大日本海国
Dai Nippon Kaikoku
Great Japanese Maritime State
Full Nation Name : Maritime Empire of Japan (大日本海国, Dai Nippon Kaikoku)
Majority/Official Culture : Japanese
Territorial Core : See map
Territorial Claim : Above plus Taiwan, Vietnam, French East Indies, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Nauru
Capital City : Kyoto
Population : 66.9 million (40.1 million for the home islands; 26.8 million in colonies).
Government Type : Ceremonial diarchy under traditionalist hereditary dictatorship
Government Ideology/Policies : Imperialism, mercantilism, traditionalism, Confucianism
Government Focus : Economic growth, maintaining dominant position in the Pacific, colonial expansion.
Head of State : Their Imperial Majesties, the Emperors of the Northern and Southern Courts.
Head of Government : Her Highness the Imperial Regent, Lady Toyotomi Hinami.
Government Description : The ultimate fount of all authority is considered to be the two co-emperors of Japan, who rule by virtue of their descent from the sun deity, Amaterasu-Omikami. Each of the two emperors "reigns" for one half of the year, before the imperial regalia- the "Three Sacred Treasures of Japan," the sword Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (草薙劍), the mirror Yata-no-Kagami (八咫鏡), and the jewel Yasakani-no-Magatama (八尺瓊勾玉)- are transferred from one court to the other amongst much ceremony to mark the transfer of authority to the emperor of the other court. In practice, however, the imperial courts' role is primarily symbolic and authority is exercised by the Toyotomi clan as imperial regents or kampaku. There are two parallel governments within the Japanese Empire- one for the home islands of the Japanese people, referred to as Yamatokoku (大和国), and one for the overseas empire, known as the state of the sea or Kaikoku (海国), often translated as thalassocracy. Since all relations with tributary and barbarian states are dealt with by the Kaikoku-seifu (海国政府), the thalassocratic government, the latter is generally recognised as the relevant sovereign entity by foreign powers who refer to Japan in formal terms as 大日本海国, Dai Nippon Kaikoku. The supreme head of both governments is the kampaku (関白), meaning civil dictator or regent. The government of Yamatokoku consists of the Council of State, the Daijō-kan (太政官), and the Eight Ministries. In practice the imperial regent generally deals mostly with the affairs of the Kaikoku, whilst the Chancellor of the Realm (Daijō-daijin, 太政大臣), an official appointed by the regent, heads the administration of the Yamatokoku. The Kaikoku-seifu is formed of three secretariats, the Secretariat of Martial Affairs, the Secretariat of External Relations and the Secretariat of Civil Administration. The first oversees the defence of the Japanese empire; the second deals with foreign affairs, and the last is responsible for appointing colonial officials, collecting revenue and overseeing the implementation of justice outside the home islands. Each is headed by a secretary appointed by the regent.
Majority/State Religion : Most Japanese practise a combination of Shinto, Buddhism and Confucianism.
Religious Description : Confucianism in the form of Japanese Neo-Confucianism is the state ideology and is strongly promoted by the Imperial Government. Shinto remains a largely disorganised folk religion, although it is central to the Japanese understanding of themselves and their nation; the Japanese Emperors serve as the dual religious heads of the Shinto religion. Buddhism has faced official suppression in the past but is currently tolerated officially. Because Shinto regards death as unclean, funerary rites have traditionally been the domain of the Buddhist clergy. It is not uncommon for emperors to abdicate after reigning for a certain length of time and retire to a Buddhist monastery, becoming "cloistered emperors" (太上法皇, daijō hōō); these former emperors may exert more influence over national affairs than they did whilst reigning. There are a number of schools of Buddhism present in Japan, and which sect a Japanese subject adheres to is often influenced by their social station; a common saying about Buddhism in Japan is that "the Tendai is for the imperial family, the Shingon for the nobility (kuge), the Zen for the warrior classes (the samurai), and the Jodo for the masses."
The Japanese Empire also has a small but significant Christian presence. Christians in Japan have faced persecution and martyrdom in the past, but Christianity is currently legal. The largest Christian sect in Japan are the Roman Catholics, known in Japan as the "Religion of the Lord of Heaven" (天主教, Tenshukyō), followed by the Seikōkai (聖公会, literally "Holy Catholic Church"), an episcopalian Protestant body founded by the unification of various Protestant missions in Japanese territories. Eastern Orthodoxy, introduced by Roman missionaries, also has a small presence. Finally there are also the Kakure Kirishitan ( 隠れキリシタン, lit. '"hidden Christian"'), descendants of Catholic converts who went underground during the persecution of Christians during the 17th and 18th centuries and continue to practice their faith- often in a distorted form- in secret. Other than the Kakure Kirishitans, most Christians in the Japanese Empire tend to live in the Kaikoku territories, since it is difficult for non-Japanese missionaries to gain access to the Yamatokoku.
