Japan

Japan, officially the State of Japan, is an island country in East Asia, situated in the Northwest Pacific Ocean and consisting of the islands Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido. Japan is one of the most urbanized countries in the world, as its mountainous terrain results in the population being concentrated in the few plains that exist on the islands. For example, the Greater Tokyo region is the most populous metropolitan area. It is also an economic power, with a GDP of $6 trillion, ranking 3rd in the world. In addition, its culture, such as its video games, anime, and even more general concepts such as the idea of ninja and samurai are world-famous. However, it has renounced the right to war, and as such its military is very insignificant, only sufficient to defend against a direct attack. Historically, Japan has been ruled by an Emperor for over a thousand years, though in practice the power of the Emperor has varied greatly over the years. In the 19th century, Japan was opened by to the world after a long period of isolation by the "Black Ships" of Commodore Matthew Perry. As a result, Japan industrialized rapidly, going from agrarian society to industrial power within 30 years, while also pursuing an expansionist foreign policy to acquire colonies. This expansionist foreign policy would eventually result in the rise of militarism, which fed further into expansionism, eventually resulting in Japan being defeated by the Allies and the Soviet Union in World War II. After World War II, Japan was divided between the communist, Soviet-supported Socialist Republic of Ezo on Hokkaido and the democratic, though with major socialist parties, Republic of Japan on Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. As a result of the Japan Socialist Party's continual re-election in the Republic of Japan, the Republic of Japan implemented many socialist economic policies such as the conversion of many zaibatsus into worker co-ops, as well as the nationalization or breaking up of the remaining zaibatsus. The adoption of many socialist economic policies in the Republic of Japan, as well as the Socialist Republic of Ezo seeking to distance itself from chaos in the USSR, resulted in the eventual reunification of the Republic of Japan and the Socialist Republic of Ezo on April 19, 1991, though by the 1970s there were already deep economic ties between the two.

History
In 1945, the fall of Imperial Japan seemed inevitable. Thousands of American B-29 bombers had reduced the many cities of Japan to rubble. Yet, despite this, the Japanese people refused to give in. Then, nuclear bombs, a terrifying new creation never seen before, were dropped. The first, on August 6th, wiped out much of Hiroshima, the center of the Chugōku region, in an instant. Then, on August 9th, a second dropped on Nagasaki. That same day, Soviet forces began their invasion of Manchuria, wiping out much of the Kwantung Army. After several rounds of fierce debate, the emperor rendered his "Sacred Decision", breaking the deadlock and paving the path to an official surrender. However, this was not meant to be. When young IJA officers learned of the emperor's decision, a decision they regarded as a betrayal, they decided to act. On the dawn of August 15, the Imperial Palace was surrounded by loyal officers and soldiers.

Acting quickly, they seized the emperor, destroyed the recording of his official surrender broadcast, and, with sympathetic elements in the government, declared martial law. In the chaos, however, Emperor Hirohito was killed. Whether he was purposefully executed or simply died in the crossfire remains unknown to this day. Regardless of the intentions behind his death, however, his death would ultimately serve as the tinder for the eventual July Revolution to succeed. For many soldiers and civilians, it cast the legitimacy of the new government in doubt, causing many of them to be more distrustful of the government and of whether the war was truly just. This was helped along by pacifist organizations, including many socialist organizations that would later lead the July Revolution, who cast Hirohito as a "martyr emperor" and claimed he had been killed for daring to entertain the thought of surrender.

In America, news of this coup was greeted with the grim acknowledgement that the nuclear bombs had failed and Operation Downfall, the largest naval invasion in history, would have to go forward. The United States military had had several fierce debates on how to best force the surrender of Japan. The Army favored a direct invasion of Japan, supported by the US Surface Fleet and possibly nuclear weapons, while the Navy favored a blockade to cut off the Japanese from their major food sources in Manchuria, Korea, and Taiwan. In the end, a hybrid approach was decided. First, a naval blockade would be enforced to weaken the Japanese populace through starvation. Then, Operation Olympic would commence in the spring of 1946, securing Kagoshima as a base to launch an attack on the Greater Tokyo area. Finally, in the fall of 1946, the final invasion of Tokyo, Operation Coronet, would commence. It was also decided that elements of the US Navy would support a Soviet invasion of Hokkaido, and possibly Northern Honshu.

