Japan

"When you think about it, the 21st century is the time of the Corporate nation. There are democracies (few untainted by corp money), and a few kingdoms, but there is only one empire left in the world: Nippon (Japan)"

- Pacific Rim

Japan is a major country and one of the biggest economic and military powers in cyberpunk. It is a very high tech country and it has an ancient culture with many traditions. Its name is 日本; Nippon or Nihon, which means "sun origin" or "land of the rising sun". The Japanese archipelago is located in East and North East Asia.

The headquarters of Arasaka is located in Tokyo, Japan. Arasaka is a zaibatsu and the most powerful megacorporation in the world. Arasaka dominates much of Japan and the third world. The term "third world" is commonly assigned to America. Japan has strong trade relations with the United States.

In the 1990s Japan abolished the pacifist clause (article 9) of the 1947 constitution which was mainly written by the United States after World War 2. This allowed Japan to have a normal military again with full offensive military capabilities. Consequently the US withdrew its military presence in Japan.

Japan has solid relations with Taiwan. In 2009, Taiwan became an official independent country with the support and protection of Japan and Arasaka.

By the year 2020 The United States has largely retreated from the Pacific Rim, with Japan filling the vacuum of power and supporting the U.S. economy; although tensions remain from the trade wars of the '90s. Guam has maintained its U.S. military base. The United States signed the Mutual Defense Treaty of 2009 with the rising power of China. The United States participates in military drills with but not limited to Japan and Australia.

By 2020 Arasaka developed their security division and their forces are highly trained at the Arasaka school in the island of Hokkaido, Japan. The Hokkaido Training Camp is the main training facility of thousands of potential recruits.

From 2022 to 2025, Arasaka is involved in a global conflict with its bitter rival Militech, in the Fourth Corporate War. In a conflict which nearly resulted in the fall of the Japanese government. In the aftermath of the war, Arasaka was reduced to a Japan-only corporation and the national government was forced to repudiate Arasaka to save national face. Two decades later in 2045, Japan is still recovering from the devastation caused by Arasaka's attempted coup.

Government
The government of Japan is a constitutional monarchy in which the power of the Emperor is limited and is relegated primarily to ceremonial duties. As in many other states, the Government is divided into three branches: The Legislative branch, the Executive branch, and the Judicial branch.

Legislative Branch
A legislature is a deliberative assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. Legislatures form important parts of most governments; in the separation of powers model, they are often contrasted with the executive and judicial branches of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are known as primary legislation. Legislatures observe and steer governing actions and usually have exclusive authority to amend the budget or budgets involved in the process. The members of a legislature are called legislators. In a democracy, legislators are most commonly popularly elected, although indirect election and appointment by the executive are also used, particularly for bicameral legislatures featuring an upper chamber.

Executive Branch
The executive is the branch of government exercising authority in and holding responsibility for the governance of a state. The executive executes and enforces law. In political systems based on the principle of separation of powers, authority is distributed among several branches (executive, legislative, judicial)—an attempt to prevent the concentration of power in the hands of a single group of people. In such a system, the executive does not pass laws (the role of the legislature) or interpret them (the role of the judiciary). Instead, the executive enforces the law as written by the legislature and interpreted by the judiciary. The executive can be the source of certain types of law, such as a decree or executive order. Executive bureaucracies are commonly the source of regulations.

The Executive branch of Japan is headed by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is the head of the Cabinet, and is designated by the legislative organ, the National Diet. The Cabinet consists of the Ministers of State and may be appointed or dismissed by the Prime Minister at any time. Explicitly defined to be the source of executive power, it is in practice, however, mainly exercised by the Prime Minister. The practice of its powers is responsible to the Diet, and as a whole, should the Cabinet lose confidence and support to be in office by the Diet, the Diet may dismiss the Cabinet en masse with a motion of no confidence.

Judicial Branch
The judiciary is the system of courts that interprets and applies the law in the name of the state. The judiciary can also be thought of as the mechanism for the resolution of disputes. Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, the judiciary generally does not make statutory law (which is the responsibility of the legislature) or enforce law (which is the responsibility of the executive), but rather interprets law and applies it to the facts of each case. However, in some countries the judiciary does make common law.

