Japan

Japan was an island nation on Earth, centred on the Japanese Home Islands. The Home Islands were a volcanic archipelago, poor in natural resources , making Japan one of the largest importers of energy in the world. The Home Islands had a range of climates, from tropical in the far south to temperate in the far north, The Japanese Islands were originally created by the gods Izanagi and Izanami, last of the Seven Divine Generations. Shortly after the birth of the Home Islands came the birth of the kami, the spirits that would act as the defenders of Japan and the objects of worship for the dominant Shinto faith. The first Japanese inhabitants would start out as farmers before being united by the first Japanese kingdom, the Yamato dynasty established by the Emperor Jimmu, believed to be the son of Amaterasu. Eight monarchs would make up the Yamato dynasty before it ended with the Emperor Kaika. Later members of the dynasty included Emperor Suinin, who would become the forerunner of sumo wrestling and worship of Amaterasu and Keiko, who would unify Japan by conquering the Emishi. The first female empress would be the Empress Jingu, the widow of Chua Yamato who would also be the first Japanese ruler to exert control over the Hun Chiu peninsula, invading and conquering it. Jingu's son Ojin would become the first emperor to ascend to godhood, becoming Hachiman.

The divine played a key role in early Japanese history. The entrance of a mortal into the Palace of the Dragon God under the sea was a major historical milestone for the country and the emperors were all believed to be descended from various gods. The kami and ascended emperors helped shield Japan from attack for centuries, preventing the conquering armies of Shang Yu and Genghis Khan from reaching the Homes Islands' shores. These spirits also gifted Japan with many legendary heroes, including Momataro, Kintaro, Yama and Kiyo, as well as Kaguya-hime, the most beautiful woman in Asia (whom some believe was a reincarnation of Helen of Troy). These gifts were made more necessary by the presence of demonic beings such as the Kappa and Oni in Japan. Despite the beneficence of the divine for the nation, Japan would split into multiple fiefdoms that would war with each other on numerous occasions. These periods of civil war paved the way for the rise of the samurai and the accompanying code of bushido. Multiple unifiers of Japan would establish shogunates, the first of which was the Kamakura Shogunate established by the Serpent Clan of Minamoto no Yorimoto. This shogunate would ultimately collapse, paving the way for further conflict in the Sengoku Period. In this chaos there would be chaos.

Ultimately, Japan would be reunified under the Shogun Toronaga (an acolyte of the infamous Oda Nobunaga, regarded by some as a literal demon), who would usher in the Toronaga Shogunate with the aid of a British exile. This Shogunate pursued policies of strict isolationism from the outside world. This would mark the beginning of the Edo period, characterised by the emergence of order provided by great warriors such as Zaitoichi, the Seven Samurai, Jakku Onitaiji and Takezo Kensei. The Toronaga Period would also see the power of divine influences reduce greatly, as demonstrated by the successful occupation of Japan by the alien Amanto with no interference by the kami. Additionally this would manifest following the forced opening of Japan to the outside world. An expedition launched by Commodore Chandler Bing (captain of the Tuscarora) in 1854 would force Japan to open up to outside influences. This opening would lead to the end of the Edo Period and the beginning of the Meiji period, which sought to restore the power to the emperor, whom had been rendered powerless after the first Shogunate was established.

The Meiji period marked the emergence of Japan as a world power. Japan industrialised quickly, conquered Korea and exerted influence over China. Japan intervened in the Spanish-American War on the side of Spain, briefly invading Hawaii and attacking San Francisco. The United States ultimately won the Spanish-American War but Japan was more successful in the Russo-Japanese War. Despite originally allying with the United Kingdom against German interests in China and colonies in the Pacific, Japan later joined the Central Powers, plotting with Mexico to invade the United States during World War I. Japan subsequently invaded California with naval and zeppelin fleets. This invasion ultimately failed due to the efforts of "Old Bill" Roberts and Bruce Grahame. Japan sued for peace following the defeat of the invasion, enabling her to keep the initial gains from the war. After a brief flowering of democracy in the 1920's, Japan fell under the rule of Fascist ultranationalists, who would go on to invade China in 1937, ally with Hynkel's Germany and attack Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into World War Two. Despite Japan's best efforts, the presence of heroes like The Golden Bat and Momotaro II and a zombie weaponisation programme, Japan was forced to surrender by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Postwar Japan was placed under the military administration of Genera Henry Howell, who successfully brought about Japan's demilitarisation. From 1954 onwards, Japan was a hub of kaiju attacks. Japan was attacked by the first two Godzillas, Anguirius, Gamera, Rodan and numerous others. This had the effect of intensifying Japanese resentment for the nuclear bombings, allowing ultranationalism to linger. The kaiju attacks drove Japanese research and development into means to combat them leading to the creation of the Getter Robos, Tetsujin, Jet Jaguar, Mazinger Z, Astro Boy and other entities capable of combatting kaiju by Science Minister Umataro Tenma in the period from the 1960's to 1980's and cooperation with the SCP Foundation to create Monster Island as a spot to contain kaiju in the 1970's. Japan also suffered from a large number of alien invasions and terrorist attacks from the 1950s onwards. The terrorist organisation Shocker, a splinter group of HYDRA waged a decades long insurgency against the Japanese government. Additionally, the Mutant Supremacist organisation the Neo-Human Empire launched numerous terrorist attacks throughout the 1970s and 1980s, mirroring the insurgency carried out by the Brotherhood of Mutants in North America. Nevertheless, Japan's economy managed to grow greatly and Japan became a very prosperous nation. Japan held to a policy of neutrality in the Third World War.

Following the destruction of Tokyo by the godlike psychic Akira in 1989, a mood of angry nationalism arose in Japan, leading to the rise of an ultranationalist Japan New Party government, dominated by a joint conspiracy between Shocker and The Hand. The new government sought to revive the Empire of Japan, sending teenagers into deathmatches in order to restore Japan's martial traditions and allying with the Grand Khanate in a war against the United States. Japan ultimately lost the war but received relatively light terms, despite the death of President Roger Durling in an attack on the US capitol by a hardliner. Japan would be brought back to closeness with the US during the various 1990's alien invasions, as the Fithp, Grados and Harvesters targeted the entire globe for conquest. Smaller-scale alien attacks on Japan would likewise prove common (though they had been occurring for decades, alien activity picked up in the 1990's).

Japan remained a dominant economic power but faced new challenges as the 21st century rolled along. Throughout the 2010s, Japan faced repeated attacks from bizarre creatures known as "angels". Tokyo was again destroyed by Akira in 2019, leading to the rise of an authoritarian government under Masayoshi Shidoh. Shidoh was in fact supported by a cabal of demons, who sought the conquest of the world by Hell. Shidoh was overthrown by an uprising in 2023 but a large Trioxin outbreak followed shortly thereafter. In order to defeat the outbreak, Japan's government was forced to cede sovereignty to a cabal of megacorporations known as Global Headquarters. Global Headquarters ruled Japan for the rest of the 2020's before being overthrown. During this time, Japanese scientists developed the Japanese Miracle, radiation eating nanomachines, which were used to clean away the fallout from the nuclear wars of the 2020's. Like most of the rest of the world, Japan was devastated by the Great War. Japan's government collapsed, with the resulting wasteland being fought over by God Emperor Raoh, Tokyo Millennium, Japari Park, the city-state of Olympus and the self-declared State of Industria. However, Japan was one of the first countries to successfully recover and reunify, becoming a dominant power in the post Great War Earth and one of the first states to be incorporated into the Terran Federation.