Japan

Japan is a nation in the Pacific Ocean. It is located off the east coasts of China, Russia, and Korea, and is seperated from the Asian mainland by the Sea of Japan.

Japan in Days of Infamy
Japan invaded Hawaii on December 7, 1941, and subjected the archipelago to its iron-fisted rule until late 1943. Commander Minoru Genda insisted as early as March, 1941 that simply striking the United States forces at Pearl Harbor would be insufficient to shield its expansion in the Pacific rim once the U.S. began an earnest war effort. Genda persuaded Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto of the plans merits. Thus, Japan invaded and conquered Hawaii after a period of bloody fighting from December, 1941 through February, 1942. However, despite a bloody victory over unprepared but tenacious American defenders, supplying the islands became an ever-greater challenge in the face of distance and US submarine attacks.

Japan's rule was cruel for POWs and civilians alike. POWs were treated as slave labor, civilians were forced to grow crops, and women were forced into prostitution.

Despite the ever-present menace of submarines, the Imperial Japanese Navy defeated America's first counter-attack in June 1942, sinking the carriers Yorktown and Saratoga, and crippling the Hornet. Following their victory the Kingdom of Hawaii was restored as a puppet akin to Manchukuo. But a year later, the much-enlarged US Navy hurled an enormous fleet at the islands. The carriers Akagi and Shokaku were sunk by sheer numbers, costing Japan any hope of contesting US air superiority. The Japanese Army garrison and its Hawaiian allies were steadily overwhelmed by the US Marines and its overwhelming firepower, and the last Japanese holdouts in Honolulu and Pearl Harbor were crushed by late 1943.

Japan in Gunpowder Empire
Japan was a pirate nation.

Japan in In the Presence of Mine Enemies
The Empire of Japan was victorious at the end of World War II, emerging as a major world power rivaling the Greater German Reich. The Emperor of Japan was the only ruler truly independent of the Fuhrer of Germany. During the Third World War, Japan and the Greater German Reich waged war on the formerly neutral United States, defeating their rival through the use of atomic bombs.

By 2010, Japan's colonial territories included China (with Manchukuo being a separate state), all of Southeast Asia including Indochina and the Malay Archipelago, Australia, New Zealand, a large part of the Indian Ocean and most if not all of the Pacific Islands.

While Japan was less powerful than Germany, it did have enough nuclear-tipped rockets to establish a balance of mutually assured destruction. Like the Reich, Japan had its own retinue of puppet rulers, including the Emperor of Manchuko. With "an ocean of slave labor" at its disposal, Japan concentrated on developing sophisticated, high-technology.

Though the Japanese were officialy allies of the Reich, rivalry nonetheless existed between the two superpowers. In line with the racist policies of the Reich, the Germans considered the non-Aryan Japanese to be inferior, citing Japan's so-called decreases in technology as proof.

Despite this rather tense atmosphere, Japanese were allowed to visit the Reich as tourists and students. One former Japanese university student established a restaurant in Berlin near the government district called Admiral Yamamoto which was popular among the German government officials.

Japan in "News From the Front"
Japan's efforts during World War II were bolstered by the American media, which was hostile to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Indeed, thanks to stories which revealed American military plans days in advance, Japan was able to hold Midway and its other conquests in the Pacific.

Japan in Southern Victory
Prior to the Great War, Japan became the only non-white country to compete with Europe and North America on equal terms. She emerged victorious in her wars against China and Spain, annexing Korea, Formosa (Taiwan) and the Philippines.

Great War
Japan fought on the side of the Entente during the Great War but did not formally join its alliance system. The Japanese overran Germany's colonies in the central Pacific and supported Britain against the United States. Previously regarded as a lightweight nation who had beaten only weak opponents (including Spain), the Japanese Navy's performance in Battle of the Three Navies earned Japan the respect (and fear) of the white man. By the end of 1917, Japan's allies had been beaten by the Central Powers, and Tokyo made peace. Alone of the Entente powers, Japan emerged with no territorial or significant manpower losses.

The Interwar Years
Embolded by the European defeats in the Great War, Japan spent the 1920s expanding her empire. Much influence was gained in China and Manchuria became a Japanese holding, while France and the Netherlands were 'persuaded' (with suitable compensation) to hand over their colonies in Indochina and the East Indies. Britain counted itself lucky that Japan didn't do the same to Malaya and Hong Kong.

Japan's foreign policy in the eastern Pacific proved less successful. Attempts to set off an uprising in US-occupied Canada led to the Pacific War in 1932. While the Japanese successfully bombed Los Angeles in October that year, the US Navy managed to prevent any invasion of the Sandwich Islands. Neither country could fully prosecute the war: America's funding-starved military had to defend a long land border with the CSA, while Japan had the Russians sitting over Manchuria. The war ended inconclusively in 1934 with no territorial changes.

Second Great War
During the Second Great War, Japan was much more active. The Japanese navy was able to capture the island of Midway from the weakened U.S. in 1941 and pushed the Americans back to the Sandwich Islands. Later that year Japanese airplanes destroyed the USS Remembrance, the only American aircraft carrier in the Pacific. However, despite these early advantages, the U.S. Navy managed to hold the Japanese out of the Sandwich Islands until it was reinforced, at which point it began pushing the Japanese back. With little to gain from continuing the war, the Japanese withdrew from American territory, gave up Midway and Wake, and began a war with Britain over Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya and eventually India itself.

Japan in Worldwar
Japan was engaged in World War II when the Race invaded in 1942. When the Race began its war against Japan, Japan recalled a large fleet being sent to attack the American forces at Midway.

The Japanese, who were culturally more similar to the Race than any other Tosevite not-empire, resisted the Race when it attacked the Japanese Home Islands. However, Japanese efforts to build an atomic bomb, a program in which Teerts had been involved as a prisoner of war, were frustrated when Atvar destroyed Tokyo with just such a weapon.

Japan had been part of the Big Five but its failure to develop an atomic weapon and the loss of China--forced it to accept a diminished diplomatic status under the agreement known as the Peace of Cairo. However, despite being driven from China and Korea, Japan still occupied a vast Pacific empire including The Philippines, Taiwan, Hainan, Indonesia, Indochina, and hundreds of small islands. The Race had not bothered to invade these territories during the invasion due to its tendency to overlook islands. It decided not too continue its war against Japan in Southeast Asia after the ceasefire although it refused to relinquish territories on the mainland that it had already occupied. The United States provided diplomatic support to the Japanese Empire after the war to have a buffer between the Race and American interests in the Pacific.

In 1965, Japan built its own atomic bomb. With this weapon in hand it demanded and was granted full diplomatic relations with the Race, the same as were afforded the United States, Germany, and the Soviet Union. The large amounts of territory occupied by Japan helped it reemerge as a great power in the late 20th century unlike Britain which was small and isolated.

In 2031, it was considered within the realm of possibility for the Japanese to build an interstellar starship, possibly even a FTL starship, within the foreseeable future.