In many jurisdictions the judicial branch has the power to change laws through the process of judicial review. Courts with judicial review power may annul the laws and rules of the state when it finds them incompatible with a higher norm, such as primary legislation, the provisions of the constitution, treaties or international law. Judges constitute a critical force for interpretation and implementation of a constitution, thus de facto in common law countries creating the body of constitutional law.

Military
The Japanese military defense force has a total of 8,438,000 personal, 2,858 of total aircraft strength, 2,445 combat tanks, 302 total naval assets (six aircraft carriers). Next to France, Japan has one of if not the most advance military in the world. With their advance technology and military training the Japanese Army is a force to be reckon with. However despite their technology the military is much smaller than China, with their population reaching past 1 billion they focus more on excess than advance tech. That being said while other countries might have more, Japan still controls the Pacific Rim and helps the United States keep stable.

Geography
The Jakota Triangle- (Japan, Korea, Taiwan) is characterized by huge cities, enormous global commerce, high consumption of raw materials, and rapid development. Japan is also part of the Pacific Rim, with land facing the Pacific, relatively high levels of industrialization and urbanization indicating high levels of economic development, and huge imports/ exports which move mainly across the Pacific.

Japan can be seen as small units of mountainous terrain; some scholars suggest that this is one reason for the decentralized pattern of government developed in feudal times. Today, there are forty-seven prefectures, many still following historic mountain boundaries. Japan’s regions are: Hokkaido, Tohoku, Chubu, Kanto, Chugoku, Kinki, Shikoku, and Kyushu-Okinawa. Japan’s rivers are small, not navigable for any great length, fast moving and useful for generating some hydroelectric power. Rivers and plentiful rainfall make possible extensive agriculture and forest production. Wood is also imported, largely from Southeast Asia.

Environment
Japan consists of several thousands of islands, of which Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku are the four largest. Japan's closest neighbors are Korea, Siberia(Soviet Union), and China. The Sea of Japan separates the Asian continent from the Japanese archipelago. Japan's area is comparable to that of Germany or California. Japan's northernmost islands are located on a similar geographical latitude as Milan or Portland, while her southernmost islands are on a similar latitude as the Bahamas. More than 50% of the country is mountainous and covered by forests. Because Japan is located in a region, where several continental plates meet, the country experiences frequent earthquakes. For the same reason, there are many volcanoes and natural hot springs in Japan. Japan's most famous volcano and highest mountain is Mt.Fuji.

Climate
Due to the large North-South extension of the country, the climate varies strongly in different regions. The climate in most of the major cities, including Tokyo, is temperate to subtropic and consists of four seasons. The winter is cold and rainy while the summer is hot and humid. There is a rainy season in early summer, and typhoons hit parts of the country every year during late summer. The climate of the northern island of Hokkaido and the Sea of Japan coast is colder, and snow falls in large amounts. Snowfall can be up to ten feet in on the northern part of Honshu. Major cities like Sendai and Tokyo can experience snowfall while in Osaka just gets rain. In Okinawa the mean temperature of January is a warm 17 degrees Celsius.

Population
The population of Japan is about 156,000,000, including approximately ten million foreign residents. More than half of the non Japanese population is of Korean descent. American immigrants are always welcomed due to the state of America, with large portion of Americans being in Tokyo and Osaka.

Religion
Shinto and Buddhism are Japan's two major religions. Shinto is as old as the Japanese culture, while Buddhism was imported from the mainland in the 6th century. Since then, the two religions have been co-existing relatively harmoniously and have even complemented each other to a certain degree. Most Japanese consider themselves Buddhist, Shintoist or both.

Religion does not play a big role in the everyday life of most Japanese people today. The average person typically follows the religious rituals at ceremonies like birth, weddings and funerals, may visit a shrine or temple on New Year and participates at local festivals (matsuri), most of which have a religious background. Other religions practiced Christianity and Confucianism.

