Empire of Japan

Led by Wo-Class Chibi CV.

The Empire of Japan (大日本帝國 Dai Nippon Teikoku, literally meaning "Empire of Great Japan") is an island country in East Asia. Originally a member of the Axis Powers in the Second World War, it has been occupied by Allied and Soviet Forces before the Allied controlled islands were returned to self rule. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics currently controls and administers the northernmost island, Hokkaido, which the Empire views as an occupied province.

Following their defeat and subsequent occupation, the Empire of Japan has adopted a revised version of the original Meiji Constitution that severely limited the powers of the Emperor. Originally written as a pacifist document, events in the occupation years led the Empire and the United States of America to come up with a constitution that rectified much of the excesses of the old government. As terms for the return to local rule, Emperor Hirohito abdicated the throne in 1960, the same year the revised constitution was ratified, leading Allied occupation troops to withdraw. The USSR has not acknowledged Japanese rights to Hokkaido and in response, the Empire has embarked on a period of mobilization and industrialization helped along by the United States of America. By the late 20th Century, the Empire of Japan would go from a ruined occupied nation to being one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world with a powerful military that could project throughout most of the Pacific.

For the characters used/affiliated with the Empire of Japan, click here.

History
The Allied occupation started to slow down in the initial drawdown during the Korean conflict in the 1950s, only fully ending when the Imperial Military was reformed from the National Police Reserve in 1960. In the nearly two decades of Allied rule, Japan was rebuilt from the ravages of war and many of its influential wartime hawks jailed with lengthy prison sentences or executed. The full dismantling of the Japanese economy was put on hold early in the occupation when the Soviet Union fully took the island of Hokkaido.

Many of its citizens managed to escape to the Japanese mainland or fished off shore by US Navy task forces, and with the onset of the Cold War between East and West, Emperor Hirohito and the surviving Imperial Diet, under the guidance of Allied occupation authorities, would enact and approved many of the changes to the Empire and would be instrumental in the creation the modern revision of the Meiji constitution.

Allegations of corruption within the Diet and the bureaucracy were rampant in the early years, leading to some high profile scandals which marred the last five years of Occupation. All of these were addressed during Emperor Akihito’s reign, who led the charge in enforcing strict rules in starting or ending of one life in the political arena and moving to the bureaucracy (often in the same industry he/she once regulated in a committee) or its reverse.

During the occupation years, Japan mostly maintained a national police force rather than the formal Imperial Military, which had been dismantled by the Allied occupiers. It was stood up to enforce the laws of the Japanese people as well as to help investigate crimes committed by the populace and Occupation personnel; however, during the Korean Conflict, this national police force was ill-suited to defend Japan in the event of a very real possibility of Soviet aggression.

This was a concern to politicians in both sides of the Pacific, as the Soviet Union has not announced any formal end of the war with the Empire of Japan. With most American forces in the region tied up in Korea, the Imperial Diet passed a resolution, approved by Emperor Hirohito, to form the National Police Reserve, the seed of the modern Imperial Military.

As the Japanese Empire started its nearly herculean rebuilding process, Japan was reliant on Allied and specifically, American assistance and expertise. Years of war have destroyed Japanese industry and wrecked once productive farm schedules, while a portion of the arable land was under Soviet occupation. Its overseas territories either under hostile occupation or denied it by the Allies, Japan had to import many raw materials to help get their industry started.

Japanese planners emphasized a return of heavy industry and agriculture, and the Japanese people embarked on such endeavor with a passion. The start of the so-called Post-War Imperial Miracle was less miracle and more Imperial and Allied authorities shepherding Japanese industry. In short, the various committees and working groups guided Japan to produce finished raw materials and basic consumer goods that could be cheaply exported elsewhere, as well as a reorganization of business and natural resource interests.

Trees were planted to stimulate the lumber industry, quarries now produced stone and concrete for growing cities, all being redesigned to fit a growing populace. Infrastructure built with Japanese hands and American money would give way to a heavy industry boon. By the time Allied occupation ended in 1960, Japanese shipyards would produce its first series of contract ships for foreign customers. Japanese automotive industry would also flourish at this time, as manufacturers such as Honda, Toyota, and others would produce reliable and affordable vehicles first for the domestic market, and then for the international sale. Their utilitarian vehicles would also take the world by storm, being known for their durability and off road handling.

Another source of industrial innovation that would appear in Japan would be the ‘Labor’ mech. After a series of earthquakes rocked Japan in the 1970s, Japanese industry came up with Legged Construction/Rescue Laborers, or ‘Labor’. These were used to traverse broken or uneven ground and steep mountains, initially used for rescue and mountain side construction and forestry duties.

These Labors would help fuel the coming Japanese construction boom, able to do work that would take less precise machinery and several men to do, thus speeding up construction without having a negative effect on the job. Soon, most heavy construction in Japan would involve the employment of these machines. In time, these Labors would expand to undersea construction and repair with submersible and amphibious mecha.

Not satisfied with just construction, Labors have been produced for other uses. Preeminent Labor maker in Japan, Shinohara Heavy Industries have been contracted to develop Labors for the Imperial Police Force for Labor related crimes as well as some for the Imperial Military.

By 1983, a joint venture between the Imperial government and industry would bring the conceptualization of the Waterfront Reclamation Project, a massive mega-engineering endeavor that would see the reclamation of several thousand hectares of ground in Tokyo from the sea and the building of multiple tidal control breaks. The first piles on the first of the artificial islands would be driven to the bedrock in 1986 and the first islands were opened in 1992.

These islands became prime real-estate on an increasingly crowded Tokyo area, and already several people have staked claims on the islands and have developed towering office and apartment buildings that are whole neighborhoods in their own right, even before the main roads connecting all the islands were built. With the massive inter-island dyke and expressway nearing completion, stage four of the project, the drainage and settling of the reclaimed land should be completed by 2010, on schedule. Similarly, other cities in Japan have announced the formation of Reclamation committees, with the Keihanshin Reclamation Committee the closest in actual construction, the first pillars for the proposed artificial Island chain to be driven in 2005. The usage of Labors as well as power suits (commonly called “Rico” by the public and military) would help speed up construction on a major scale.

Coupled with Imperial focus on industry and export, the Japanese economy would grow and its spectacular rise being hailed as the Economic Miracle of the East. Its robust heavy industry centered on construction and shipbuilding, a growing consumer electronics market, and strong automotive sector would be the defining traits of the Japanese Empire’s crawl from the ashes of its defeat in 1945.

Status of the Emperor
(WIP)

Technology
(WIP)

Military
National Service

Imperial Japanese Army
(WIP)

Imperial Japanese Navy
(WIP)

Imperial Japanese Air Force
(WIP)

Imperial Japanese Marine Forces
(WIP)

Prefectural Guard Units
(WIP)