Johnsonverse World History/Countries and Territories

== China ==
In 1949, the United States successfully negotiated an armistice between the People's Republic of China and Republic of China, and established a border at the Yangtze River. This effectively became the Johnsonverse equivalent of the Korea situation, with the PRC coming to be known as North China, and the ROC as South China. Despite this, no major border incidents have occurred between the two nations. As a result of this division, China never became an economic powerhouse, with South China becoming the world's second-largest economy despite its smaller land size, mainly due to South China having the majority of China's industrial capacity, while North China was left with large swathes of undeveloped land and spent much of the 1950s and 60s rebuilding its industry to match the South. North China uses the same government, flag, and currency as the real-life China, while South China has those from Taiwan, which is incorporated into South China. This also means that China never took Tibet, which is still its own independent country; its 1912 flag was kept until 1970, when it was redesigned in a nationwide contest. Lobsang Sangay is the current Tibetan president, and its currency is the same as it last was IOTL.
One major difference is the formation of the International Mandate for the Concessions, Settlements and Legations in China (commonly referred to as the Legation Cities), which aims to provide equal and open access to the South Chinese markets. The Legation Cities are Hong Kong, Macau, Zhanjiang, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Whenzou, Ningbo, Nantong, and Behai, with each being administered by a different country upon handover on January 1, 1954:
* The United Kingdom retained Hong Kong
* Portugal retained Macau
* The United States received Shanghai
* France received Xiamen
* Korea received Nantong
* Canada received Ningbo
* West Germany received Whenzou
* The Netherlands received Zhanjiang
* Turkey received Behai
*Spain received Fuzhou
North China refused to participate, citing concerns that western nations could use these cities as staging grounds for invasion, instead creating its own Legation Cities. The initial plan was for these cities to be administered exclusively by the Soviet Union, but this plan was quickly abandoned due to North China and Russia sharing a land border, thus making this arrangement redundant. Instead, the administration contracts were awarded either to other communist nations, or even nations that weren't in either sphere (the so-called "third-world countries"). The "Northern Legation Cities" are Qingdao, Xinhailian, Yantai, Qinhuangdao, Tienstan, and Tali, and, upon the handover on January 1, 1956, were administered as follows:
* Iran received Qingdao
* Brazil received Xinhailian
* Argentina received Yantai
* Yugoslavia received Qinhuangdao (went to Serbia after the break-up of Yugoslavia)
* Indonesia received Tienstan
* Egypt received Tali
The creation of the Legation Cities has influenced naval doctrine on both sides, with the United States, Russia, and North China stationing numerous attack submarines in the area specifically to sink each other's merchant marine in the event of war.
== Egypt ==
Egypt was never Christianized, Islamized, or even secularly Arabized. There is still a Pharaoh today, but the country has become a constitutional monarchy like the UK. Most people in the country worship the ancient pantheon (Kemetism) and speak a form of Coptic (referred to as simply Egyptian ITTL). The Egyptian Arabic language never gains dominance, but still exists as a minority language. Egypt is considered a western country and part of Europe, and is in the EU and NATO.
== Island of Sodor ==
The Island of Sodor is real in the Johnsonverse, as are its people, railways, and engines. One big difference that goes without saying is that none of the vehicles have faces. Sodor is a Crown Dependency.
In the Johnsonverse, Sodor is home to six railways:
* North Western Railway, a standard-gauge railway serving Sodor's southern, western, and eastern coasts, as well as the island's interior (engines, rolling stock, etc. generally have the initials “NW” displayed on them)
* Higher Sudrian Rail, a standard-gauge railway serving Sodor's northern coast between Vicarstown and Arlesburgh (because of the railway's troubled history, it has never been featured in any media, and is frequently omitted from maps tying into the books and television series; the closest it ever came was the depiction of the town of Shining Time, established by Americans fleeing the Civil War in 1862, which is served by the Higher Sudrian Railway, but in the television series Shining Time Station it is located somewhere in the United States and served by the fictional Indian Valley Railroad)
* Skarloey Railway, a narrow-gauge railway running from Crovan's Gate to Skarloey Lake (from 1982 to 2006, it was expanded to better serve Sodor's interior, explaining the railway's bigger size in the television series)
* Arlesdale Railway, a minimum-gauge railway from Arlesburgh to Arlesdale on the roadbed of the Mid-Sodor Railway
* Culdee Fell Railway, a cog railway running from Kirk Machan to the summit of Culdee Fell, the tallest mountain on Sodor
* Mid-Sodor Heritage Railway, a heritage railway built on the roadbed of the original Mid-Sodor Railway from King Orry's Bridge to Cas-Ny-Hawin
The North Western Railway and Higher Sudrian Railway have been part of British Rail as the North Western Region of British Railways since 1948. BR's continued use of small two-axle wagons meant neither railway has had to greatly alter its goods trains.