Family Structure
Most families in Japan in 2045 are nuclear families. That is to say that a married couple lives together with their children, perhaps with one grandparent. Japanese families can have as many children as they want, and choose to support to them as far into their late twenties.

Health
In Japan people can live well into their 120's in 2045, without experiencing illness their whole lives. The health care system in Japan provides healthcare services, including screening examinations, prenatal care and infectious disease control, with the patient accepting responsibility for 30% of these costs while the government pays the remaining 70%. Without cybernetic enhancements or medical care people can live up to 100 years of age and disease is highly more likely to occur.

Education
The basic school system in Japan is composed of elementary school (lasting six years), middle school (three years), high school (three years), and university (four years). Education is compulsory only for the nine years of elementary and middle school, but 98% of students go on to high school. Due to the fact that their educational system is so good, Japan has one of the world's best-educated populations (with 100% enrollment in compulsory grades and zero illiteracy). Foreigners are also well educated around Japan, with the most illiterate being in Tokyo.

New Yen
In 2015 Japan established the New Yen currency and Japan was removed from the EEC. The Japanese Yen has a purchasing power that is comparable with the U.S. dollar. It is half as valuable as the Eurodollar.

Headquarters
The headquarters of Arasaka in Tokyo, Japan consists of two skyscrapers known as the Boys in Black, due to the similarities between the two imposing black towers and the black-clad Arasaka Security guards. They dominate the Tokyo skyline and are easily recognizable, not from their shape or size, but for the giant back-lit Arasaka Logos at the top of the towers. Arasaka regional offices around the world follow the same pattern with their buildings looking almost identical. The lobby of the building is stylish and spacious and features a mix of modern and contemporary Japanese styling. The Tokyo HQ houses the current CEO Kei Arasaka as well as the executive Vice Presidents, the board of directors, and other various officials. The Tokyo tower alone employees upwards of fifteen thousand employees.

R&D Installation
The R&D Installation is in the northern part of Honshu, Japan. The Research and Development Installation is a secretive facility where only the most sensitive of research is carried out. Situated here are five Microtech SPARTA supercomputers backing up the entirety of the Arasaka company database. The facility is comprised of three large nondescript buildings in the middle of an 5000 acre compound. The compound is sat on the coast, which was purchased by Arasaka after the collapse in the 1990s. Underground features a huge sprawling complex that links the sites together.

Arasaka Weapons Factories
The Arasaka weapons factories are located in a heavily secured 500 acre area of Yokohama in the Tokyo bay. There are three factories to be precise, all with their own specialty.

Arasaka Family Compound
The Arasaka Family Compound has been in the Arasaka family for many years. It is situated on twenty acres of land, just outside of Tokyo. This impregnable fortress was built in the style of feudal Japan and acts as a headquarters for Saburo Arasaka and his family. The twenty acres is divided up by the main house, a gymnasium, Shinto shrine, a cherry grove garden and an Osprey landing pad.

Kendachi
Kendachi is a Japanese advanced arms manufacturer located in Osaka. Noted products include flamethrowers and monoblades. Often criticized for their lack of quality control and has been on the “Worst Consumer Friendly Companies List” for six years in row.

Kiroshi
Kiroshi is a cybernetics company that specializes in optics'''. '''Founded by Toyatomi Fujimura in Nagoya Japan. Their cybernetics have been often praised by medical personal from around the world stating “Kiroshi is the family friendly safe company, that offers great affordable products for everyone to enjoy. Not only for enhancements, but also for saving the lives of millions worldwide.” Kiroshi does not specialize in military optics or weapons of any kind.

Headquarters
The Headquarters Asahi Rem Tech is in Saitama, Japan; and consist of three buildings with the one in the middle appropriately named “Asahi Skytree” which stands as tall as the Tokyo Skytree. With no other buildings in Saitama coming close to the height of the towers, it stands out as a huge dominating force in the sky. Neon signs surround the structures and there are very few widows on the main building. Asahi’s regional offices around the world all have distinct looks from one another usually only one building or in Los Angeles case two buildings that connect. The lobby of the smallest building is stylish and spacious and features a mix of modern and contemporary Japanese styling. It is also the only one that allows visitors. While the second tallest houses the employees, and the “Asahi Skytree” is the main HQ. The Saitama HQ houses the current CEO Honda Kairi as well as the executive Vice Presidents, the board of directors, and other various officials. The Tokyo tower alone employees upwards of eleven thousand employees.

