Manchukuo

Manchukuo was a pretend country that Japan made up in China a long time ago. Imagine you and your friends like to play pretend and you make a pretend country called "Lalaland". That's kind of what Japan did with Manchukuo.

So, Japan went to a place in China called Manchuria and said "we're in charge now." They made up a king and a government and pretended like it was a real country.

But, some people didn't like that Japan was pretending to be in charge. They wanted to be in charge themselves. So, there was a big fight and Japan won. Japan ruled over Manchukuo for a while and made their own rules there.

Eventually, Japan lost power and Manchuria became part of China again. But, for a while, Manchukuo was a pretend country that Japan made up and ruled over.