Dai Nippon Teikoku An Alternate History

Yôkoso Dai Nippon Teikoku He !

Welcome to the Great Japanese Empire!

http://japanese-empire.cjb.net

Image courtesy of: JIS Project

JAPAN:

Introduction

"Land of the Rising Sun" This is the motto of the country of Japan. This motto is a testament to the fact that the country of Japan is a nation comprised of thousands of islands populated by millions of people with unique history and traditions, a growing economic powerhouse. Japan values unity and cooperation above all else and yet it is a country of more diversity than many people think. The basic principles that guide life in Japan the concepts of mutual assistance and consultations to arrive at a consensus.

Japan, officially The Great Japanese Empire (Dai Nippon Teikoku), is one of the world’s largest archipelagoes spanning 4,600 kilometers (2,900 miles) from north to south along the Asian landmass and 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles) from east to west. Its total expanse is roughly equivalent to that of the United States. Japan is comprised of five major islands (and thousands smaller ones) located between the Kamchatka peninsula and Taiwan, and all along the equatorial line between Palau and the Marshall Islands. The total land area of Japan is 471,106 square kilometers (184,025 square miles) which is slightly less than the area of the state of California plus the area of the state of West Virginia.

Japan has not land borders, but shares sea borders with the Soviet Union, Korea, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, the British colony of Gilbert Islands and the United States. Japan is a mostly template, volcanic archipelago. The topography of most of the islands consists of mountain chains gouged by many short river valleys and interrupted by many small lowland plains.

For a small nation, Japan has a great variety of climatic conditions. This is because its islands have a long latitudinal spread and are in the zone where the conflicting air masses of the Asian continent and of the Pacific Ocean meet. The Nan-yo Gunto Special Prefecture is an exception: it is composed for a vast group of small island along the Equatorial line; therefore they have a very humid and hot climate.

The population of Japan in 2002 was about 130 million persons making it the world's seventh most populous nation after China, India, the United States, the Soviet Union and Indonesia. The annual growth rate in Japan was 0.3 percent during the 1980's. This growth rate has increased slightly over the past few years as the government of Japan has encouraged an increased birth rate.

The official language of the country is Japanese. The immense majority of the Japanese people as a native or second language speak Japanese. There are, however, at least 14 distinct languages in Japan. Some older Japanese do not speak Japanese, but their already small numbers are shrinking as the educational system (specially in the Nan-yo Gunto Special Prefecture) becomes more able to reach the entire population.

The people of Japan are largely of Mongoloid stock with varying degrees of Korean, Chinese, Ainu, Australasian, and Melanesian influence, almost perfectly mixed resulting in a highly homogeneous population. Similar to their diverse ethnic origin, the Japanese people have a significant number of religious and ritualistic rites and practices. The religious classifications (Buddhist, Shintoist, etc.) do not clearly reflect the religious structure of most of the Japanese population. While Shintoism is the largest and official religion of the nation, most of the people maintain Buddhist and other religious beliefs and practices.

A hundred percent of current Japanese children attend primary schools, and 99.9 percent of the young are literate. It is very difficult to classify the literacy of the older Japanese population as many of the languages and dialects of the minority groups may or may not have significant written or recorded conventions and structures. There are 58 state universities and over 200 private universities in Japan.

The island of Honshu is the most populous of the Japanese islands with roughly 90 million inhabitants, and is representative of many of the cultural features of the nation of Japan. This cultural representativeness is due in part to the extensive migration of Japanese from the outer islands. Much of the discussion of the land of Japan to follow will focus on Honshu and the major centers of culture and population located therein.

Major cities in Japan include:

Tokyo, the capital, located in central western Honshu. 2002 population - 11.6 millions
Osaka, located in southeastern Honshu. 2002 population – 3.0 million
Nagoya, located is central southern Honshu. 2002 population - 2.8 million
Sapporo, located in southern Hokkaido. 2002 population - 1.2 million
Toyohara, located in southern Karafuto. 2002 population - 1.0 million

Sections in this website:

Background Data

The Imperial Government

Administrative Divisions

History

Diplomacy

The Imperial Japanese Armed Forces

Culture

Natural features

Images

The “An attractive Japan” Project

Brief Historical Overview of Japanese Emigration

Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Doctrine and Nuclear Power Programs

The Fukuzawa Doctrine

Tenryu: Japan’s Theatre Missile Defence

Japanese Space Program

Beyond the West Pacific: Japan’s Geostrategic Situation in the 21st Century.

