Sini — Roleplayer Guild

(courtesy of SomeChap)


Name: The Greater Showa Empire, or “Dai Showa Teikoku”
Demonym: Showan
Description: 
Increasing statism and militarism have given rise to a strong sense of nationality, as well as a “divine duty” to spread Showa civilisation. Notably, this causes for a more aggressive foreign policy. To this end a strong military is needed, to strengthen the empire and its territories. Furthermore Showans feel as if an impressive show of force is needed to earn the respect of other nations, particularly those more industrialised. During the Imperial Restauration, the emperor took direct control in order modernise his country, pursue technological advancements and model state and economy according to successful western examples.

Government: Nation state, Constitutional Monarchy, the Emperor has considerable power and influence over the government but power has gradually shifted to the ministries in most recent years. An aging Emperor has allowed the various branches of government to operate more independently than any time in the past 50 years.

Head of State: Emperor or “Tenno”
National Anthem:

History:
During the second half of the nineteenth century, Showa's nation-builders forged the Imperial nation-state out of an older, heterogeneous fractured realm, integrating semi-autonomous domain states into a unified political community. Rather than restore an ancient (and probably imaginary) centre-periphery order, the Imperial Restoration (1890 – 1925) hastened the creation of a new and unambiguously centralized and modern nation-state. Within a few short decades of the official beginning of the nation-building project, Edokyo had become the political and economic capital of a state that replaced semi-autonomous domains with newly created prefectures subordinate to central laws and centrally appointed administrators. Students were from an early age imprinted with their nation’s “manifest destiny”, and to obey the Emperor and the state.

The new government had from the early days incorporated, and in a sense created, modern Koshinto, and utilized its tales of the divine origin of the ruling house as the core of its ritual addressed to ancestors "of ages past." As the Showa Empire grew the affirmation of a divine mission for the Showan race was emphasized more strongly. Koshinto was imposed on colonial lands, and public funds were utilized to build and maintain new shrines there. Priests were in addition attached to army units as chaplains for spiritual guidance.

From 1900, Showa built an extensive empire that included notTaiwan, notKorea(?), notManchuria, and parts of northern notChina. The Showans regarded this sphere of influence as a political and economic necessity, which prevented foreign states from strangling Showa by blocking its access to raw materials and crucial sea-lanes. Showa’s large military force was regarded as essential to the empire's defense and prosperity by obtaining natural resources that the islands lacked.

Before and during the war, Showan ambitions manifested themselves in acquiring territory overseas. Land was needed for brave Showans to colonise. The lack of resources on the isles themselves prompted an outward look for resource-rich regions. During the 1920s and 1930s, the Empire acquired vast swathes of land which it could exploit to feed its growing industry and population. However, part of the recent concessions was giving up the majority of Showan overseas territory. With the departure of Showan troops and bureaucracy many regions fell into anarchy.

Other concessions were the reduction of a 5 million men army to 350,000, cap of 1,500 military grade aircraft, and...


Economy:
In its first years of the Imperial Restoration, factory production in Showa was all but non-existent, but by 1920, Showa was at a level comparable to many industrialized European countries. Industry in the empire grew both qualitatively and quantitatively. In 1920, the textile industry was the most important and Showa was known mainly as a manufacturer of wool and silk products, fabrics, fans, toys and similar goods. By 1935, however, industrial production in the areas of metallurgy and chemical products had grown by more than 100%. Industrial output grew significantly during the period 1929-1942.

The textile industry maintained its principal place as the primary occupation for Japanese workers. At its relative height during this period, textile production employed approximately one million workers, or roughly 1/3 of the industrial workforce. Other important fields of industry are electronics such as telephones and radios, canned food, medicine and steel. The lack of abundant natural resources has forced the Showans to adopt highly efficient manufacturing and refining techniques to maximise materials. There is a nascent automobile sector.

These developments would never have arisen, however, without an abundant source of low priced and docile manpower and convenient access to raw materials, the latter—though vital—were (and still are) exceedingly rare in Showa. Access to both were important factors in Showa’s rapid industrial development.

The process of modernisation was closely monitored and heavily subsidized by the government, enhancing the power of the great zaibatsu firms. Hand in hand, the ‘zaibatsu’ and government guided the nation through monopolies, borrowing technology from the West. The Showan Empire gradually took control of much of the regional market for manufactured goods, beginning with textiles. The economic structure became very mercantilistic, importing raw materials and exporting finished products — a reflection of the country’s relative scarcity of raw materials.