Colonial populations under Japanese rule continue to practice their pre-colonial religious traditions, including Islam, Hinduism and various traditional folk religions, although many have been converted by Buddhist missionaries and veneration of the Shinto kami by conquered peoples is encouraged as a patriotic practice that demonstrates loyalty to the empire.
Economic Ideologies : The economic system of the Japanese Empire may be best described as a sort of aristocratic corporatism. The Kaikoku-seifu generally pursues a mercantilist and protectionist economic policy, maintaining high tariffs on imports and imposing a system of "imperial preference" on its colonies that requires them to trade principally with the home islands rather than with outside powers.
Major Production : Coal, steel, foodstuffs (especially rice), and luxury goods such as tea, silk and furniture.
Economic Description : Japan has one of the strongest economies in the world, and dominates maritime commerce in the Pacific as it has done for centuries. The Imperial Government pursues protectionist and mercantilist policies in order to encourage production within the empire and reduce the outflow of wealth from importing foreign goods. Under a system of imperial preference, Japan restricts its colonies from trading with other states in order encourage trade within the empire. Within the Yamatokoku, most economic power and capital is still focused in the hands of the traditional aristocracy, whereas in the Kaikoku a less rigid social hierarchy prevailed, with successful middle-class merchants from the homeland achieving great wealth and forming a new colonial ruling class. As the empire expanded, raw materials from the colonies flowed back to Japan to fuel a burgeoning industrial economy, with Japan following Korea to become East Asia's second industrial power. Amidst Japan's rapid industrialisation, many merchants founded successful companies which would eventual grow into powerful family-owned conglomerates, or zaibatsu (財閥), that continue to dominate the Japanese economy.
The Imperial Government generally maintains an interventionist stance towards the economy and a close relationship with the zaibatsu. Faced with unrest due to the poor working conditions in Japan's new factories and the precarious status of regular workers, and inspired by Confucian ideals of reciprocal loyalty between lords (employers) and servants (employees), Japan has begun to develop the basics of a welfare state with employers being required to provide for the medical care and pensions of their workers. Despite the modernisation of its infrastructure Japan remains somewhat conservative in many ways; in particular, land ownership in the Yamatokoku is still largely feudal in nature and, as mentioned above, social mobility is virtually non-existent. By contrast the Kaikoku or colonial part of the Japanese Empire is more modern in both regards, although its culture and society remain deeply hierarchical. The Yamatokoku is more industrialised than the Kaikoku, which mainly serves as a source of raw materials. Japan's main trading partners are Korea and China, although more trade with the American powers is beginning to take place. Most trade takes place through the colonies, which are more accessible to foreigners and foreign trade than the home islands. Japan is fairly self-sufficient economically but does import industrial materials (e.g. coal and steel) from Korea and food as well as many luxury manufactured items from China. American and European nations are a source of luxury manufactured goods, technology and exotic foods- for example, chocolate from the Azteks.
Development: Modern/Semi-industrialized.
Development Description: Japan is one of East Asia's most technologically advanced societies, but development is highly uneven across the Empire; the Yamatokoku is heavily industrialised whilst large parts of the Kaikoku remain economically underdeveloped.
Army Strength : 822,560 troops strong, divided between the 160,200 troops of the Imperial Japanese Army (日本陸軍, Nippon Rikugun) and 662,360 Imperial Marines (海兵隊, Kaiheitai). Japan's ground forces are efficiently organised, highly motivated and loyal. Japanese culture promotes courage and honour in battle, and most Japanese troops would rather die than surrender to the enemy.
Army Weakness : The officer class, largely drawn from old samurai families, remain highly conservative in outlook and are yet to fully accept modern military doctrine and reconcile it with the samurai warrior code, whilst the rank-and-file are largely made up of conscripts who are less well-equipped and trained than their Western counterparts. Japan's ground forces also suffer from a lack of cavalry and artillery.
