The Empire of Japan

The Newest of the Great Powers, the Empire of Japan finds itself torn between ancient tradition, and rising ambition. Through rapid modernization, innovation, and a ruthless drive to expand, the Japanese have set out to carve a name for themselves on Earth, and among the stars.

Following over a century of civil war, Japan experienced a long period of self-imposed isolation under the regime of the Tokugawa bakufu and its Sakoku policy. For more than two hundred years Japan limited its interactions with other nations, especially the increasingly present Nanban traders from Europe. Even while restricted, Japan was not cut off entirely from the outside world, as they maintained a narrow trade relationship with the Dutch, Ming China, and Joseon Korea. Dutch merchants shared many technological miracles, slowly influencing Japanese society. Many advancements in farming, construction, and medicine were made as a result. These innovations caused the nation’s population to steadily climb in the 18th century. In spite of their lessened rate of technological growth compared to the rest of the world, Japanese society flourished quietly with these improvements.

A breakout of several small rebellions in the early nineteenth century warned of changes to come. The slow trickle of western ideas proved hazardous to the delicate balance between homegrown cultural power and the control of the Sino–centric literati. What on the surface seemed like philosophical disputes often bled into real violent conflict in the public. One of the more notable examples was led by Oshio Heihachiro, a philosopher and political agitator largely influenced by the strong Confucian dynasty established by Joseon Korea on the mainland. In truth, this was intentional on Joseon’s part, as the growing British influence from southern China desired the continuation of Japan’s Sakoku Isolationism, and the Korean dynasty ruling in northern China wished to gain another ally in the region. Oshio’s rebellion was largely a failure, though he and his followers destroyed much of Ōsaka, with tens of thousands of residents being displaced in a great conflagration. Traditionalist sentiment did not die with Oshio, as many like-minded scholars continued to push a staunchly anti-western philosophy for years to come.

The year 1844 marked the end of Japan’s mostly peaceful solitude, and began its transformation into a great empire. A middle-aged naval Commodore by the name of Matthew Perry made it his goal to test the The United States of America's new air fleet, a collection of lightly armored zeppelins. He utilized this fleet to travel the Pacific, using the opportunity to make diplomatic connections with the lesser known cultures of the world. Brazenly ignoring international policy between the Koreans and British, Perry forced the Japanese to deal with him, ending their isolation, and opening them up to the influences of the world once more.

A strong political upheaval occurred in the early 1850s, as Joseon partisans supported the elevation of the young Emperor Komei to a position of greater control over the bakufu. Komei in turn supported proposals of an alliance with the Korean dynasty, offering their support in potential conflicts in exchange for direct access to advanced weaponry. Joseon saw immediate returns on this deal, as a brief war broke out with the British occupation in southern China. Many samurai were sent to the mainland to assist the Koreans in repelling the British, often provided with modern weaponry from the Joseon arsenal. Thanks to Japanese assistance and arbitration by the Papacy, British holdings in east Asia were released, and a neutral buffer state was formed, becoming the Independent Canton Economic Zone. Unfortunately for Joseon however, their new friendship with Japan did not last.

The Komei Emperor passed away at the young age of 35, and his son, the future Emperor Meiji, ascended in 1867. Unlike his father, Meiji’s reign saw many integrations of western policy, leading to a gradual reform of the government over the next two decades. In this time, Korea attempted to maintain cultural sovereignty in Japan, funding a hyper-railway across the Strait of Tsushima. The project, while made seemingly in good faith, caused a wave of paranoia within the military sector of the nation, resulting in massive military restructuring, the establishment of an Imperial Navy, and a wave of arms stockpiling. This period of militaristic posturing also saw the complete conquest of the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, and Guam. The former two regions were part of the Middle Kingdom’s tributary system, and were theoretically guaranteed sovereignty. Due to their officially “close” relations with Japan, Korea allowed this change in rulership so long as their tributes from the region continued.