Economic reforms included a unified modern currency, banking, commercial and tax laws, stock exchanges, and a communications network. Establishment of a modern institutional framework conducive to an advanced capitalist economy took time but was completed by the 1910s. By this time, the government had largely relinquished direct control of the modernization process, primarily for budgetary reasons. Many of the former landholders, whose pensions had been paid in a lump sum, benefited greatly through investments they made in emerging industries. In effect, the old nobility made the transition of owning large estates to owning companies.

The government was initially involved in economic modernisation, providing a number of "model factories" to facilitate the transition to the modern period. After the first fifteen years of the Restauration period, the industrial economy expanded rapidly until about 1920 with inputs of advanced Western technology and large private investments.

Sime Electronics (private conglomerate)
Meshiro Metal and Rails (state owned)
Showa State Arms (state owned)
Yutani Petrol & Power (state has a majority share)
Daimyo Automotive Combine (state has a share)
Yamito Conserves (state has a small share)


National Religion: 
Koshinto focuses on ritual practices to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present-day Japan and its ancient past. Koshinto today is a term that applies to the religion of public shrines devoted to the worship of a multitude of gods and spirits (kami), suited to various purposes such as war memorials and harvest festivals, and applies as well to various sectarian organizations. Practitioners express their diverse beliefs through a standard language and practice, adopting a similar style in dress and ritual, dating from around the time of the Nara and Heian periods (8th to 12th centuries AD). Koshinto is the largest religion in Japan, practiced by nearly 80% of the population, yet only a small percentage of these identify themselves as "Koshintoists" in surveys. This is because "Koshinto" has different meanings in Showa: most of the Showan attend Shinto shrines and beseech kami without belonging to an institutional "Koshinto" religion,[10] and since there are no formal rituals to become a member of "folk Koshinto", "Koshinto membership" is often estimated counting those who join organised Koshinto sects. The religion has over 80,000 shrines and 85,000 priests in the country.


Geography:
(PLEASE be sure to identify where on the map you are, preferably by posting a clip of the region you wish to occupy. We may have to move you around to make it work. Don't be shocked if you don't get all the area you requested.)

Population: ~70,000,000

Demographics
(Makeup of your population; ethnicities, languages, minorities.) 

Notable Locations
Edokyo – Imperial Capital
TBA

Regime Personalities

(Important people in your country; leaders and the such, people that factor heavily into your RP. At the very least, the leader, your WC delegate and, probably, your minister/secretary of war/defense at the very least.)

Institutions 
The Showa military views itself as "politically clean" in terms of corruption, and criticizes political parties under a liberal democracy as self-serving and a threat to national security by their failure to provide adequate military spending or to address pressing social and economic issues. The complicity of the politicians with the corporate monopolies also came under criticism. The military tends to favour dirigisme and other forms of direct state control over industry, rather than free market capitalism, as well as greater state-sponsored social welfare to reduce the attraction of socialism and communism in Showa.

The special relation of militarists and the central civil government with the Imperial Family supports the important position of the Emperor as Head of State with political powers, and the relationship with the nationalist right-wing movements.

Doctrine!

Notable weapons!


Military Numbers

Active Duty Component Total: 350,000
Imperial Showan Army: 30 divisions

EQUIPMENT TBA

Imperial Showan Navy (ISN):
10 battleships,
10 aircraft carriers,
18 heavy cruisers,
24 light cruisers 
120 destroyers, 
72 submarines 
Various auxiliary ships (patrol boats, gunboats, etc.)


Air Force:
33,000 personnel
Just under 1,000 aircraft (including 800 first line combat aircraft). 400 Naval Aircraft (attached to carriers and fleets).
The aircraft are organised into 16 Squadrons;
30 fighter
15 light bomber
15 medium bomber

The Naval Air Force is organised into 10 Naval Air Groups (consists of 2 Squadrons);
20 fighters
10 light bombers
10 medium bombers


Other: (Such as KGB/Waffen-SS/Pasdaran/Other type troops -- internal security, or paramilitary forces)

A lot of ideas have been pitched. It's getting confusing.

For ease of reference and intermediate list, feel free to correct/remark:

TheSpectre: notUSA, superpower
Cold: commie superpower
RisenDead: opposition group or fascist country
ClocktowerEchoes: notChina (or a big part of it)
Theodorable: Imperialst empire, monarchy former world power now secondary power trying to hold onto its territories (mix UK and France?)
Sini: notJapan a decade out of the Meiji Restauration, statist and possibly imperialist
HeySeuss: 'Nam-ish nation, ethnic minority but influenced by notChina
SomeChap: notWestern-Germany, former fascist, monarchy
ChairmanStein: notArabia/Ottoman, socialist


Reserved for summary of IC WWII:

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