Empire of Japan
From Autonomicon Mk. II
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Overview
Having abandoned the Earth independently of other nations, the Japanese Empire has colonized several worlds in the Orion Region. While significantly smaller then the Democratic Federation or Soviet Union, its planets are highly industrialized and its power highly respected, on par with the major superpowers.
History
The Japanese Empire was in a dire situation when the Scinfaxi invaded. With their fleets woefully under strength from devastating battles in the Pacific, Japan's armies were forced out of South East Asia and into Southern China.
During this time the Japanese Home Islands were relatively safe from Scinfaxi attacks. Unlike the British Isles, no plan was ever made by the Scinfaxi to attack Japan. While most of their continental possessions were lost during the war, they managed to retain the Philippines, parts of Manchukuo, Taiwan, and Korea.
After the war, the alliance between Japan and Germany strengthened and each country was successfully able to rebuild their nation. This alliance was instrumental in developing the Axis space program, and eventually faster than light travel. During this time, the Navy rebuilt considerably and secured resources in the Pacific for Japanese use, whilst the Army pacificed all of Scinfaxi-free East China. Communist insurgencies and
During Japan's colonization of space, the Imperial authorities chose planets away (then) from the Soviet Union, considering them to be the most threatening following Japan's defeats in the border conflicts with them. Unfortunately, this placed the Empire near Scinfaxi space. However, this would provide carte blanche to the Imperial Navy to maintain a large military force, both to counter the Soviets and the Scinfaxi.
With little contact between the Japanese and other human factions, technological progress slowed considerably until the Technological Beneficiary Treaty was signed between Germany and Japan in 2109 giving each empire full access to the other's research databases.
A interplanetary military and scientific computer network was formed called NIHONET which was quickly overtaken by hobbyists. A underground trade in classified information, as well as a black market, emerged. This was heavily cracked down upon by ultranationalists and the Imperial Security Force, a new aegis of all of Japan's national and interplanetary security, free from direct military intervention. Nevertheless, the Imperial military factions would continue to exert influence the ISF over the years to come, as well as bribe ISF officers to ignore violations in contracts and military investments abroad.
Government
See: Imperial Military Political Factions, Militarist-Socialist Imperialism
Puppet States
See: Empire of Manchukuo, Greater Korean Protectorate, Empire of Thailand
The Japanese maintain a collection of puppet-states and protectorates across its borders, from the Empire of Manchukuo, the Greater Korean Protectorate and to the Empire of Thailand. Each spans either a small continent to an entire system, depending on Japanese directives and interests. Each maintain their own Imperial Army and Navy, but ultimately answer to the Imperial Japanese military and, by default, the Emperor.
Law
Foreign Relations
See: Greater Asian Prosperity Sphere
Little contact has been made with the Japanese since they permanently left Earth. Having adopted an isolationist stance, what little contact is made with the Empire comes mostly from the Greater German Reich, whilst trade is conducted through the Greater Asian Prosperity Sphere. The Sphere is effectively a combination of all powers within Japan's influence, enabling the Japanese government to control a greater area and influence than any other nation of similar power. The German Reich and Japan are still unofficially allied, and trade continues between the countries is exclusively conducted via the Sphere.
The Soviets maintain an officially neutral, but unofficially hostile, view of the Japanese, having had no real recompense from the Russo-Japanese war decades earlier. They do not consider the Scinfaxi an immediate threat, due to their recent nature of leaving humanity to its own designs. Nevertheless, they use the threat of the Scinfaxi to maintain a huge military force capable of facing the Soviets should the two go to war.
Japanese transports are exported and are in use by most factions. Despite tensions, the Soviet Union uses Japanese L7M bulk transports for most infantry, vehicle, and supply duties, and its on-board hangars are usually stocked with VTOLs. This was a point of contention in 2127, when tensions between the two factions rose and an embargo was placed on military equipment to the Soviet Union. The dispute was settled in a court ruling, Mitsushita Corp v. Empire of Japan, which ruled the transports would not be classified as military equipment if the hangars were reduced in size so that VTOLs and small frigates could not launch. Seeking an alternative, the Soviets funded the creation of a corporation devoted to creating transports, unfortunately adopting such similar designs to Mitsushita's L*M line that it touched off dozens of court battles.
Military
See: Military of Imperial Japan
The Japanese maintain a large space-faring fleet, it is one of the most advanced in the region, lagging only behind Germany, and possibly the Soviet Union. The Imperial Japanese Navy has a high ratio of carriers, and a developing program for larger and more sophisticated dreadnought-scale warships.
The Imperial Japanese Army are of less priority to the Ministry of War, with lesser funding for development, further exacerbated by the Divine Fleet military faction that dominates the upper echelons of the Imperial Military.
However, the Army has not lost its ultranationalist fervour, with signature katanas and unbreakable discipline remaining key elements within the military that made it infamous during the Second World War.
Economy
The Empire's many zaibatsu have heavy representation in the Japanese shipbuilding industry, with respectable technical industries and increasing skill in exploiting natural resources on Imperial planets. Trade freely goes out to all nations, although the Greater German Reich gets preferential treatment in business transactions and agreements.
There are dozens of zaibatsu across the Empire, with many cooperating with German firms designing new technologies thanks to clauses in the Technological Beneficiary Treaty, whilst many more continue to exploit resources and labour trades for the betterment of the Empire's power.
Unfettered by regulation except in matters of military production but heavily financed by governmental infrastructure spending, the zaibatsu are viewed as a mixed economic blessing by citizens of the Empire. On one hand, in comparison to similar corporations in the Democratic Federation, the zaibatsu "corporate ladder" is remarkably lacking in pay disparity - wages are remarkably fair. One reason for this is that because the zaibatsu are reliant on their own banks and in some cases cheap government credit, they have little obligation to shareholders who would otherwise be the main source of investment capital.
On the other hand, this arrangement has been viewed with disfavor among other major powers in the Orion region. The Democratic Federation's corporatist factions regard the Japanese economy as too reliant on the zaibatsu and government money and therefore prone to stagnation, and its more politically minded activists believe it is fascist and monopolistic. The Soviet Union tends to view the Japanese economic model warily, as while it is similarly based in state capitalism, its more libertarian streaks and potential for exploitation of proletariat labour are suspiciously imperialist. The latter faction's ideology has particularly been a divisive political issue in the Empire and directly led to the formation of the Komeito Democratic Republic.
Infrastructure
Science
Society
Social Welfare
Education
Health
Militarism
Culture
Media
Religion
The entirety of the population worships the Emperor as the divine son of Amaterasu, with the influence of Buddhist and Samurai ideals, as well as Shinto practices have welded the once near-defeated people into a highly aggressive society. The ideals and honour codes of the Samurai have ensured that most, if not all, families can point to a currently serving or ancestral member of the Imperial military. Unofficially, religious commentators classified the state religion as the State Shinto, in regards to the Shinto influences and the favour monks receive from the Government.
Sports
Notable Figures
Planets
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