The Reverend Awdry grew up on Sodor, and his childhood experiences there were the direct inspiration for his Railway Series books.
== Japan ==
In 1952, former IJA officer Takushiro Hattori carried out a plot to assassinate Japanese prime minister Shigeru Yoshida and declared Japan's independence from the United States, with the intent of rebuilding Japan's military and naval might. Hattori, a staunch supporter of Hideki Tojo, believed that it was Japan's "divine destiny" to dominate the Pacific, and that Emperor Hirohito cowered in the face of "acceptable civilian losses".
The Hattori Coup was incredibly unpopular with the war-weary populace of Japan, leading Hattori to order mass, indiscriminate killings of civilians to shut them up. All this did was galvanize anti-militarist support, and Yoshida loyalists (the "Yoshidanites") called upon the United States to remove Hattori from power. On June 6, 1952, American forces commanded by Douglas MacArthur marched on Tokyo and ordered Hattori to surrender. MacArthur's forces and Hattori's loyalists (the "Hattorists") engaged in intense urban warfare for three days until MacArthur ordered tanks to move in, breaking the stalemate. Angry citizens, tired of the Japanese government, stormed the National Diet Building in an insurrection that the Hattorists were powerless to stop. A militia group presented Hattori to MacArthur, who had him executed on the spot. In the days that followed, the United States reoccupied Japan, with the Hattorists fleeing to the countryside. A week after the "Japanese Civil War", as both western and Soviet media referred to it, the Japanese people heavily lobbied for full annexation by the United States, believing that any domestic leadership was either ineffective or would attempt to restart the Pacific War. On July 1, 1952, the United States and provisional Japanese governments signed the Treaty of San Francisco, stipulating that Japan, as a nation, would cease to exist, and all of its lands would now be under full American control. The changes were immediate: Japan's eight regions were reclassified as states (for example, the Kansai Region became the State of Kansai), and all prefectures were reclassified as counties (for example, Iwate Prefecture became Iwate County), though they are still generally referred to as prefectures like how Louisiana's counties are called parishes, and Alaska's counties are called boroughs; the Japanese states were also given special status similar to the Canadian province of Quebec. A new American flag with 56 stars was hastily designed and put into effect in the hours after the treaty was signed, and this Japanese translation of "The Star-Spangled Banner" (the American national anthem) was written and made official. In 1968, Okinawa became the 59th state, and in 2005, Puerto Rico became the 60th state.
To this day, Japanese separatist movements are still a major problem, with early investigations into the September 11th attacks calling them a potential perpetrator; the PATRIOT Act included an entire section targeting these separatists, classifying them as domestic terrorists; this is because most organizations related to Japanese separatism are violent and have openly spelled out their intentions to rebuild the Japanese Empire and destroy the United States (the South Park episode "Chinpokomon" satirized the idea that media originating from the Japanese States are designed to brainwash citizens into starting a civil war in the Lower 48 while the separatists retake power). Racial conflicts between whites and ethnic Japanese are also a major issue, though in a twist of irony, whites are the ones being discriminated against along with all other non-Asian races, being viewed as occupiers. It should be noted that the majority of native Japanese peoples are highly opposed to the idea of Japanese independence, using such groups as an example; in turn, most separatist groups refer to these people as "ankurutomus" (which is Japanese for "Uncle Toms").
* Seventy percent of the region speaks in both the English and Japanese languages, with five percent speaking only in English, and the remaining twenty-five percent speaking only in Japanese. 
