Empire of Japan

The **Empire of Japan**, also known as the **Japanese Empire** or **Imperial Japan** (大日本帝國 *Dai Nippon Teikoku* - literally "Greater Japanese Empire") is one of the major superpowers in the Axis world along with the Greater Germanic Reich. It encompasses the Japanese archipelago and several colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories. Under the Japanese Military and the Imperial Rule Assistance Association, Japan has become a Unitary parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy under under a Shōwa Statist one-party authoritarian-totalitarian military dictatorship

Under the slogans of *fukoku kyōhei* and *shokusan kōgyō*, following the Boshin War and restoration of power to the Emperor from the Shogun, Japan underwent a period of industrialization and militarization, the Meiji Restoration, which is often regarded as the fastest modernisation of any country to date. All of these aspects contributed to Japan's emergence as a great power and the establishment of a colonial empire following the First Sino-Japanese War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Russo-Japanese War, and World War I. Economic and political turmoil in the 1920s, including the Great Depression, led to the rise of militarism, nationalism and totalitarianism as embodied in the Showa Statism ideology, eventually culminating in Japan's membership in the Axis alliance and the conquest of a large part of the Asia-Pacific in World War II.

Japan's armed forces initially achieved large-scale military successes during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and the Pacific War.

## History

Assuming the rise of the Japanese Empire is similar to our world's, the empire's seeds began on March 31, 1854 with the Convention of Kanagawa. Where Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States Navy forced the opening of Japan after 220 years of national seclusion (鎖国 *Sakoku*). The following years would bring similar (and unequal) treaties with other Western countries and lead to political and economic turmoil. This turmoil would eventually see the collapse of the Tokugawa Shogunate and restoration of Imperial rule in 1868 under Emperor Meiji (明治維新 *Meiji Ishin*).

In the Meiji Era, Imperial factions resolved to modernize feudal Japan into a power that could rival those in the West (富国強兵 *Fukoku kyōhei*, "Enrich the state, strengthen the military"). After rapid industrialization and the modernizing of both its military and infrastructure, Japan began looking outward to expand its influence. The Japanese Home Islands were bereft of many raw materials and resources necessary to sustain modern industry, and so the Imperial government saw military expansionism as vital to the Empire's survival.

Now an industrial power, Japan moved to dominate its Asian neighbors. The Empire crushed China in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, acquiring the Liaodong peninsula and Taiwan. Finally, and most impressively, Japan defeated the Russian Empire in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. securing Liaodong and Korea, (later annexing it in 1910) as well as opening up the region of Manchuria to Japanese influence. Notably, this war marked the first time a modern, industrial European nation was defeated in a war by a non-European power.

Emperor Meiji died in 1912 and was succeeded by his son the Crown Prince as Emperor Taishō (大正天皇 *Taishō-tennō*). During World War I, the Empire aligned with the Allied Powers and declared war on Germany as an opportunity to grab more territory, acquiring the Marianas, the Caroline and Marshall Islands, and the Shandong province of China (German controlled). When the war was won, the Empire demanded a "Racial Equality Clause" in the Treaty of Versailles (with the implicit notion that the West view the Japanese as racially equal), this demand was outright rejected by a number of Allied Powers. This rejection played an important part in the Empire's souring of relations with the West and its reconciliation to Germany after the war.

Taisho died in 1926 and like his father before him was succeeded by the Crown Prince, who became the new Emperor, Shōwa (昭和時代 *Shōwa Jidai*). Conservative factions within the Imperial government grew ever stronger and more radicalized. Nationalism (always present within the Empire's history) intensified into *Kokutai*, which at this time, symbolized the ideal that Japan and its people were altogether superior to all other nations on Earth. The military's power grew as well, it effectively deposed civilian Government in 1932 and while there was the official pretense of the Emperor in control, the true power lied with the Generals and Admirals of the Imperial Army and Navy, a situation ironically similar to that of a Shogunate.

As Hitler rose to power in Europe, the Japanese were already at war in Asia, seizing Manchuria and transforming into a puppet state, Manchukuo in 1931, then launching a full-scale invasion of China in 1937. Eventally, the Empire allied with Hitler's Reich and the newly formed "Axis" overcame the Allied Powers in World War 2. After their final victory in 1945, the two new superpowers partitioned the territory of the defeated nations between them.

However by 1964, the Japanese were facing multiple rebellions against their rule in Australia, India, and the Japanese Pacific States. It was also mentioned that the Chinese forces managed to liberate both Korea and Manchuria from the Japanese Empire's rule. Unable to contain the rebellion in the Japanese Pacific States, the Emperor announced the dissolution of the JPS and the withdrawal of the Japanese from the JPS the same year and forces would be redirected to the war in China. War with Z-Tech also began, causing japan to give up all of the americas, hawaii, alaska, the pacific islands, guam, and the philippines go to us and Z-Tech Control.

## Overview

### Territory

The series does not leave much information about the actual territorial extent of the Japanese Empire, in Fritz Julius Kuhn High School is briefly shown with Japanese territories marked in blue. The Japanese control the entire Pacific Ocean, Korea, Sakhalin, Southeast Asia, The East Indies, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Eastern and Southwest China, Eastern Siberia, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Baja California & the North American West Coast.