The coming decades saw further westernization of the government structure, including a legislative body that ruled in the Emperor’s name. The legislature was divided into two bodies, one which elected officials from the former peasantry, and the other which was made of clan heads from a reformed Samurai caste. The newly formed military spent their yearly stipends to enhance the nation’s technology in an effort to catch up with the great powers of the world, especially following the example of American Jump Gate technology. In time, the two military branches formed a rivalry between each other. This was due to the background of the high officials in each branch, as well as differences in traditional doctrine. The Imperial Japanese Army was formed largely from the personal armies of the former Daimyo, and thus had a very strong warrior tradition that influenced doctrine and training. Meanwhile the Imperial Japanese Navy lacked the several centuries of cultural background, and was seen as a better opportunity as far as advancement for Heimin (citizens not from a Samurai clan or Court position). This difference led to the hierarchy of the Navy being profoundly more progressive, trade-oriented, and accepting of societal outcasts. Many of the first members of the Admiralty Board were the sons of wealthy merchant families, who aided the rapid advancement of the nation through foreign investment and striking deals with more open trade partners. The greatest example of international support was the reconstruction of the largely destroyed city of Ōsaka, which was completed in the early 1890s using foreign funding and techniques. The city's great transformation was symbolic of the nation’s sudden development, and serves today as the symbolic capital of the Heimin legislature. By the end of the decade, the city’s population exploded, growing to exceed that in Kyōto and Edo.

The turn of the century brought increased tension with the Russians, who had grown to be a power in the northern Pacific. Their gate had been constructed only a few years after the Americans, and was located in Siberia. In order to better defend this gate from the United States, Russian forces occupied the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin, which were historically inhabited by the Ainu minority. This soured relations between the two, as the occupation was seen as a violation of Japanese borders. In 1904, Russia was embroiled in the pacification of a Lithuanian revolt, which was being supported by Poland. Seeing this as an opportunity to strike back at them, the Empire of Japan declared war, engaging in a very brief but effective conflict. During the Russo-Japanese War the untested Navy proved to be at parity with the Russian Pacific fleet, and the Army was able to easily storm the besieged island garrisons with support from Ainu guides. Russia was unable to easily organize a counter-attack, and was forced into negotiations with the Japanese, in which they relinquished all claims on Sakhalin and the Kurils.

The Imperial Japanese military was quite successful in their conflict with the Russians, however unity between the two branches became frayed as Japan’s three government system placed them at odds. The largely samurai-led Army aligned closely with Bakufu politics, while the mixed background Navy often supported Heimin policy on the Diet floor. The ideological divide widened following the tragic passing of the great Emperor Meiji in 1912. His son, the Prince Yoshihito, was inadequate for the task of rule, and his ascendancy following his father’s death proved disastrous for the Imperial Court’s mediative functions over the other two branches. The Taisho era would prove to be the darkest period in Japanese history since the Sengoku jidai.

The Bushi caste of Taisho Japan saw the growing threat of Korea, and wished to disrupt its role as the regional hegemon over East Asia. The Shogun, the traditional head of state over the samurai government, issued orders to restrict Korean importation of raw materials from overseas. The hope was to force them to rely only on their domestic supply, and simultaneously force the sellers to deal with Japan, further fueling their own war machine. The move was also supported by the Heimin government, but many Imperial Court officials called for Shogun Date Muneatsu to commit seppuku. Date refused these outcries, starting a trend of simply ignoring the will of the Chōtei’s central government back in Kyōto. This defiance also allowed for the civilian government to act independently as well, reallocating tax money originally destined for the other branches into enhancing their navy, merchant fleet, and overseas investments, especially in joint ventures with the Americans. While the twin governments of Ōsaka and Edo were together in their disobedience of the central government, they grew increasingly competitive in the legislative Diet, especially when it came to joint bids for funding.