The naval blockade of 1946-1947, or as it was later known, "the Hungry Winter", wreaked havoc on the populace of Japan. In the dense cities of Japan, mothers sold their children and themselves into slavery in order to obtain meager portions of rice. Many were forced to scavenge for anything edible, eating delicacies such as boot leather and wild animals, all in the name of survival. Others fled to the countryside, hoping the food situation would be better there. It was during this time that Communist organizations such as the Japanese Communist Party and the Japanese Socialist Party grew in popularity, as they organized programs such as soup kitchens for the poorest and the hungriest, while their rhetoric resonated with a populace and soldiers beginning to crack under the pressure. While the military government attempted to suppress these socialist organizations, they were largely unsuccessful, as the government had much bigger crises to manage. It is estimated that around 5 million perished during this time. Finally, in March of 1946, Operation Downfall, the American invasion, commenced. At the same time, Soviet armies, having secured Manchuria and Korea, moved to invade Hokkaido, with the aid of an American fleet. Casualties were catastrophic, with 300,000 total Soviet and American deaths, as well as over a million Japanese. By July of 1946, the Allies had secured the southern third of Kyushu, and were preparing to launch an invasion of Tokyo proper. The Soviets, meanwhile, had secured all of Hokkaido, proclaiming the establishment of the Socialist Republic of Ezo. However, they, unlike the Americans, were not planning an invasion of Honshu, due to enormous casualties(mostly resulting from a complete lack of experience in amphibious operations) from the invasion of Hokkaido.

With the Japanese population devastated by bombing and starvation, as well as enemy troops invading their homeland, the Japanese populace had finally cracked. On July 8, 1946, massive protests in Osaka demanding an end to the war gave way to the beginnings of an uprising, led by the Japan Socialist Party, the Japanese Communist Party, and the Constitutional Democratic Party. Despite orders from Tokyo to shoot all protesters, the protesters were able to overwhelm the soldiers(aided by a decent portion of the soldiers defecting to the protesters) through sheer numbers. The protesters quickly seized most of the city, including the arsenal at Osaka Castle. Arming themselves, they moved to destroy remaining loyal soldiers, before declaring the Republic of Japan from the grounds of Osaka Castle. The Osaka Uprising soon sparked similar uprisings in Sendai, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kobe, and even Yokohama, only 30 kilometers from Tokyo. Together, these uprisings are known as the July Revolution. Finally, on July 15, the military government could no longer contain the revolutionaries in Tokyo, and with armed protesters at the gates of the Imperial Palace, the government declared an end to martial law and an armistice with the Americans and the Soviets. The Treaty of Kyoto, finalized on November 26, 1946, set out the terms of the Japanese surrender. Both the Soviets and the Americans would receive a few puppet states each: the Soviets would keep the Socialist Republic of Ezo and gain the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, while the Americans would receive a puppet on Okinawa, the Free Republic of the Ryukyus, and the Republic of Taiwan. Japan, in turn, would become a neutral buffer state in the region, sworn to a position of unarmed neutrality. This position of unarmed neutrality was later affirmed in Article 9 of the new Japanese Constitution, which stated that "Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized, and the Japanese people shall aspire to the position of unarmed neutrality."

At long last, the bloodiest war in history was at an end.

