I feel the same experience while working on my East Indies mod.And TLs which focus on mixing historical plausibility and "what you find interesting" are far more interesting to read than naked wish-fulfillment TLs.
There's a lot of interesting stuffs in East Indies on that time period that i've discovered and often i worked it into the latest updates. Namely propaganda posters, previously unknown pictures of prominent officials, and important not war-related events.
I hope it makes my nation to be no less interesting than the major WW2 participants in the Pacific War, even when compared to Siam, Australia, and the Philippines.