Yamaichi - thousands of kilometers away from the nearest sizable landmass lay a tiny hermit kingdom in the Philippine Sea. For hundreds of years, its population of roughly ten-thousand or so souls had been living in near-complete isolation from the rest of the world. The tiny island was once a fiefdom of an exiled, disgraced rōnin, who settled there with his family and followers. For many years, the family of Kondō Toshizō had ruled over the islands as their own personal kingdom of sorts, free from the burdens of the outside world. With a lack of valuable resources and protected by fearsome warriors, the world generally left the island alone. A treaty with the Japanese Empire in the 19th century further solidified the island's isolationist policy.
Despite the island having been self-sufficient since the first arrival of the Toshizō family, a crisis had now overcome the islands. A rapidly growing populace had now rendered the production from the rice plantations and the freshwater lagoon insufficient to keep up with the demand. Despite some radical policies such as limiting the amount of children a woman could have and exiling or executing prisoners, these efforts were futile and now the threat of famine was looming over the island. Empress Masako- the incumbent monarch of the hermit kingdom- was rather stressed with the whole incident.
Still grieving over the death of her father by seppuku just a month prior, she found herself in the same position as her father. Unable to handle the crisis at hand, which by this point had been growing ever-larger. She was most definitely surprised when one quiet evening, a trusted aide and Samurai approached her court, claiming to have a solution to the problem- breaking the centuries-long period of isolation. The samurai, Hasekura Anjin, was met with extreme disapproval and accusations of treason from the court. After all, he was a Filipino member of a community of shipwrecked fishermen who numbered an estimated hundred to even a thousand men who were forbidden to leave the country under its isolationist laws.
Still grieving over the death of her father by seppuku just a month prior, she found herself in the same position as her father. Unable to handle the crisis at hand, which by this point had been growing ever-larger. She was most definitely surprised when one quiet evening, a trusted aide and Samurai approached her court, claiming to have a solution to the problem- breaking the centuries-long period of isolation. The samurai, Hasekura Anjin, was met with extreme disapproval and accusations of treason from the court. After all, he was a Filipino member of a community of shipwrecked fishermen who numbered an estimated hundred to even a thousand men who were forbidden to leave the country under its isolationist laws.
Fortunately for Hasekura and much to the dismay of the Empress's court, her decision was clear. Yamaichi would open its borders to foreign trade to save the country and its people. Despite warnings and protest from the court and especially General Ashikaga Masashige, who especially feared that this would only invite foreign powers to exploit the state and its abundant deposits of jade which it had mostly kept secret. Alas, Hasekura left the capital, Yamatai, onboard a traditional atakebune ship bound for Manila. There, a personal letter from Empress Masako would be sent to the authorities and forwarded to hundreds of members of the international community, inviting leaders to Yamaichi to embark on a personal tour of the hermit state, opening up the country to the world and hopefully finally resolve the threat of famine which loomed over the islands.
Hasekura stood at Yamatai's port along with a complement of ten ashigaru armed with Arisaka bolt-action rifles, watching the waves crash against the wooden dock and seagulls soaring above the azure-blue sky. Behind him was a truck with wooden wheels and powered by a wood-gas generator, a Japanese truck which was gifted in the 1930s along with weapons. It was one of five vehicles on the island, and would be the vehicle used to bring the delegations about the tour. A Filipino-born fisherman, he was familiar with technology and spoke fluent English and was shipwrecked on the island roughly seven years ago.
Befriending the Empress and quickly rising to become a Samurai, his ability to communicate with the foreigners meant that he would be extremely important for this mission.
"私の主よ、私はあなたが要求した旗を持ってきました。" (My Lord, I have brought you the flags you requested.)
Said one of the Ashigaru, placing a chest with multicoloured flags within in front of Hasekura. The fisherman-turned-Samurai thanked his assistant, and inspected the flags. They were signal flags, which were going to be important when receiving the foreign guests. Now he scanned the horizon, awaiting the arrival of the vessels from the international community.
Despite the island having been self-sufficient since the first arrival of the Toshizō family, a crisis had now overcome the islands. A rapidly growing populace had now rendered the production from the rice plantations and the freshwater lagoon insufficient to keep up with the demand. Despite some radical policies such as limiting the amount of children a woman could have and exiling or executing prisoners, these efforts were futile and now the threat of famine was looming over the island. Empress Masako- the incumbent monarch of the hermit kingdom- was rather stressed with the whole incident.
Still grieving over the death of her father by seppuku just a month prior, she found herself in the same position as her father. Unable to handle the crisis at hand, which by this point had been growing ever-larger. She was most definitely surprised when one quiet evening, a trusted aide and Samurai approached her court, claiming to have a solution to the problem- breaking the centuries-long period of isolation. The samurai, Hasekura Anjin, was met with extreme disapproval and accusations of treason from the court. After all, he was a Filipino member of a community of shipwrecked fishermen who numbered an estimated hundred to even a thousand men who were forbidden to leave the country under its isolationist laws.
Still grieving over the death of her father by seppuku just a month prior, she found herself in the same position as her father. Unable to handle the crisis at hand, which by this point had been growing ever-larger. She was most definitely surprised when one quiet evening, a trusted aide and Samurai approached her court, claiming to have a solution to the problem- breaking the centuries-long period of isolation. The samurai, Hasekura Anjin, was met with extreme disapproval and accusations of treason from the court. After all, he was a Filipino member of a community of shipwrecked fishermen who numbered an estimated hundred to even a thousand men who were forbidden to leave the country under its isolationist laws.
Fortunately for Hasekura and much to the dismay of the Empress's court, her decision was clear. Yamaichi would open its borders to foreign trade to save the country and its people. Despite warnings and protest from the court and especially General Ashikaga Masashige, who especially feared that this would only invite foreign powers to exploit the state and its abundant deposits of jade which it had mostly kept secret. Alas, Hasekura left the capital, Yamatai, onboard a traditional atakebune ship bound for Manila. There, a personal letter from Empress Masako would be sent to the authorities and forwarded to hundreds of members of the international community, inviting leaders to Yamaichi to embark on a personal tour of the hermit state, opening up the country to the world and hopefully finally resolve the threat of famine which loomed over the islands.
෴
Hasekura stood at Yamatai's port along with a complement of ten ashigaru armed with Arisaka bolt-action rifles, watching the waves crash against the wooden dock and seagulls soaring above the azure-blue sky. Behind him was a truck with wooden wheels and powered by a wood-gas generator, a Japanese truck which was gifted in the 1930s along with weapons. It was one of five vehicles on the island, and would be the vehicle used to bring the delegations about the tour. A Filipino-born fisherman, he was familiar with technology and spoke fluent English and was shipwrecked on the island roughly seven years ago.
Befriending the Empress and quickly rising to become a Samurai, his ability to communicate with the foreigners meant that he would be extremely important for this mission.
"私の主よ、私はあなたが要求した旗を持ってきました。" (My Lord, I have brought you the flags you requested.)
Said one of the Ashigaru, placing a chest with multicoloured flags within in front of Hasekura. The fisherman-turned-Samurai thanked his assistant, and inspected the flags. They were signal flags, which were going to be important when receiving the foreign guests. Now he scanned the horizon, awaiting the arrival of the vessels from the international community.
OOC: Hi! This is one of my first RPs in a long time and a revived version of one I had with another nation. Anyways, responses from all MT nations are welcome. Please don't just attack the country or bomb it- since that'd be an extremely dick move. Don't hesitate to bring guards or weapons to demonstrate or sell to us. After all, I'm planning to have an interesting event later on that may or may not include some fighting with pro-isolationist members of the government/military