The Japanese have seem to lost their territories in Mengjiang and Central China due to rebellion.

After the war, China, Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, India, Tibet, Burma, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, The Philippines and other countries were possibly made self-governing puppets, within the Japanese Empire.

### Flags and Emblems

The official flag of the Japanese Empire, in 1962, is still the *Hinomaru*, the original civil and state flag of Japan from 1870 to 1962 (a flag with a red sun-disc centered on a white field). However, by 1962, the series shows the flag, in numerous public and official manifestations, as having been largely substituted with the *Kyokujitsu-ki* (the Rising Sun Flag) which served, since 1889, as naval and army (with slightly variations) ensign of the Japanese Armed Forces, and it's a clear sign and evidence of the militaristic public life of the Japanese Empire and of its policies. The flag is a white field with a red disc slightly to the hoist with 16 rays extending from the disc to the edges of the flag.

Second Flag of the Imperial JapanImperial SealThe Military Flag of Japan
## Influential personnel

Main article: List of Japanese government and military commanders of World War II

### Political

In the administration of Japan dominated by the military political movement during World War II, the civil central government was under the management of military men and their right-wing civilian allies, along with members of the nobility and Imperial Family. The Emperor was in the center of this power structure as supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Armed Forces and head of state.

### Military

Main article: Armed Forces of the Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan's military are divided into two later three main branches: the Imperial Japanese Army, the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Air Force. To coordinate operations, the Imperial General Headquarters, headed by the Emperor, was established in 1893. Prominent generals and leaders:

#### Imperial Japanese Army

##### Early period

* Field Marshal Prince Yamagata Aritomo: Chief of Staff of the Army, Prime Minister of Japan, Founder of the IJA
* Field Marshal Prince Ōyama Iwao: Chief of Staff of the Army
* Field Marshal Prince Komatsu Akihito: Chief of Staff of the Army
* Field Marshal Marquis Nozu Michitsura:
* General Count Nogi Maresuke: Governor of Taiwan
* General Count Akiyama Yoshifuru: Chief of Staff of the Army
* General Count Kuroki Tamemoto
* General Count Nagaoka Gaishi
* Lieutenant General Baron Ōshima Ken'ichi: Chief of Staff of the Army, Minister of War during World War I
* General Viscount Kodama Gentarō: Chief of Staff of the Army, Governor of Taiwan

##### World War II

* Field Marshal Prince Kotohito Kan'in: Chief of Staff of the Army
* Field Marshal Hajime Sugiyama: Chief of Staff of the Army
* General Senjūrō Hayashi: Chief of Staff of the Army, Prime Minister of Japan
* General Hideki Tōjō: Prime Minister of Japan
* General Yoshijirō Umezu: Chief of Staff of the Army

#### Imperial Japanese Navy

##### Early period

* Marshal Admiral Prince Higashifushimi Yorihito (1867–1922)
* Marshal Admiral Marquess Tōgō Heihachirō (1847–1934), Battle of Tsushima
* Marshal Admiral Count Itō Sukeyuki (1843–1914)
* Admiral Count Kawamura Sumiyoshi (1836–1904)
* Marshal Admiral Viscount Inoue Yoshika (1845–1929)
* Marshal Admiral Baron Ijuin Gorō (1852–1921)
* Marshal Admiral Baron Katō Tomosaburō (1861–1923)
* Admiral Baron Akamatsu Noriyoshi (1841–1920)
* Vice Admiral Akiyama Saneyuki (1868–1918), Battle of Tsushima

##### World War II

* Marshal Admiral Mineichi Koga (1885–1944)
* Marshal Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (1884–1943), attack on Pearl Harbor, Battle of Midway
* Marshal Admiral Osami Nagano (1880–1947)
* Admiral Chūichi Nagumo (1887–1944), attack on Pearl Harbor, Battle of Midway
* Rear Admiral Viscount Morio Matsudaira (1878–1944)

## Economy

Main article: Economy of the Empire of Japan

The economy of the Japanese Empire is quite prosperous and with the establishment and expansion of the Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere, the Japanese were able to reaffirm their economic positions with the rest of the world. However, most of the wealth in the empire is concentrated in the ethnic Japanese upper class. The Japanese Empire and all other countries of the Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere use the Japanese Yen as currency. No other information is given about the economy of the Japanese Empire, but it is likely that it rivals that of the Greater German Reich and is one of the largest in the axis world.

Japanese scientific development lags significantly behind that of the Greater German Reich, which is a great cause for concern for the empire's leaders.

Modern automatic firearms such as the Type 37 battle rifle (the in-universe equivalent of the real life Howa Type 64) were shown to be in use by Japanese Imperial Guards during the speech by Crown Prince Akihito (that appear to predate in this world their development in our own. However, throughout the series; WWII-vintage Japanese small arms like the Type 38 'Arisaka' bolt-action rifle and the Type 14 'Nambu' pistol were still used by Kempeitai soldiers and officers in the Japanese Pacific States and, quite possibly; the *Imperial Japanese Army* in the rest of the states).

After the discovery of a secret placement of Da'at Yichud, the technologies developed inside the Deathshead's compound give the Wehrmacht and the reichs allies more powerful equiptment each day until all soldiers are invincible.