Naval Strength : The Imperial Japanese Navy (日本海軍, Nippon Kaigun) is one of the largest and best funded naval forces in East Asia. Its newest ships are among the world's most technologically advanced, and the Japanese have a strong naval tradition with a well established, tried and tested naval doctrine. Additionally, compared to some other colonial powers Japan's territories are less widely-distributed which makes defence of the empire easier.
Naval Weakness : Decades of complacency have eroded the technological edge of Japan's fleets, with many ships being somewhat outdated, and it will take time to fully replace them with newer classes. Additionally many of the navy's officers achieved their position by birth rather than through merit, and are untested in a real battle scenario.
Further Military Description : There are two main branches of the Japanese military- the Imperial Japanese Army (日本陸軍), Nippon Rikugun) and the Imperial Japanese Navy (日本海軍, Nippon Kaigun). The Imperial Army is under the authority of the Yamatokoku-seifu and the Ministry of Defence, and dedicated to the defence of the home islands; in practice, it is relatively small and fulfils a largely ceremonial role due to the fact that Japan itself has not been under direct threat of invasion for centuries. The Imperial Navy is under the jurisdiction of the Secretariat of Martial Affairs, part of the Kaikoku-seifu. As the Imperial Army's role is officially restricted to the defence of the home islands, the role of the main ground force of the Japanese military is fulfilled by the greatly swollen Imperial Marine Corps, 日本海兵隊 (Nippon Kaiheitai). The Imperial Marines are responsible for the defence of the Japanese colonial empire and serve as its main offensive ground force. Many are drawn from the colonial population and are experts at ship-to-ship combat and boarding manoeuvres, island-hopping and fighting in tropical environments, making them highly well suited to defending Japan's vast maritime empire.
National Goals : To contain the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and its revolutionary ideology, reduce the influence of European nations, especially France, in East Asia, and re-establish Japan as the uncontested major power in East Asia and the Pacific.
National Issues : Japan faces the challenge of fully modernising its large but increasingly outdated naval forces, ending its diplomatic isolation by securing new alliances, and strengthening the army in order to defend and expand its continental possessions. Additionally, the Empire faces factionalism amongst the ruling elites at home and the threat of insurgency from its colonies.
National Figures of Interest :
- Emperor of the Southern Court (南朝天皇, Nanchō Tennō): Personal name Yutanari (寛成). 58 years old. The older of Japan's co-sovereigns, Yutanari was known in his youth for his profligacy and inattention to study, preferring to spend time gambling, hunting and pursuing women. However his attitudes have changed with age, and he has become increasingly conservative, adopting an ascetic lifestyle and performing his obligations as emperor with dutiful devotion. Maintains a strictly Confucian court with close attention to protocol, but also a deeply devoted Zen Buddhist. His era name is Shōzū (正崇), meaning "upright and honourable."
- Emperor of the Northern Court (北朝天皇, Hokuchō Tennō): Personal name Kenshō (賢章). 19 years old. The younger of Japan's co-sovereigns, only a year into his reign following the abdication of his grandfather. Bright, idealistic and open-minded, the Northern Emperor is known to be pro-reform whilst remaining a devoted Confucian. Although dutiful he is more inclined to question the established way of doing things than his southern counterpart. His era name is Shōkyō (昌慶), meaning "prosperous and jubilant."
- Toyotomi Hinami (豊臣日南): 31 years old. The first woman to hold the title of kampaku, Lady Hinami is the daughter of previous imperial regent Toyotomi Hatsuo. She succeeded him as regent due to the lack of male heirs, with her father asking for and being granted a special edict approved by both emperors allowing the position to be filled by a woman in order to secure her legitimacy. Her husband, Toyotomi Motozane, is the head of a junior branch of the Toyotomi clan, although said branch broke off from the main line some 200 years ago, meaning the couple are not closely related. Their marriage was arranged to secure the Toyotomi clan's control of the office of regent. Charming and cultured, Hinami has proven a capable leader, embodying the ideal of the Yamato-Nadeshiko; a proper lady with a streak of iron. Her rule has been characterised by cautious reform and an increasingly ambitious and assertive foreign policy.