After decades of joint military research, the jump gate known as Shin-Tokaido-Mon was constructed in 1915, opening the empire to the stars. An important question considering the operation of the Gate caused tension between the two Diet factions. As both the largely Heimin Imperial Navy and Samurai-led Army funded the project, they could not decide on who should possess the gate. The three candidate cities for housing the megastructure were the respective capitals of the government, and none of them wished the others to have so much control over colonial development. A deal was struck in the halls of the Gikai, in which the Shin-Tokaido-Mon would be placed over the Bushi capital in Edo, but be maintained and operated as part of the Navy. This deal allowed for both military branches, and by extension castes, to yield some authority over the colonial expanse, a move which only served to further destabilize relations between Edo and Ōsaka.

Over the next two years, many policies were passed concerning the creation of the new Japanese colony of Kyokoku, including the creation of the Aether Flagship Yamato. These efforts largely strained the state’s economy, yet many officials in the Gikai siphoned off extra funding for their own mercantile interests. When this scandal was exposed, tensions finally gave in on the Diet floor. An intense argument erupted, and the Shogun struck down one of the offending ministers with his katana. The Bushi members of state hurriedly escorted out their leader amid the chaos, and narrowly escaped arrest by Heimin Marines. Hours later, the Daijō-daijin, the prime minister of the Heimin branch of government, declared that the leaders of the Samurai faction of government had committed mass treason in their harboring of the Shogun, and that all Japanese citizens who aided them were traitors to the realm.

The autumn of 1917 marked the beginning of the Japanese Civil War, otherwise known as the Santo Sensō (War of Three Cities). The Heimin and Samurai factions would launch several raids against each other’s strongholds, each occasionally coming into conflict with the Imperial Loyalist faction as it attempted to regain authority over the others. The Kyokoku colony was largely left without government assistance, relying on private ventures to be supplied. The Naval staff of the Yamato avoided entering the conflict on either side, as its mission left it largely removed from the politics of the homeland. The factions at home continued to forge alliances with foreign powers, hoping to receive the decisive aid necessary to end the conflict. The mercantile Heimin faction of Ōsaka continued to curry favor with the Americans, making up for their lack of sizable land forces with western mercenaries. The Imperial faction of Kyōto attempted to repair relations with Korea, with the Court utilizing their possession of the emperor as justification for their rightful rule. Their hope was that if they placated the Joseon dynasty enough, they would provide substantial aid to pacify the rebels. Meanwhile, the Bushi faction of Edo struggled to find supporters initially, regardless of their initial advantage over the other two militarily. Their ideal supporter was Great Britain, who could eventually aid them in disrupting Korean authority in the East. Unfortunately, they did not have much to offer diplomatically, and their role as instigators in the conflict made pledges of support a dangerous venture for the European power.

Two years into the open conflict, the Emperor’s health started to decline, preventing him from carrying out many of his ceremonial duties. The chief officials of the Court did their best to cover-up the reality of the situation. An added consequence of the move was a further hampering of the Imperial household’s attempts to carry out duties in his stead, as a sudden change in authority would display weakness to their enemies. This greatly disgruntled the Crown Prince Hirohito, who wished an end to the conflict, but lacked the strong Korean/Confucian leanings of his officials. Like the leaders of the two rebel factions, Hirohito had higher aims for Japanese authority in Asia, and began to subtly make political maneuvers to garner foreign support against Joseon. In 1921, he made the first diplomatic mission to Europe to be carried out by a member of the Japanese monarchy. The primary goal of this meeting was to conduct a secret dialogue with the British royal family and the Lord Protector. A deal was struck between the two powers, in which Japan would support British conflicts in East Asia, and guarantee the Canton Zone for the British if the opportunity arose for its dismantling. In exchange, the British would supply raw resources for the Japanese as they recover from the civil war, and attempt to coerce the American PMC’s supporting the Heimin faction to drop out of the conflict. As The Great Famine of 1920 was underway, the support of the Japanese proved vital to British interests in the region. The deal was cemented by the marriage of Hirohito’s younger brother, Prince Yasuhito, to Princess Mary, the only daughter of King George V.

