Hanarejima Factbook
Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:02 pm
Hanarejima is an artificial island country in East Asia. Located in the Sea of Japan, it borders many disputed sea territories and as such takes up a circular territory encompassing stretches of sea from each country that is considered a 'sanctuary'.
Hanarejima is made of one, ever-growing island, placed strategically in the middle of the disputed sea territories. Sand is constantly imported from the world's deserts in order to expand the island's diameter. The island itself is completely flat with the only high rise areas being in skyscrapers.
Government
Full Name: The Principality of Hanarejima
Short Form: Hanarejima
Japanese: 離れ島
Colloquial: Hanajima (or Hanashima)
Colloquial Japanese: 花島
Etymology: The characters which make up Hanarejima's name literally mean, 'Solitary Island'. However, it is public convention to use Hanajima in conversation, literally meaning 'Flower Island'.
Head of State: Princess Hayashi Suzuki
Form of Government: Constitutional Monarchy
Constitution: Common Law
Official Languages: English
Majority Languages: Japanese, Chinese
Population: 68% Japanese, 22% Chinese, 5% Korean, 3% Russian, 2% Other
Religion: 84% Buddhism, 12% Christianity, 4% Shintoism
History
Formed in the mid-20th century, Hanarejima was the brainchild of the Japanese government in an attempt to ease relations with its neighboors over disputed territory. It took many years of development, importing substantial amounts of sand from the various deserts of the world. During this time, Hayashi Suzuki, distant heir to the Imperial Throne was the overseer of the large scale construction operation. It was only in the early 21st century the government annexed the territory of Hanarejima which had been operating under its own laws for quite some time.
With the formation of the new country, sanctuary treaties were hurriedly set up alongside the newly formed government in order to ease tensions between the countries in the vicinity of the Japanese Sea. As a result, Hanarejima, began developing its military in order to uphold its treaties which allow for any ship in any of the agreed countries to pass through Hanarejima's territory as long as it sealed its weapons.
It was only recently that the rest of the world, other than the East Asian countries has viewed Hanarejima as a sovereign nation. As a result, a proper government was established with the former de facto 'Head of State', Hayashi Suzuki, with her distant ties to the Tiara and Minamoto family bloodlines was labeled as the White Princess.
Geography
Hanarejima is placed in the middle of the disputed sea territories in the Sea of Japan. The island itself is flat due to the difficulties in creating mountains and the like in artificial islands. Its location in the Sea of Japan means that all around the year Hanarejima is warm, however in the winter the country develops heavy snow brought about by the northwest wind.
The city itself is mostly made up of tall buildings to supplement the small amount of space allotted to the country. Skyscrapers and high-rise apartments can be found where ever you look and as a result the public transportation system has three levels; subway, railway and sky way.
Hanabi has two airports, one is Sora International and the other is Baku Military Airfield, home of the Hanarejima Air Force.
Politics
The Princess has absolute authority over ever detail in Hanarejima. Despite this, the Government is allowed to run the state's day to day affairs. Political parties are elected in every 4 years and every citizen (and permanent residents who have stayed for over 5 years) are required by law to vote.
Hanarejima's government keeps to itself, regardless of which political party is in power. This allows for few Embassy exchanges in its relationships, which are mostly regional. On an international scale, Hanarejima keeps out of foreign affairs unless when it directly affects its sovereignty or prospects.
The country exists of only one city and as a result has fledgling semi-autonomous suburbs as a result as the growing population. This allows the suburbs of the Capital of Hanabi to govern most menial legislation in their assigned area.
Literacy is 100% as all migrants are required to have graduated university. Children attend Elementary School from ages five to twelve, Middle School from thirteen to fifteen and High School from sixteen to eighteen and university education is cheap and compulsory if a citizen wishes to enlist (which is mandatory) as an officer.