In the post-war era, the Republic of Japan(henceforth referred to as simply Japan) began the long process of reconstruction. Between 1946-1955, a coalition government of the Japan Socialist Party(JSP), the Japanese Communist Party(JCP), and the Constitutional Democratic Party(Minseito), led by Prime Minister Tetsu Katayama, created many of the policies that would define postwar Japan. In domestic policy, it created the beginnings of the social-democratic state, including expanding the national health insurance program to all citizens, the creation of many labor protections, the establishment of unemployment benefits, the creation of a universal preschool system, land reform, and the breaking up of the largest zaibatsu, as well as rebuilding much of the infrastructure that had been destroyed during the war. This period of infrastructure investment paved the way for the eventual construction of major infrastructure projects in the 1960s such as the Shinkansen. The government also undertook an intensive "de-imperialification" campaign, holding the Kobe War Crimes Trials, where many notable war criminals were tried and found guilty of various war crimes and crimes against humanity. De-imperialification also involved fairly comprehensive apologies to the nations Imperial Japan had conquered, the rooting out of people complicit in war crimes at all levels of society, and extensive teaching of World War II in history curricula. In foreign policy, the government formulated the Katayama Doctrine, which stated that Japan would maintain good relations with both the Soviet and American blocs, giving small concessions to appease both while not committing to an ideological bloc, in order to gain economic benefits from both. As a result of the Katayama Doctrine, Japan was able to trade with both the Soviet sphere and the American sphere, and therefore obtain aid from both, leading to an economic boom dubbed the "Japanese economic miracle".

After 9 years in power, the JSP-Minseito-JCP coalition was defeated by a new conservative party, the Liberal Democratic Party(LDP), formed from the merger of the many conservative parties that existed before. As soon as Prime Minister Yoshida took power, he and the LDP cabinet attempted to quickly undo all the policies of the previous government. This move, however, was vastly unpopular, and a snap election was called in 1956. In this snap election, the JSP-JCP coalition presented a unified front, while the LDP quickly broke apart into factionism. As a result, the JSP-JCP coalition took a supermajority of seats in the National Diet under Prime Minister Mosaburo Suzuki, heralding the beginning of the "1956 System", where the LDP was sidelined as an opposition party while the JSP-JCP coalition held continuous power. To cement this, the previous first-past-the-post constituencies were replaced with a proportional representation system, with extra seats allocated for cities and industrial areas. Under Prime Minister Suzuki, who ruled from 1956-1964, the government began to implement much more radical policies, such as forcing nearly all the zaibatsus to either reorganize into worker co-ops or be nationalized, as well as beginning the process of agricultural collectivization. The tenure of Prime Minister Suzuki also saw the opening of the world's first high-speed rail, the Tokaido Shinkansen, and the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, which showed the rest of the world the extent of Japanese recovery from World War II.

Under other JSP Prime Ministers, Japan continued to pursue a form of socialism distinct from both Soviet Communism and American Capitalism, though implementation often varied greatly as a result of the different politics of various Prime Ministers. In 1967, the JCP merged into the JSP, though at this point this was more or less a formality. As a result of the adoption of many socialist policies in Japan and the Socialist Republic of Ezo seeking to distance itself from chaos in the Soviet Union, the Republic of Japan and the Socialist Republic of Ezo were merged in 1979.

