[center][h3][i]"The social insecurity of the worker is the real cause of their being a peril to the state."[/i][/h3]
[i]- Otto von Bismark[/i]
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We Nazbol Soviet Japan now

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[b][u]Government[/u][/b]

[b]Name:[/b] Provisional Imperial Republic of Japan
[b]Flag/Badge:[/b]
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Flag_of_Japan_%281870%E2%80%931999%29.svg/220px-Flag_of_Japan_%281870%E2%80%931999%29.svg.png[/img]
[b]Head of State:[/b] His Imperial Majesty Emperor Kōmei of Japan
[b]Head of Government:[/b] Sei-i Taishōgun, Katayama Kumiko, Shogun of Japan
[b]Ideology:[/b] Japanese Republican Imperialism:
An ideology created and espoused by Shogun Kumiko following her stunning military victories in the early days of the civil war. Japanese Republican Imperialism is an ideology espousing the rule and ownership of the nation of Japan by its population rather than by social elites, and the spreading of Japanese influence, culture, and territory through military or economic action. Lands and resources are to be managed for the public good, instead of private profit, and the surplus from this used to further expand the lands and resources of the Japanese state and to bring other peoples into the fold of Japanese society. 

[b][u]Military[/u][/b]

[b]Army Numbers:[/b] The Imperial Japanese Army practices conscription and is capable of levying hundreds of thousands to supplement its 50,000 strong professional standing army. It is notable for the high number of women in its armed forces. 
[b]Navy Numbers:[/b] The Imperial Japanese Navy is small, but growing, and efforts are underway to purchase yet more ships from abroad and construct new ones domestically. 
[list]
[*] 4 Ships of the Line
[*] 11 Frigates
[*] 16 Sloops
[*] 2 Brigs
[*] 6 Schooners
[*] 2 Steamships[/list]
[b]Army Equipment:[/b] The Imperial Japanese Revolutionary Army is equipped with modern percussion rifled muskets, artillery, and other equipment. Initially these weapons were purchased from abroad, but have recently begun domestic production following the purchase of industrial tooling from abroad. 
[b]Naval Ship Types:[/b] The Imperial Japanese Revolutionary Navy is small, but counts ships of the line, frigates, sloops, brigs, schooners, and even steamships among its fleet.

[b][u]History, Expansion, and Economics[/u][/b]
[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/908161466824290314/918414240296108092/SickMan.jpg[/img][/center]
[b]Historical Claims:[/b] The Provisional Imperial Republic of Japan is overt about its short term goals - annexing Korea, Taiwan, the Sakhalin island, and large swathes of mainland China. In the longer term, they seek to control or influence a much wider sphere, turning the Pacific Ocean to their rule.

[b]History:[/b] Point of Divergence: 1840

The Shogun of Japan’s road to greatness began in the year 1840. Bad harvests exacerbated by the poor management and harsh taxation of the [i]Daimyo[/i] lead to severe food shortages and riots across the entire nation. Though most of the Japanese people were secluded from the goings on of the wider world, the port city of Nagasaki was not. Hearing news of the ongoing humiliation of Qing China, a young woman living in the farms on the outskirts of Nagasaki began making waves in the local community, insisting the same might happen to them, that if their rulers could not handle the food shortages, what hope did they have against the foreigners?

Initially, she was ignored, belittled, and told to know her place. She was, for a time, regarded as little more than a madwoman - claiming to be a descendent of Tokugawa Ieyasu himself, no less. But her following grew, slowly, as news filtered in from abroad. The year was 1840 when, following the orders of a local magistrate, an order for her arrest was issued. Instead of allowing herself to be taken, the strange woman produced a short sword and slew the two men sent to arrest her. 

The rebellion began in earnest, then. Buoyed by her rhetoric, many villagers and townsfolk flocked to her side. Bearing improvised weapons they overran and looted the city’s armory. The rebellion exploded overnight, seizing control of the city of Nagasaki. An army was dispatched by the Shogun to quell the uprising, but in a startling turn of events the rebels, under the stunning leadership of Katayama Kumiko, intercepted and decisively defeated the government forces. 

Urgent missives were dispatched from the port of Nagasaki to any foreign empire that might lend an ear. The great bear of the east, the Russian Empire, was the first to respond. Russian ships arrived in Nagasaki, bringing old guns and cannon, powder and shot. With an eerie level of proficiency, Kumiko began the organization of a proper army from her peasant’s rebellion. With fresh supplies, new weapons, and a fanatically devoted and growing army, the Japanese civil war commenced fully. Skillfully lead both tactically and strategically, the growing rebellion pried the country away from the hands of the Shogun and Emperor piece by piece. 

In the year 1844, Katayama Kumiko enters Kyoto at the head of her victorious army. The previous Shogun is executed, and with the support of her army she is inducted as the new Shogun of Japan, much to the shock of onlookers both internal and external. 

Shogun Kumiko’s reforms begin almost immediately. Trade deals and alliances are forged with the Russian Empire, and the centuries long policy of isolation of the previous Tokugawa Shoguns is abolished overnight. The port city of Nagasaki is transferred to the ownership of the Russian Empire, granting the great power something it has sought for decades if not centuries - a warm water port. Women are empowered by her decree, enforced by her fanatical army, women consisting of up to thirty percent of its number. Weapons, industrial machinery, wondrous technologies, trains, and more are imported as much as the nation’s treasury will allow. The domains of the daimyo are liquidated and transferred to the ownership of the peasants who work them. Foreigners - primarily Dutch and Russian - are permitted, and encouraged, to enter the country in order to spread the technologies of the West. Samurai rebellions are put down with ruthless efficiency, the newly termed Imperial Japanese Revolutionary Army formed around a solid core of veteran soldiers from the civil war, drilled and trained in the style of European warfare. The armies of Japan stand ready to make China bend the knee and make the whole world recognize the Imperial Republic as a force to be reckoned with.

[quote]"If we are to stand against the European powers we must learn from them, and take what is rightfully ours by force, lest we be left behind to be crushed beneath their bootheel. The ways of old have served us well, but in the land of the rising sun, we must look forward into this new dawn."[/quote]
-Katayama Kumiko, Shogun of the Provisional Imperial Republic of Japan

[b]Economic Description:[/b] The economy of Japan remains primarily agricultural, but is rapidly modernizing in nearly every conceivable field. Railroads are being rapidly constructed to link as much of the country together as possible. The consolidation of farmland away from the hands of the nobility and into those of farmer’s cooperatives has boosted rice output significantly. The Japanese islands are notably resource-poor, and intensive efforts are underway to secure not only mining and extraction rights within the vast Russian territory of Siberia, but expanding the borders of the empire. At present, Japan relies on imports for its burgeoning industrial sector, built up first on foreign purchased machinery, and subsequently on an increasing number of domestically produced tools. 

This is, of course, a massive gamble on the part of the Shogun. The importation of resources and the Shogun’s financial investments on the scale currently being practiced requires an equally vast incentive. The Japanese Yen has been established as a fiat currency, and intensive efforts are underway to build up a proper financial sector of the economy. As it stands, the Japanese economy has two great advantages in building itself up - cheap labor, and cheap goods. The rapidly growing economy is built on a pile of IOUs to foreign creditors, and it is in the island nation’s best interests to make good on every ounce of investment. Resources such as iron and coal flow in to newly founded factories in rivers, and cheap goods flow out to the global market. Though the standard of living has risen, costs remain low in comparison to those factories of Europe, giving the Japanese Empire a chance to grow strong on European gold. 
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