Damn these industrial imperialist island nations
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Would've thought that China would've had a bigger historical empire than Japan?
Historically yes, but in the 19th and early 20th century, Japan expanded significantly, while China shrunk. China was still bigger, but Japan had 'gained' more imperial territory, if that makes sense.
So I guess this would this also take into account a difference between an "Empire" and a "kingdom" or other proto-nation-state-ish polity.
What would make more sense is if the OP situated it in recent history in some way, it would have made his post more clever.