Japanese peace and prosperity, however, were threatened by many world crises. First, the Second Chinese Civil War in the 1980s resulted in the replacement of the People's Republic of China, a major trading partner for Japan, with libright China, who were initially hostile to the Republic of Japan, whom they derided as "pinko commies". During this time, the cabinet of Prime Minister Takako Doi were in fierce debate on how best to respond to the situation. On one side were the hawks, led by the Foreign Minister, Shintaro Abe, who argued in favor of intervening on behalf of the People's Republic of China, overturning or rewriting Article 9 if need be. On the other side were the doves, led by Deputy Prime Minister and future Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, who supported negotiating a peace agreement. In the end, the doves won out, and a ceasefire was announced between libright China and the PRC in exchange for libright China receiving foreign investment and aid from Japan. Secondly, both the Soviet Union and the United States collapsed into civil war, resulting in both Soviet Hokkaido, American Taiwan, and American Okinawa becoming independent from their puppetmasters, Japan losing both of its major trade partners, and generally the world order being upended. The hawks, led by Foreign Minister Shinzo Abe, favored intervention in favor of Soviet Loyalists as well as the annexation, backed up by force if need be, of Hokkaido, Okinawa, and possibly Taiwan. The doves, supported by now-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, favored a negotiated unification with Hokkaido while leaving Taiwan and Okinawa alone, and to negotiate a ceasefire in Siberia. There was also a debate on future economic policy, largely divided against the isolationists, who believed Japan should once again isolate itself and focus on prosperity within itself and possibly with the Koreans and Chinese, and the globalists, who believed Japan should seek out new trade partners among the other leftist governments. In the end, the doves won, and negotiations for reunification were initiated, as well as negotiations for a Siberian ceasefire. The reunification of Hokkaido was a success, due to Hokkaido's economy already being heavily tied to that of Japan. However, negotiations for the unification of Taiwan and Okinawa fell through, leading to a few years of independence for both Taiwan and Okinawa before British-backed coups occurred in both countries. Similarly, the negotiations for a ceasefire in Siberia also failed, and as such the Japanese government reluctantly began supplying the Soviet Loyalists. These failures were widely viewed as an enormous embarrassment to Prime Minister Murayama, and as such he was forced to resign in favor of the much more hawkish Prime Minister Takaya Shiomi. Prime Minister Shiomi formulated the "Shiomi Plan", which stated that Japan would build a navy in order to seek to prevent any invasion by "reactionary forces". Under the Shiomi Plan, the government created the Japanese Maritime Defense Force, which currently consists of 1 helicopter carrier, 15 destroyers, and 10 other small ships. However, the Shiomi Plan was deeply controversial, as many pacifist members of the JSP viewed it as a deep violation of Article 9. As such, the Shiomi Cabinet fell apart just before the elections of 1994. In those elections, the LDP took power in a coalition with the Minseito for the first time in nearly 40 years, as the JSP was deeply divided by factionalism while the LDP-Minseito coalition offered a united front. The LDP-Minseito coalition began enacting a few neoliberal reforms, particularly in regards to free trade agreements, while also continuing to respect the welfare state and the pacifist Constitution for the most part. However, the coalition fell apart due to factionalism in December 1995, and the JSP under Prime Minister Tetsuzo Fuwa swept into power once again in the snap election of 1996.

However, while the new trade agreements with the Franco-Iberian Federation, Vaporwave Gran Colombia, and the People's Sultanate of Egypt, Nubia, and the Levant did help in mitigating economic decline, Japan still found itself in a long economic depression due to the radically changed world that upended many global supply chains. This period of economic stagnation was known as the "Lost Decade", and it resulted in rising extremism among the voting population. Today, Japan faces new threats from extremist ideologies such as Posadism, Neo-Imperialism, and Radical Dengism.

Geography
Japan is an island nation, consisting of four main islands: Honshu, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido. Due to the fact that it sits at the confluence of four tectonic plates, Japan is especially prone to earthquakes and tsunamis.

The confluence of these tectonic plates has also resulted in Japan being dominated by mountains. As such, most of the Japanese population resides in the plains at the foot of the mountains, such as the Nobi plain, home to Nagoya, or the Kanto plain, home to Tokyo, This crowding of its citizens into these plains results in Japan being one of the most densely populated countries in the world - Greater Tokyo is the most populous metropolitan area, while Keihanshin and Nagoya are also fairly large.

Japan's most notable cities are Tokyo, the largest city in the world, Osaka, renowned for being a center of industry as well as for being the birthplace of the July Revolution that ended World War II, Nagoya, a major center of the automobile industry, Kyoto, the ancient capital, renowned for its cultural heritage, and Fukuoka, the largest city on Kyushu.