When Crown Prince Hirohito returned, he started openly sympathizing with the Samurai faction, justifying the previous attack at the Diet as an execution of corrupt leaders, and distanced himself from his court officials. The Court, realizing that their will was in opposition to the Prince, increased its efforts to ingratiate themselves with the Korean throne. The Samurai faction, now with unofficial support from Hirohito, focused its efforts on advancing into Kyōto. Sensing an imminent defeat, the inner circle of the Imperial faction decided that the only way out was to bend the knee to Joseon, becoming a formal tributary state in exchange for direct intervention. On the morning of August 15th, 1923 a diplomatic mission of high Imperial officials, alongside the ailing Emperor Taisho, boarded a hyper train to formally kow-tow before the Korean monarch. While enroute over the Tsushima Strait, a demolition charge damaged the railway, derailing the Imperial Train into the sea. First responders arrived on the scene an hour later, with no survivors found in the wreckage. No one officially accepted responsibility for the attack, and to this day investigations draw differing conclusions. The official stance of the Imperial Office was that the perpetrators of the assassination were Korean rogue agents, though the Joseon monarchy denied this claim.

On New Year's Day of 1924, Hirohito ascended as the Showa Emperor. Immediately following his ascension, he was able to broker an uneasy peace between the other two factions, sparing the lives of the Heimin ministry in exchange for the seppuku of the Daijō-daijin and his closest lieutenants. He also split the raw resources from Great Britain evenly between the two military branches, as while the samurai were the main force behind the Imperial Army, the Imperial Navy was ordered to undergo rapid retrofitting of the fleet, and to restart its research and development projects. This was followed by the announcement that in response to the assassination of Taisho by supposed Korean extremists, Japan would halt all diplomatic interactions with the Joseon dynasty. Behind closed doors, Showa made his intentions clear to the new Daijō-daijin and the Shogun; Japan must prepare for an inevitable conflict with Korea.

After years of administrative bloat and suppression of Han culture, a series of outbreaks erupted along coastal China in 1926 and 1927, destabilizing the Korean controlled dynasty. Citing a threat to the Independent Canton Economic Zone, The Anglo-Japanese Pact responded with a full mobilization. At first, this action was justified as a peacekeeping operation, but as their positions were established, their true motivations were made clear. The two powers aimed to destabilize the Joseon dynasty’s control over the continent. The British promised control over all conquered territories to Japan, in exchange for their support in an Anglo-administered Canton region. As initial rebellions were quelled, the war became a dismantling of the Korean system in central China. The Great War had begun in the East.

The initial stages of the war were largely one-sided, with the Japanese launching an amphibious assault on rebel-held territory. They made their primary landing at Shanghai, establishing the mega-city as their foothold. From there, they marched along the coastline, seizing major ports on their way down to Canton. Their ultimate goal was to cut off the rebellion from the wealthy coastline, and then move west from Shanghai to hamper Joseon’s inevitable reprisal. The campaign was largely a success, with Japan occupying everything south of Wuhan by the end of 1927, and the bulk of local resistance was rendered impotent.

As smaller revolts were suppressed across the country, Japan continued its occupation of Central China and the coastline, establishing a temporary government of their own. In May of 1928, the Joseon crown formally requested the cessation of their occupation. Japan never responded to this missive, instead shoring up defenses in Jiangsu and Henan provinces. While this unlawful conquest of Chinese soil greatly angered the Korean court, their unstable position and ongoing rebellions forced them to let the occupation stand while they improved the situation nationwide. In the meantime, they called for heavy sanctions against the Japanese Empire, a sentiment backed by Russia. Britain honored the agreement struck by publicly supporting the Japanese land grab, but their focus was largely diverted by conflict in their colonies. Seeing that all attempts at negotiation over the land had failed, Joseon began quietly mobilizing a strike force to liberate their southern reaches.