The Destruction of the Yongbyon Nuclear Complex

A brief glimpse into the Future (new! March 11, 2004)

Other documents:

The Korean People’s Republic

People's Socialist Democratic Republic of Manzhouguo

The Soviet-German War (April 1940- June 1942)

A Brief History of the Soviet Union

Lüshun (Port Arthur): The Soviet Naval Base in Manzhouguo

The Thai-Vietnamese War

The new League of Nations

The “Nuclear Treaty”

International Organizations

The League-South Africa War

Sino-German Relations

Other alternate history scenarios:

Braço Forte, Mão Amiga: An alternate history of Brazil

Disclaimer

More to come soon…

Actualizations:

April 13, 2004: Included “Braço Forte, Mão Amiga” (Strong Arm, Friendly Hand), an alternate history of Brazil. Don’t worry, Brazil didn’t become a super power. The scenario depicts the Brazilian Army as a social force, stronger than in OTL, that’s all.

March 11, 2004:

FIRST ANNIVERSARY!!!!

Woohoo! For this especial occasion, I’ve finished the “A brief glimpse into the future”. With the invaluable help of Terence Co, I extended this timeline to the year 2055 and beyond! Check it out. I also decided to eliminate the other timeline I was working on, it wasn’t going anywhere… :^/

But I’m working in a better scenario, so… :^)

January 27, 2004:

Finally! After the holidays and a terrible January, an actualization. I’ve added a new scenario, entitled “A short history of Japan”. In this timeline (which first part I’ve already uploaded), Japan don’t join the Allies against Germany in 1914, due to its volatile domestic situation. As a result, Japan joins the war until 1917, participating with naval forces in the Mediterranean and the Baltic, and with ground forces in the Turkish front. Consequences? Japan receives the Marianas and monetary compensation from Germany and nothing else. This strengthens the domestic situation of the IJA, forcing Japan to embark itself in a blatantly imperialist intervention in Siberia, and…

September 28, 2003

New documents included: The Destruction of the Yongbyon Nuclear Complex and the Timeline (from 1938 to 1989). Major changes in Nakano and minor changes in International Organizations, Diplomacy, Contemporary Japan, and the League of Nations.

September 22, 2003

New documents included: Japanese Space Program, and Beyond the West Pacific: Japan’s Geostrategic Situation in the 21st Century. I also made minor changes in Contemporary Japan, Diplomacy, Disclaimer, and Japan’s Theatre Missile Defence.

I also included a short story I entitled Eneen-Kio. It’s placed in the near future of the world depicted in this Alternate Timeline. Warning! I’m what some people call a Questie, so don’t come to me crying… I’m sure the story is plagued with grammatical horro.., er, errors. Please bear with my, and if you find something too heinous or plainly incomprehensible, please let me know. :)

September 1, 2003

New documents included: The Thai-Vietnamese War, The Yokohama Incident, The Battle of Jakarta, The new League of Nations, The “Nuclear Treaty”, International Organizations, The South African War, Sino-German Relations., and the Imperial Japanese Air Defence.

Documents actualized: I completely reformed the “Imperial Japanese Armed Forces”: I not only augmented the number of men under arms, but separate the individual branches (IJN, IJA, IJAA, IJNI, and IJAD) into independent documents. I also assigned an independent document for the Defence Ministry, Doctrine, Recruitment and Conditions of Service, the Military Intelligence Corps, and the Nuclear Forces. Minor changes in other documents, nothing special.

August 11, 2003.

New documents included: A Brief History of the Soviet Union, Tenryu: Japan’s Theatre Missile Defence, and Lüshun (Port Arthur): The Soviet Naval Base in Manzhouguo.

Documents actualized: all the documents were revised and actualized. However, Diplomacy, Nuclear Weapon…, and The Merdeka War, suffered major changes.

Page created: March 11^th, 2003

Last actualization: March 11^th, 2004

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