Asahi Rem Tech Cybernetics Factories
The Asahi Rem Tech factories are located in a heavily secured 500-acre area of Namie, Fukushima. There are five factories to be precise, all with their own specialty in hardware.

Asahi Rem Tech Sapporo Branch
In the Sapporo branch of the company is a science building developed to test out the latest new inventions in secret. It’s located near the Ishikari River and is only around eight floors of testing grounds. It’s heavily guarded at all times by special Arasaka Spider Bots that patrol the gate into the facility. The CEO is actually a tech engineer Mark J. Straighthold from New Zealand.

Toyoma
Toyoma is a vehicle manufacturer company that specializes in self driven cars. They tend to be very expensive and only first class citizens seem to be able to afford them. The Toyoma headquarters is located in Minato City, Tokyo. However it has many factories around Japan.

Neo Fuji Corp
Neo Fuji Corp is a Japanese company that focus on the reconstruction of Japan's major cities. Established in 2030 by Itsuo Ogawa as a contingency plan if Tokyo was ever to be destroyed. While never being needed to reconstruct the city, it's helped re-establish Japan in it's desperate times

Society
Japan is a highly urbanized society, with 90% of the people living in urban city landscapes. There are many big cities filled with skyscrapers and neon lights. The royalty still continues, rich people, middle class, and the poor. The people utilize a lot of high tech that is developed domestically. Japan has an ancient culture with many traditions. Etiquette, punctuality and harmony is important. Traditionally Japanese culture favors group thought and not individual ideals, however this concept is constantly tested. Despite the Japan often being own for very little crime, Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya see much crime due to the influx of foreigners and receives terrorist attacks due to its country thriving. Japan becoming the biggest superpower in the world has also brought the citizens work harder to maintain their current status.

Tokyo - 57 million
Tokyo (東京 Tōkyō), officially Tokyo Metropolis (東京都 Tōkyō-to), is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. It has served as the Japanese capital since 1869, its urban area housing the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government. Tokyo forms part of the Kantō region on the southeastern side of Japan's main island, Honshu, and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. It has remained the cultural center of the country and has had an influx of foreigners raising it's population to 57 million people. It is also home to the Arasaka and Asahi Rem Tech corporations.

Osaka - 31 million
Osaka (Japanese: 大阪市 Hepburn: Ōsaka-shi, commonly just 大阪, Ōsaka) is a designated city in the Kansai region of Japan. It is the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and the largest component of the Keihanshin Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Japan and among the largest in the world with more than 31 million inhabitants. Osaka was traditionally considered Japan's economic hub. By 2035 it was relatively untouched by other countries which has led it to expand into a great city with little crime to be seen, despite the yakuza syndicate's presence. People from Osaka are less formal and more down to earth than the rest of Japan.

Kyoto - 3.12 million
Kyoto ( 京都 Kyōto), officially Kyoto City (京都市 Kyōto-shi), is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. As of 2045, the city had a population of 3.12 million. Kyoto is the center for Japanese tradition in the country. Little advancement has kept Kyoto a beautiful traditionally styled city with most buildings being made of wood. There are very little foreigners that come to Kyoto due to the lack of cybernetic enhancements and cyberware. It also has the largest percentage of people without cybernetic enhancements at 47%.

Nagoya - 4.19 million
Nagoya (名古屋) is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is Japan's fourth-largest incorporated city and the third-most-populous urban area. It is located on the Pacific coast on central Honshu. It is the capital of Aichi Prefecture and is one of Japan's major ports along with those of Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Yokohama, Chiba, and Kitakyushu. It is also the center of Japan's third-largest metropolitan region, known as the Chūkyō metropolitan area. As of 2040, 4.19 million people lived in the city, part of Chūkyō Metropolitan Area's 12.01 million people. It is also one of the 25 largest urban areas in the world. It also houses many factories used for cyberware manufacturing, defensive manufactures, and vehicle manufactures.

