a dude who studied under Bohr, that "no, you don't need that much U-235 to make a bomb, use conventional explosives for the difference") could get around to making a device.

I did hear this on the History Channel, and considering. It probably isn't true, but the Japanese were developing one. The History Channel is starting to look like the National Enquirer.

You probably shouldn't have your primary history source be THC. Any television network that presents Bigfoot, ghosts, and the Loch Ness Monster as really existing(with the one "skeptic" given 2 minutes time compared to the 45 minutes of true believers) should be treated with a healthy degree of skepticism.

As for the Japanese bomb program, so? They were years and years behind the German program, much less the American one(in fact the Western Allies had assumed that the Germans were ahead of them for much of the war).

That is true , but they did have a idea of nuclear power.

So did the Italians. What's your point?

I'm amazed the History Channel can still use the word 'History' in it's title.

Excuse my ignorance, but which 2-front war did the US win?

Coupla thoughts:

Why the hell DID Japan decide to attack Pearl Harbor and not Russia? This has always baffled me!?!?

Also, the battle with Russia was in 1939, and Japan lost more because of tactical failures than anything else, although admitedly they probably would've STILL lost if the generals in said battle were military geniuses, for several reasons. This is depicted brilliantly in Murakami's "The Wind Up Bird Chronicle," albeit fiction.

And finally, Siberia is an EXTREMELY attractive piece of conquest, especially for a tiny geographical island nation with a massive population. The natural resources in Siberia are HUGE. Fishing and timber alone, not to mention oil reserves, would be huge for Japan, or anyone else for that matter.

Well you've just sort of answered the main part of your question there - Japan did attack Russia, it went wrong, and they made an agreement of a sort, like Kaizen was saying.

Second thing Japan probably would have liked Siberia, but it would have messed up their 'Co-prosperity spere' aims (Since Siberia is quite a distance from South East Asia, the part they seemed to think they should be in charge of) and it'd be very VERY hard to hold onto. It's not a coincidence that the last person who tried to create a country in the area, Baron Ungern Sternberg, was completely mad. He tried it back in 1921 during the Russian Civil War, mainly in Mongolia but he made some land grabs in Siberia as well. The Reds taught him a bit of a lesson for trying that one out. Last thing, yes the timber etc would have been useful, but the other natural treasures of Siberia, ie the oil and the gold, would have been impossible to get to then, as they still are even now I think?

Add to that the fact that Japan's 'blitzkriegs' generally happened over much smaller areas (The Malay peninsular, for eg), then figure in just how far it is from, say, Manchuria to Siberia, take into account Siberian weather which the Japanese weren't equipped to deal with at the time, and bear in mind that Japan was mainly interested in oil... and I reckon we're covered!

They fought a war in 1904-1905 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Japanese_War The Japanese won.

The Japanese had two option in the late 1930s.
Strike north against the Soviets http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Strike_Group
or strike south against the Americans http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_South_Group

There was two battles fought between the Soviets and Japanese in 1939. The Japanese got spanked.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lake_Khasan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Halhin_Gol

It was the defeat at the second battle that caused the Japanese to decide against attacking Russia when the Germans invaded and instead attack south.

Isnt it true that either towards the end of WW2 or after, Russia had designs on Japan and it was only with British or American intervention that they were stopped? Otherwise we would have had the same situation in Japan as we do have in Korea now. i.e a communist north influenced by Russia/China and democratic south influenced by the west

Makes little sense to me. If the Japanese did attack Russia, the Russians could just support the Chinese that were fighting back at that time. There were millions of Chinese eager to fight the Japanese with swords and handguns if not pitchforks. With a minimum supply of proper guns and ammunition the Japanese would be finished very soon.

YSH, have you been playing Axis and Allies?

Well WW2. We fought simultaneously on the Pacific and European Theaters.