History : Japan is a nation with an ancient history. According to traditional accounts its sovereigns have reigned in an unbroken line for over two thousand years, the Imperial House of Yamato- Japan's ruling dynasty- having been founded by Emperor Jimmu (神武天皇, Jinmu-tennō) in 660 BC. Through him, the imperial lineage may trace its ancestry back to the Goddess of the Sun, Amaterasu-Omikami (天照大神). Although the early origins of the Japanese nation are shrouded in myth and mystery, Chinese sources dating from the 3rd century AD confirm the existence of a powerful kingdom known as Yamataikoku in the Japanese archipelago. Buddhism was introduced to Japan by the 6th century, in the Asuka Period. In the following Nara Period, so-named for the city of Nara which is built upon the site of the then-capital of Japan, the country became more centralised and began to adopt Chinese Confucian ideas on governance. Literature and the arts began to flourish. The Nara Period ended with the shift of Japan's capital from Nara to Nagaoka and then finally to Heian, modern day Kyoto, marking the beginning of the Heian Period. This period of Japanese history witnessed the decline of imperial authority as Japan's emperors became figureheads for the powerful Fujiwara clan, who monopolised the powerful position of kampaku (関白), meaning chief advisor to the emperor. The loss of power by Japan's emperors did not halt the cultural flourishing that had begun in the Nara Period, however. Japan at this time began to develop the distinctive culture it is known for today, and a strong sense of Japanese identity and nationhood emerged. The ethos of the Japanese nation in this period was expressed by a phrase from The Tale of Genji, one of the greatest works of Japanese and world literature, written at the Heian court by a female courtier named Murasaki Shikibu; "it is when there is a fund of Chinese learning (才, zae) that the Japanese spirit (大和魂, Yamato-damashii) is respected in the world."
The trend of declining imperial authority continued into the second millennium, and by the 12th century the court nobility had also began to lose its power in favour of the newly ascendant warrior class, the samurai. The passage of power from the Fujiwara court clan to the Minamoto samurai clan under the leadership of Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first military ruler or shogun (将軍) of Japan, heralded the dawn of Japan's feudal era and the beginning of the Kamakura Period. By the end of the Kamakura shogunate, even the shogun had become a figurehead to the powerful Hōjō clan, who wielded the title of Regent to the Shogunate or shikken (執権). Thus the emperor, kampaku and shogun were all reduced to figureheads in a situation that could only arise as a result of Japan's strong Confucian culture, which made openly deposing and replacing one's superior or liege lord an unthinkable offence. Under the Hōjō clan the Japanese successfully defeated Mongol invasions in 1274 and 1281, but they ultimately lost power in the 14th century as a result of an attempt by the Emperor Go-Daigo to topple the shogunate and restore the imperial house to true power in the so-called Kenmu Restoration. The Emperor was successful in toppling the Hōjō, but not in curbing the ambitions of the samurai class. By 1336 the Restoration government had collapsed and the imperial capital of Kyoto fell into the hands of a rebel samurai named Ashikaga Takauji, a descendant of the Minamoto clan, who proclaimed himself shogun and installed a rival claimant to the imperial throne as Emperor Kōgon. Emperor Go-Daigo and his supporters fled south to Yoshino, where they established a rival court known as the Southern Court whilst the court in Kyoto became known as the Northern Court. The conflict between the Ashikaga shoguns and the Southern Court lasted until 1392, when the third Ashikaga shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, offered the beleaguered Southern Court a compromise; the role of emperor would be shared between the northern and southern lines, who would each hold nominal authority over the northern and southern parts of the country, with Kyoto demarking the dividing line. In practice, authority over the entire country would remain with the shogun, but the Southern Court could save face and retain their prestige. The three imperial treasures, the regalia of the Japanese Emperor, would be shared between the two emperors, spending half the year with the Northern Court Emperor and half the year with the Southern Court Emperor. Furthermore, as the senior imperial line the Southern Court Emperors would hold seniority to the Northern Court. This agreement led to the establishment of Japan's unique diarchic system that has endured to the modern day.