Sapporo - 2.23 million
Sapporo (札幌市 Sapporo-shi) is the fifth largest city of Japan by population, and the largest city on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. As of 2045, 2.23 million people lived in the city. It is the capital city of Hokkaido Prefecture and Ishikari Subprefecture. It is an ordinance-designated city. Located in the southwestern part of Hokkaido, Sapporo lies within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary stream of the Ishikari River. Sapporo is also home to the third tallest building in Japan, the other two being the "Arasaka Tower" in Osaka and "Tokyo Skytree" in Tokyo. A base is located north of the city to ensure protection in case of a Soviet Union invasion.

Timeline
This is the timeline of events related to Japan in cyberpunk. It's based on information from all the officially published Cyberpunk 2013 and Cyberpunk 2020 rule books and sourcebooks.

1800s

 * Sasai Arasaka is born in the mid-to-late 1800's.
 * The Arasaka Corporation is founded sometime in the late 1800's.

1910

 * 1919
 * Saburo Arasaka is born.

1940

 * 1942
 * Saburo Arasaka is heavily wounded in combat. He is medically discharged from the Imperial Japanese Navy and returns home to Tokyo.
 * 1945
 * World War 2 ends.
 * Saburo Arasaka attempts suicide on the day of the Japanese surrender.

1960

 * 1960
 * Sasai Arasaka dies.
 * Saburo Arasaka assumes control of the Arasaka Corporation and immediately creates its security division to undertake black operations.

1980

 * 1980
 * Kei Arasaka is born.

1990

 * 1992
 * Arasaka, EBM and Petrochem fund the creation of Coronado City.
 * 1995
 * Yorinobu Arasaka is born.
 * 1996
 * Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution is scrapped by Arasaka backed politicians.
 * The United States Military withdraws from Japan and Korea.
 * The Bald Hill political scandal occurs in Japan and 60% of politicians were arrested for bribery charges.
 * 1997
 * The Yasubisu Affair occurs. 24 French Police officers are killed by Arasaka Security when attempting to arrest a high level executive.
 * 1999
 * Hanako Arasaka is born.

2000

 * 2001
 * The Japan Aerospace Bureau is established.
 * Australia reforms as the Federal Republic of Australia. Western Australia declares independence after rejecting the new government, they are backed by Arasaka.
 * 2008
 * Taiwan declares independence with the assistance of the Arasaka Corporation.

2010

 * 2013
 * Emperor Showa-Tenno dies and Emperor Shinka-Tenno ascends the throne in Japan.
 * 2014
 * Emperor Shinka-Tenno is removed from power in Japan.
 * 2015
 * Japan is removed from the EEC.
 * Japan establishes the New Yen currency.
 * The Yen War begins in Europe, with Germany aiming to limit international corporations in Europe.
 * 2016
 * Water riots begin in Australia. Arasaka funds construction of a desalination plant.
 * 2017
 * Arasaka discovers precious natural deposits under a facility in Africa. Militech supports the native population in removing Arsaka, they fail and Arasaka buy the rights to the land.
 * 2019
 * Emperor Jinkyoku-Tenno ascends the throne in Japan.

2020

 * 2025
 * NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Bureau launch a joint mission to Saturn.
 * 2022
 * The start of the Fourth Corporate War as tensions between Arasaka and Militech explode into a shooting war.
 * 2025
 * The Fourth Corporate War has ended. The national government of Japan nearly collapsed because of the conflict. To save national face, Arasaka is repudiated. Arasaka has been greatly reduced and for the next decade, remains a Japan-only corporation.
 * 2026
 * Turk Leon Hagar offered to be the first member of the "S.A.R.O. organization" an elite group of personal that abide by no laws and answer directly to the Governor. Dispatched to Japan to search for a potential terrorist group attempting to destroy Tokyo's government building.
 * Asahi Rem Tech becomes a major corporate power in Japan and branches out to other parts of the world.