From: Jurai-Knight [mailto:jurai-knight@home.com]

Due to her influence on her son, she had him re-open Japan to the
West.  She was the driving force behind the changes that Scholar-Ranma's
history knows him for.

I see you've done your homework. This alone wouldn't have been enough to
turn Japan into the Empire. But...

Poor samurai are sent out to places such as Korea and Australia to seek out

new

lands for their own, and they continue to swear fealty to the Empire.  Let
this spiral for a few centuries and the Empire came to be.

THIS would, if the samurai stayed on in the foreign lands. If they continued
to spread Japanese influence while sending tribute back to Japan long after
the shogun had passed away.
Also, I've read that the Japanese samurai were among those that rejected
guns when they were first invented. They considered it dishonurable. If they
were to become the Empire, they would have to ditch that attitude earlier
than they did in our history. So how did that come about?

The second major change that took place was in 1777 when the American

Revolution failed due to the South deciding to cut a deal rather than run
the risk of a revolution.  Democracy never came to be.<<

I can't remember exactly, was the mordern steam engine invented in Britain
or the US? Either way the Industrial revolution started in the west. I don't
think the absence of democracy would have changed that. If it did, the
Imperial universe would be in the 19th or early 20th century tech compared
to us.
And you have to remember, a culture that used slaves- like the empire-
wouldn't see the need for the steam engine. One that did, would be able to
to field more people in their armies. This would put the Empire at a serious
disadvantage. And if the Empire DID triumph over them, they'd definitely NOT
see the importance of the steam engine. After all, what's so good about an
invention that reduces the need for slaves and was invented by the losers to
boot?

All this is rather interesting. You said you liked writting about
scholar-Ranma's universe right? So put all this in and let us know how it
came to be.