The rule of the Ashikaga clan saw Japan experience an era of relative peace and prosperity, but the in-looking tendencies of the Japanese elite continued. Whilst neighbouring Korea emerged as a colonial power in south-east Asia, Japan remained insular and unconcerned with foreign affairs. This state of affairs was not to last indefinitely, however. Growing rivalries between Japan's powerful feudal lords, the daimyō (大名), began to undermine the central authority of the shogunate. In 1467, the Ōnin War broke out as a consequence of a dispute between two powerful lords, Hosokawa Katsumoto and Yamana Sōzen. The war rapidly escalated out of control, and signalled the end of the Ashikaga shogunate's centralised rule over Japan. This began Japan's Warring States or Sengoku Period. The Imperial Courts lacked any authority to impose order on the country. Ashikaga Yoshiteru, the 14th Ashikaga shogun, was assassinated in 1565 and the ambitious and powerful daimyō Oda Nobunaga seized power and installed Yoshiteru's brother Yoshiaki as puppet shogun. Nobunaga was a skilled military leader and a capable political reformer, but also known to be brutal in his efforts to unify Japan under his rule. By 1582 most of Japan was under Nobunaga's control, but in that year he was assassinated along with his eldest son in a coup by a former subordinate, Akechi Mitsuhide. It fell to Nobunaga's vassal Hashiba Hideyoshi, a peasant's son raised high by his talents as a negotiator and commander and by Nobunaga's largesse, to avenge his liege lord. Mitsuhide was defeated by Hideyoshi's forces at the Battle of Yamazaki, and Mitsuhide himself died shortly afterwards, supposedly killed by a bandit named Nakamura Chōbei with a bamboo spear- a dishonourable end for the powerful samurai. Hideyoshi now took for himself his former master's place as ruler of Japan. Like Nobunaga, he was not descended from the Minamoto clan and therefore ineligible to claim the title of shogun, but instead had himself adopted by the Konoe branch of the powerful Fujiwara clan and adopted a new surname, Toyotomi. He was thus able to take the title of kampaku, civil dictator or regent to the Emperors.
Hideyoshi was not content with completing the unification of Japan that Nobunaga had began. After securing the country, he looked to expand his power by invading China. His hopes were to construct a vast Japanese empire spanning all of Asia, rivalling that of the Mongols who had tried to invade Japan centuries earlier. Hideyoshi had hoped to gain the collaboration of Korea in his ambitions, but the Koreans, who were a tributary to the Chinese Ming dynasty at the time, refused to allow Japanese forces to pass through Korea. Hideyoshi thus resolved to invade Korea. From 1592 to 1598, Japan launched two campaigns against Korea. Initially, the more experienced and better-armed Japanese troops swept the peninsula with little resistance, although the Koreans fared better at sea with the famed admiral Admiral Yi Sun-sin inflicting several defeats on the Japanese navy. Eventually, Korea's suzerain, the Chinese Ming dynasty, intervened in the war, and the allied forces began to push back the Japanese. A stalemate eventually ensued as neither side was able to inflict a decisive defeat on the other, despite the organisational difficulties facing the Japanese with the Korean navy cutting their forces off from supplies and reinforcements whilst civilian militias known as the "righteous armies" harassed them by land. A truce was agreed in 1594, but after two years no permanent peace agreement could be reached resulting in a second Japanese invasion that followed much the same course as the first; rapid initial success followed by the Japanese forces being pushed back by the Koreans and their Chinese allies, ultimately resulting in another stalemate. On the 18th September 1598, Hideyoshi died of natural causes, and the new ruling Council of Five Elders decided to withdraw Japan's armies from Korea. With Hideyoshi gone, his son Toyotomi Hideyori was declared kampaku and ruler of Japan, but actual power was exercised by a council of regents. Hideyoshi's dreams of expansion were temporarily forgotten by Japan's new rulers, but not by his heirs.
By 1600, relations between the members of the council had deteriorated. Civil war broke out between Hideyoshi's former retainer Tokugawa Ieyasu and the other four members of the council. Toyotomi Hidetsugu, Hideyoshi's nephew, adopted son and former heir who had been exiled upon the birth of Toyotomi Hideyori to prevent a succession crisis, returned from his exile and began gathering an army of his own to fight the Tokugawa forces and protect Toyotomi rule. Hideyoshi had considered forcing Hidetsugu to commit suicide, but had relented after being advised against it; it was now Hidetsugu who would save the Toyotomi clan's legacy. Hidetsugu met and defeated Ieyasu at the Battle of Sekigahara, after which Ieyasu committed ritual suicide, seppuku, leaving Hidetsugu in control of Japan. Hideyori remained the nominal ruler of Japan, but his older cousin and adoptive brother held real power, marrying his daughter to Hideyori in order to increase his authority over him as his father-in-law, since under Confucian precepts sons-in-law owed filial piety to their bride's parents. Both Hidetsugu and Hideyori shared Hideyoshi's dreams of expanding Japanese power, but it was clear that another invasion of Korea was out of the question. Instead, Hidetsugu opened Japan up to trade with Korean and European merchants, and began building up Japan's naval strength, nurturing ambitions of building a Japanese colonial empire. Under him, the Japanese gradually expanded north, charting and colonising the unexplored islands of Hokkaido and Karafuto (Sakhalin). At the same time, Japanese merchants with state sponsorship began to establish outposts in the Philippines and the Spice Islands.