* Japanese rail services are run by Continental Rail by way of subsidiary Eastern Pacific Railroad, which is responsible for passenger and freight services; from its takeover in 1952 to 1963, no new rolling stock was ordered due to Continental Rail focusing entirely on rebuilding the system; starting from 1963, all of the Japanese-built rolling stock was replaced by British Railways-designed stock, with Japan eventually becoming a dumping ground for locomotives and coaching stock withdrawn from BR; this coincided with the system being regauged to standard gauge. The Shinkansen was introduced in 1964 as in OTL, though with much more difficulty due to obstruction by the automobile lobby, interference that CR swept aside when the Blitzkrieg Crew plowed through a crowd of protesters opposing construction, leaving 64 dead; this action was not sanctioned by Johnson Industries (unlike the Alabama branchline incident), and the foreman and many workers were arrested and either given the death penalty or life in prison; since then, Johnson has stipulated that construction crews may only attack protesters if the latter attacks first. 
* The Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) is part of PBS and NPR, and Japan News Network (JNN), Nippon Television Network System (NNS), Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), Fuji Network System (FNS), TV Asahi Network (TAN), and TV Tokyo Network (TXN) all air in the US mainland, the latter five being part of the "Japanese Big Five" television networks; the “English Big Nine” consists of NBC, CBS, ABC, WBC, Fox, MGM, RKO, The WB (which is a major broadcast network ITTL; because of this, UPN still exists and never merged with The WB to form The CW), and SPN (created by Sony in 2000 to compete with other major networks); because of this, the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) is known as Turner SuperStation (TSS) (though this change doesn't extend to its parent company), OTL's TSS in Hiroshima is known as THS (Television Hiroshima System), and Nagasaki Broadcasting Company (NBC) is known as Nagasaki Broadcasting System (NBS), or JNBS-TV to avoid confusion with the Mainland US NBC (although it is an NBC affiliate). As there are more major broadcast networks, Johnson (which owns WBC) also purchased ABC in 2013 with the Disney buyout and Fox in 2019 with the 21st Century Fox buyout, with all three networks being catered to different audiences. Also, Japanese networks use more consistent branding ITTL.
* CERO does not exist, with all games being rated by the ESRB. JAITS doesn’t exist either, with all of its stations being independent, or UPN, MyNetworkTV, ION, or even PBS affiliates.
* The Japanese States, Hawaii, and US possessions in the Pacific Ocean use “J” callsigns (assigned to Japan IOTL). Alaska is still considered a “K” state.
* In terms of highways, all OTL Japanese National Expressways are Interstates prefixed with “J”, all OTL National Highways are US Routes, and all OTL Urban Expressways are State Routes of each region/state.
* This also means that Japanese retail chains (such as FamilyMart and Lawson) operate in the Lower 48, Alaska, and Canada. More specifically, FamilyMart is the brand used by Couche-Tard in the Lower 48 west of the Mississippi, the Japanese states, Hawaii, Alaska, the western provinces of Canada, the Canadian territories in the Arctic region, and all US territories in the Pacific region (including Marshall Islands, Palau, and Micronesia); while Circle K would be used in the Lower 48 east of the Mississippi (except for New England), Ontario, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean; and Couche-Tard would be used in Quebec, Newfoundland & Labrador, the Atlantic provinces, and New England. Vice-versa, a lot of Mainland US store chains (such as Walmart and Macy’s) operate in Japan; specifically, Walmart acquired and absorbed Seiyu in 2002, replacing the Seiyu name with the Walmart name.
* 1seg (mobile television) is also available in the Mainland US, as well as Canada and Mexico. In fact, a lot of “garakei” features, like I-mode (which reigned supreme before the rise of responsive web design), have made their way worldwide.
* The telephone area codes are mostly the same as IOTL (including the leading zero), but within the NANP system.
* For currency, yen is the name of the US dollar in Japanese language (though dollars in other countries such as Canada and Australia are still called "dollar" in Japanese).
File:Us-passport_new.png|US passport cover
== Korea ==
With the Korean War only lasting a few months, both Koreas were reunified under one country simply named Korea, using the flag, government and currency of OTL's South Korea.
Category:Johnsonverse