Politics
Japanese politics is dominated by the Japan Socialist Party, or the JSP. The JSP consists of both right leaning and left leaning factions, as a result of the merger of the JCP into the JSP in 1967. The JSP itself has many factions, the most notable of which are the democratic socialists, the social democrats, and the authoritarians. As a result of Japanese voters generally not wanting to upset the status quo, a proportional representation system with extra seats for cities and industrial areas in the National Diet, restrictions on all parties such as limits on television and radio advertising that favor incumbency, and the continued existence of the JSP's soup kitchen and other aid programmes, which the opposition LDP and Minseito has criticized as "cronyism", the JSP has retained a majority in the National Diet since 1956, with only a small period of LDP governance between 1992-1993. This system of JSP dominance is known as the "1956 System".

While there is a sizeable opposition in the LDP, they are generally too weak and divided to actually take power. The LDP, which merged with the Minseito in 2007, consists of a combination of neoliberals, social conservatives, and even a few nationalists.

Democratic Socialists:
Led by current Prime Minister Kazuo Shii, the democratic socialists are more or less the mainstream left-wing ideology within the JSP. In domestic policy, the democratic socialists support more socialist policies in the economy, such as the greater implementation of workplace democracy,and some increased collectivization, nationalization, and land reform. In foreign policy, the democratic socialists are overwhelmingly pacifists, supporting the dismantlement of the Japanese Marine Defense Force as well as opposing any amendment to Article 9.

Social Democrats:
Led by current Deputy Prime Minister Yukio Hatayama, the social democrats are the mainstream right-wing ideology within the JSP. They largely support the continuation of social democratic policies. Within the social democratic camp, there is also an ideological rift between mainstream social democrats, who wish to continue the expansion of the welfare state, and social liberals, who wish to cut costs in the hopes of fueling economic growth.

Authoritarians:
Led by former Foreign Minister Shinzo Abe, the authoritarians encompasses a decent array of authoritarian leftist ideologies, ranging from orthodox Marxist-Leninists to Posadists. It is rumored that Shinzo Abe himself, as well as many of his supporters. are secretly NazBols. In domestic policy, they advocate for full nationalization of all industries, possibly even including toothbrushes, while most of the authoritarians support a highly aggressive foreign policy to "liberate the proletariat of the world from capitalist subjugation", though there is also a sizeable portion who support isolationism. There is even a sizeable Posadist minority, who believe that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a key cause of the July Revolution, and as such Japan must build a nclear arsenal to spread the revolution.

Dengists:
Led by former Finance Minister Yasuo Fukuda, the Dengists seek to emulate libright China in enacting many free market reforms in order to spur economic growth. The Dengist hypothesis is that the only thing that can take Japan out of its decades-long economic malaise is the power of the free market. In foreign policy, they are fairly mixed, though nearly all support extensive free trade agreements and especially closer ties with libright China, possibly even passing over authleft China in favor of libright China. While most of them remain in the JSP, they have attracted much criticism from members of the JSP, espeically from the authoritarian faction, who have repeatedly branded them as "revisionists".

Centrist Opposition:
Led by LDP leader Renho Murata, commonly known as simply Renho, the Centrists seek to enact free market reforms more gradually. Their main platform is the privatization of government assets, especially Japan National Railways, as well as a reduction in taxes and welfare. Within the Centrists, there is a division between the neoliberals, who are largely progressive on social issues, and as such also support a pacifist foreign policy(though with many more free trade agreements) and the social conservatives, who are much more aggressive in foreign policy, and have even made a few controversial statements on the history and legacy of Imperial Japan.

Anarchists:
While they do not have a leader, Anarchism is a fairly sizeable force within the labor movement, being responsible for the organization of many strikes. That said, as they are currently unrepresented in government, their impact is fairly limited.

Greens:
Primarily are concerned with shutting down nuclear power plants. Rose to prominence following the 2011 Fukushima meltdown. Currently, Japan derives 60% of its energy needs from nuclear energy, and the Greens wish to reduce this to 40% while increasing the energy share of renewables such as solar and wind.