On July 23rd, 1929, the Imperial Korean military launched an assault on the Japanese occupation in China, now referred to as The Choukou Special Military District. The defensive line built by the occupation forces served its purpose, as the Koreans had not recovered their numbers fully. For the next two years, the Joseon and Japanese forces remained heavily entrenched, with a majority of the conflict occurring between Luoyang and the occupation capital at Shanghai. The clash resulted in very little ground gained on either side, at the cost of tens of thousands of lives.

On October 3rd, 1931, the battlefields across China went silent. The two governments agreed to a ceasefire while they attempted peace talks. The Japanese agreed to arbitration due to the encroachment of Korean forces on the Shanghai front. Their hope was to use this time to move essential operations away from the city, as it had served as their headquarters since the initial invasion. Joseon desired this opportunity because of growing discontent among the western reaches of the empire. By stalling the steady flow of soldiers to Luoyang, they could instead send them to stamp out resistance before it broke out. While the talks did not result in a lasting peace, it did allow for a period of limited conflict, with much of Jiangsu and Henan turning into a demilitarized zone.

The ceasefire stayed in effect for about 5 years, with minor border skirmishes occurring sporadically. In that time, Japan extracted much of their high-ranking personnel and resources from Choukou, transplanting the operation to the Island of Taiwan. The Joseon military used this time to form a new strategy to combat the occupation. Their naval capacity was inferior, so they understood that a direct invasion of the Japanese homeland was impossible. Instead, they planned to push Japan out of the mainland from the west, rendering the defensive line useless. While moving troops to suppress rebellion in Tibet, they simultaneously rallied forces in Sichuan’s mountainous reaches, using the geography to mask troop movements. On December 25th, 1936, the Joseon strike force launched what would be eventually referred to by western observers as the Sichuan Blitz. The Korean military released an unprecedented air raid across the Strait of Tsushima, bombing military installations across Kyushu. This move diverted attention away from the mainland, as Japan now suspected an assault on the homeland. In response, the Sichuan strike force advanced from the mountains, striking the Choukou District from its vulnerable flank. By the Lunar New Year, the Japanese occupation was pushed mostly back towards the coastline, only halting the counter-offensive on the outskirts of Shanghai. The dynasty had managed to reclaim half of its lost territory, though the move cost them much of their naval and air power.

The rapid assault by Joseon proved successful in shaking the Japanese military, though their period of backpedaling was only temporary. The Imperial fleet based at Taiwan quickly replenished the Shanghai foothold, and civilian relief from the colony was deployed to stabilize the devastated island of Kyushu. The Joseon may have exploited a glaring weakness, but due to the constant struggle with uprisings, the Japanese still had the superior force in terms of numbers and unit cohesion. In an open war, the island nation seemed to be the likely victor. Korean forces were forced to change doctrines, deeply entrenching themselves along key geographical points to hold off the inevitable Japanese advance.

Two external threats arose that could threaten the Japanese in their conflict with the Korean regime. The first was the Russian state in the north, who historically competed with Japan for control of the Asian Pacific. They often backed Joseon interests, primarily to keep themselves in a place of relevance in the Chinese economy. This was often counterbalanced by British support for the Japanese, though the deteriorating political landscape in Europe made this situation unstable. In response to Japan regaining ground following the blitz, the Joseon military started receiving increased support and equipment from their northern benefactors, who in turn also began mustering troops.

The second threat was The United States of America, who had in recent years lost many economic privileges in Japan, due to their unofficial aid to the Heimin government in the civil war. A dominant Japan would result in a sudden rise in prices in the Asian market, a fact that greatly concerned their government. Their geographic isolation from other major powers also gave them a greater deal of safety from large-scale recourse, so a theoretical conflict with Japan was only moderately risky. The only exception to this was the state of The Philippines, which served as the economic way station for American ventures in Asia. Their French allies in Indochina were also a potential target, so they had to handle the situation carefully. This stance did not put them on the same side as the Russians however, as their main objective was to keep the Chinese market as free and competitive as possible, allowing them to return to a profitable position there. While the Americans did not openly seek conflict with Japan, it was increasingly clear that this outcome was inevitable.