SSSS · Nihon by
ruthszulc, on Flickr
here's my take on japan! keep in mind this is just one way it might pan out, and i've been somewhat harsher than most as far as population and cleansed land are concerned for the sake of a different kind of story. either way, feedback and critique is definitely appreciated!
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it would be easy to see the statistics and think that japan, among all the nations to survive the rash, is among the more fortunate. while less than 2% of their population has survived the ravages of the deadliest disease that has ever struck humankind (to say nothing of other mammals), the large majority of japan's northern island, hokkaidou, has remained pristine and untouched by the hideous monsters created by the rash. but scratch deeper than surface level and darker truths emerge of the survival of the country.
it begins with the system of government. while the nation of japan before the fall ranked among the world's most prominent democracies, the people who live on its soil today are by no means free. there are some vague gestures at the system, of course; it is hard to revoke a right that has already been granted, after all, but the people's advisory council is widely understood to be powerless compared to the real source of power: the daimyou, and above all the shougun.
japan was the first nation to seal off its borders after news of the rash became public. japan soon found, though, that even as they escaped the first pass of rapidly escalating chaos of the disease, their problems would not be solved with this unilateral act. the most pressing, and most dire situation, was the state of their food supply. on a caloric basis, japan was roughly 40% self-sufficient. and as the months dragged on, even with brutal rationing, millions began the slow, agonizing process of starvation. but this, the japanese would soon find, would be the most merciful part of the long dark period of their nation.
in march 2015, with the nation in the throes of the greatest famine in its history, dozens of whaling vessels left port, intent on bringing back as much as they could carry, to feed the nation with whatever they could. what they encountered in the open sea, however, were not whales but something entirely different. though one was brought on board to attempt to identify it, it was quickly determined that the mutated, deformed creatures were simply not edible. starving, isolated, and entering a desperate stage of disconnection from reality, the whalers did not make the connection between the deformed whales and the rash that had covered the planet in its entirety. the sailor generally identified as japanese patient zero (JP0) visited tokyo four days later, and the inevitable fall began.
by the time the national government realized what had happened, establishing a quarantine cordon around tokyo was impossible. hundreds of thousands of people were dying every day, if not from the rash illness, then from the famine that became even more entrenched as communication and transportation of food between different areas became impossible. it grew so desperate that the governor of the most isolated northern prefecture, hokkaidou, shut down all traffic into the province and established a strict quarantine zone in the densely-populated capital, sapporo, and the southern port town hakodate, and not a moment too soon: though isolated cases would crop up in the countryside, the most severe outbreaks were held to sapporo and hakodate.
however, the aftereffects of this absolute seclusion, within the boundaries of the two quarantine zones, were nothing short of disastrous. cut off from all outside food, and with the self-defence force soldiers shooting any attempting to escape, more than two million died in what would later come to be known as the "sacrifice zones." the government ordered the total razing of sapporo and hakodate, and though they likely saved the rest of the island from infection, their tenuous authority crumbled as the populace became aware of the scorched-earth techniques used. an alternative provisional government based in asahikawa, supported by a large contingent of disgruntled SDF soldiers and—most importantly—makiko sen, a descendant of emperor taishou and distant member of the royal family, organized a largely bloodless coup, declaring sen empress and assuming responsibility of what is, for all they know, the last remaining safe area on earth.
having the legitimacy of someone on the chrysanthemum throne is an immense psychological boost for a population desperately needing something to cling to, and through this the new provisional government of asahikawa is granted sweeping powers to allow it to begin the slow process of reorganizing japan to survive and sustain itself. however, the immense centralized power of the new government starts to show signs of totalitarianism. armed with the impeccable credentials of restoring the monarchy, few are able to stand in its way as rights and freedoms are slowly rolled back to make way for aggressive de-industrialization, and a return to immense investment in agriculture. those with money and power are able to consolidate it, and those without slide inexorably into what is really a glorified neo-feudal society. it takes some time, but eventually even the government comes clean, adopting the archaic terms of medieval japan to describe their new state. the military junta is headed by the seii taishougun, the commander of the japanese self-defence force and overlord of the ten daimyou, who each rule over a fief contiguous with the old pre-meiji provinces.
though much of the technology of the modern world remains, many of the ideas have been cast aside to make way for the new order. the nation has returned to the old policy of sakokuron, or "isolation doctrine," which prohibits any outsider from landing in japan and prohibits any citizen from leaving. with the abbreviation of the country to the northern island, with the exception of a small military base in mutsu, everyone beyond the tsugaru strait separating hokkaidou from honshuu (the main island), is unwelcome in the empire of japan. a small class of military nobility known as bushi or samurai enforced the social contract, swearing loyalty to a daimyou. while the weapon of a samurai today is a rifle rather than a longsword, there are many eerie parallels with the japan of hundreds of years ago, and the idea that all people are equal has long since given way to the notion that everyone has a given place in society. if you're one of the common folk in year 90, it probably isn't a great living. but the harsh, stark decisions made by the asahi shougunate have also made japan one of the safest havens in the world from the rash.
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some stats, beyond the little blurb in the box:
empire of japan, population 2,107,500
capital:
asahi-teito (asahi imperial city)
provinces:
10ishikari province, population 407,600
capital: asahi-teito, population 209,900
major settlements: chitose, fuukagawa, iwamizawa, eniwa, chitose
teshio province, population 73,100
capital: rumoi, population 25,300
major settlements: teshio, nayoro, shibetsu
oshima province, population 122,200
capital: hokuto, population 50,500
major settlements: yakumo
shiribeshi province, population 188,700
capital: otaru, population 66,500
major settlements: kutchan, yoichi
iburi province, population 341,100
capital: tomakomai, population 140,800
major settlements: muroran, date, noboribetsu
hidaka province, population 67,400
capital: urakawa, population 19,900
major settlements: erimo, shinhidaka
tokachi province, population 309,000
capital: obihiro, population 144,300
major settlements: honbetsu, shimizu, otofuuke
kitami province, population 305,500
capital: kitami, population 118,800
major settlements: abashiri, wakkanai, monbetsu
kushiro province, population 173,400
capital: kushiro, population 149,200
major settlements: akkeshi, shibecha
nemuro province, population 66,700
capital: nemuro, population 24,800
major settlements: shana, furukamappu
improvement districts (i.d.), population 2,000
military bases: sapporo i.d., hakodate i.d., aomori-honshuu i.d.
government:
feudal monarchyhead of government:
seii taishougun asahi akinorihead of state:
empress masakocurrency:
koku (278.3 cubic litres of rice)
Poll