Hidetsugu died 1632. He had intended that his son Senchiyomaru would succeed him as Japan's ruler, but an effort to displace Hideyori as kampaku backfired when Hideyori, as Hideyoshi's rightful heir, was able to claim the support of most of the daimyō and defeated Senchiyomaru in a brief succession struggle. Senchiyomaru performed seppuku and Hideyori reigned for more than twenty years. It was Hideyori who initiated the division of Japan's government between the Yamatokoku-seifu, responsible for the administration of the home islands, and the Kaikoku-seifu, which oversaw Japan's colonies and dealt with foreign affairs. At the same time, Japan began to improve its naval forces by incorporating elements of European design into its ships. Naval innovation in this period led to the creation of ships that were better suited than their Korean and Chinese counterparts for long voyages in deeper waters. A member of a clan that had supported the Tokugawa against the Toyotomi, seeking to redeem their reputation, set out to find an eastern route to Europe by traversing the North Pacific and in doing so reached North America, leading to the foundation of the Japanese colony of Fusō- which, given its distance from the home islands, was from its beginnings largely independent of Kyoto's control. A series of colonial wars with Korea in the Philippines in the early 18th centuries concluded with a treaty that confirmed Korean sovereignty over most of Luzon and Mindoro but left the rest of the islands in Japanese hands.
The Toyotomi regents promoted Neo-Confucianism, or shushigaku (朱子學), as the official state ideology, although it was later challenged- and eventually achieved an uneasy coexistence with- the Kokugaku (国学, literally "national study") school of philosophy which emphasised the virtues of ancient Japan over the imported Chinese philosophy of Confucianism. Nonetheless, under Neo-Confucian influence the Japanese gradually developed a nationalistic ideology that identified Japan as having succeeded China as the chief representative of Confucian virtue in the world, ascribing to Japan rather than China the title of Tenchō (天朝) or "heavenly dynasty." This shift away from the traditional sinocentric view of East Asian relations grew stronger with the fall of the Han Chinese Ming dynasty to the Manchu Qing in 1644. Despite this lack of acknowledgement of Chinese supremacy, the Confucian worldview of the Japanese led them to be concerned by the weakening of Qing power and the growing influence of European powers in East Asia, especially the increasing French influence in Vietnam which was seen as the subversion of a "civilised" state by a barbarian one. Japan also objected to the declaration of the Korean Empire in 1845, a promotion in Korea's status that was seen as a debasement of Japan's imperial status. These tensions culminated in a war between Japan on one side and Korea and France on the other, lasting from 1846 to 1847, in which the allied forces achieved a victory that saw Japan lose some territory to France and Korea. Following this stinging, but not debilitating, defeat, Japan followed Korea in pursuing industrialisation and also sought to compensate with the acquisition of new territories to the south-east, including north-eastern Australia and New Guinea.
The breakout of the Taiping Rebellion in 1850 against China's Qing dynasty initially passed largely unnoticed by Japan, but as the rebels gained ground they were increasingly viewed as a serious ideological threat. Fearing the Taiping's heterodox Christianity and radical social and economic programme would gain ground in other Asian nations and possibly even in Japan itself, the Japanese provided significant support to the Qing dynasty alongside its recent enemies France and Korea. The threat of the Taiping also provoked a counterrevolutionary reaction in Japan, with the government becoming more authoritarian and repressive. However, the fear of popular unrest also contributed to the Japanese government's introduction of reforms that resulted in one of the world's earliest welfare states. Today Japan is one of the pre-eminent powers in East Asia, rivalled only by Korea and potentially by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Although power remains in the hands of the Toyotomi clan as imperial regents, some reforms have been implemented as the nation progresses both technologically and socially; discrimination against the burakumin (部落民) outcast class is now officially prohibited, although still widespread unofficially. Slavery, never widespread, has been abolished, as have many of the restrictions formerly imposed on commoners. The samurai class have been converted into a class of hereditary officer families, filling high-ranking positions within both the military and civil service, which remain closely intertwined. Powerful merchant clans have developed into the family-owned zaibatsu business conglomerates which control much of Japan's economy. Despite this, Japan remains a deeply traditional society, more distrustful of outside influence than other East Asian nations. Other cultures are dismissed as barbarians and their presence in Japan itself is generally restricted to a few ports, except for those who gain special permission from the Yamatokoku-seifu to travel more widely.
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