On the issue of letting japan walk through without a fight
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand_in_World_War_II
..
The japs weren't actually interested in fighting thailand but the rather the brits and their colonies were in mudland and sg.
If you read up on the person in charge of thailand during that period it's him
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaek_Phibunsongkhram
Field Marshal
Plaek Phibunsongkhram (
Thai: แปลก พิบูลสงคราม; <small>Thai pronunciation: </small>
[plɛ̀ːk pʰíbuːnsǒŋkʰrāːm]; alternatively transcribed as
Pibulsongkram or
Pibulsonggram; July 14, 1897 – June 11, 1964), contemporarily known as
Luang Pibulsonggram, often as
Phibunsongkhram (
Pibul Songgram) or simply
Phibun (
Pibul) in
the West, was
Prime Minister and virtual military dictator of Thailand from 1938 to 1944 and 1948 to 1957.
This means that even though most thais didn't agree with his decision they didn't have a choice cos he was a dictator.
Also put this into perspective. The japs were really powerful during ww2. They defeated russia it's the very first time an asian power defeated a western power.
They obviously defeated mudland and singapore colonies under the brits and you know how sg was touted as the glory of the british colony in SEA and possibly the world yet it was easily defeated. If the brits were so easily defeated by the japs well suffice to say the thais would have been defeated too. The fact of the matter is thailand wasn't involved in the spat between the allies and the axis powers. It wouldn't make sense for them to fight the japs. Contrast this with the brits and allied troops and the chinese. They all had legitimate reasons to fight the japs.