Japan

Beneath the mountain. Cherry trees are blossoming forth. My soul is at peace.

"Japan is not a place which can be controlled by foreigners, for the Japanese are neither so weak nor so stupid a race as to permit this, and the King of Spain neither had nor ever could have any power or jurisdiction here."

– Alessandro Valignano

"Sign This Trade Agreement"

– Commodore Matthew C. Perry

Nihon or Nippon (日本, literally meaning sun origin, hence the common nickname "Land of the Rising Sun), known to foreigners as Wa, Yamatai, Jipon, Riben, Zipangu (plus a thousand spelling variants of that) and (most commonly nowadays) Japan is a country. It is a series of several thousand islands, the exact number of which depends both on the definition of "island" (minimum size) and if you ask them, or either the Russians or the Chinese. Despite the many islands, most of the population is centered on four main ones (Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku). It is nominally an Empire, but of the past thousand years an Emperor has held power beyond figurehead for less then 80 of them. Samurai, Ninja, Oni, Tengu, and Kitsune originate here. The most common religions (and those most likely to have analogs in a fantasy setting) are Shinto, various types of Buddhism and a Christian minority. Unlike many countries, the two major religions aren't entirely mutually exclusive, though no one would outright list their religion as "multiple". It is often said that the Japanese are born Shinto, marry Christian, and die Buddhist. Native systems include Maid RPG, Record of Lodoss War, Queen's Blade, and Zettai Reido as well as the CCGs Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Fire Emblem Cipher. The most popular game within the country however is, of all things, Call of Cthulhu. The manga Quick Start!! is also worth a mention.

Though in the west, Nippon is more often thought of as the native name of Japan, in reality the term Nihon is more commonly used. Nippon is generally seen as a more nationalistic term, for example when Japanese are cheering on their national sports teams, they would say "Nippon banzai". Additionally, the native name of the highly nationalistic Empire of Japan was Dai Nippon Teikoku (大日本帝国), The Great Japanese Empire.

Japanese History

Japan's history geographically spans several million years and thousands nationally/culturally, but most fiction (even native stuff) and /tg/ only care about the following periods starting at the fairly late 1467. (with occasional rare forays into the Heian period).

• Paleolithic Period (pre 13000 BC) - time when first Homo sapiens entered Japan on watercraft. Due to bad fossilization conditions not much is known (less than in other places to be precise), but remnants of some tools are present here.

• Jōmon Period (縄文時代) (13000 - 1000 BC) - Primitive hunter-gatherer societies on the archipelago abandon nomadism and start first promising developments, which are mostly characterised by a pretty impressive pottery that would make Ancient Greek jealous.

• Yayoi Period (弥生時代) (1000 BC - 250) - This period is marked by the first wave of Sino-Korean influence on Japan. Migrants from these countries with bronze and iron weapons gradually absorbed Jōmon and introduced many technologies, such as weaving, silk production and glassmaking. Japan went through the neolithic period, Bronze Age and Iron Age in a quick succession during this period. This is also the moment when Japan is first mentioned in Chinese sources as a semi-legendary land. Centralisation and unification of dozen petty Yayoi kingdoms in one country probably started here.

• Kofun Period (古墳時代) (250 - 538) - period of gradual (certain this time) unification of Japan under one semi-divine Emperor. Several royal dynasties (such as Izumo and current Yamato) competed for power, absorbed their rivals and allies by promising them a place in the government and also used Chinese and Korean help. Named after Kofun (古墳, ancient graves), large keyhole-shaped burial mounds which were built during this time.

• Asuka Period (飛鳥時代) (538 - 710) - Sometimes thrown together with the Kofun Period into Yamato Period (大和時代).Buddhism is introduced here. Besides that, now fully united Japan goes under the Taika Reforms, a series of reforms to strengthen the power of Emperors and weaken the power of local clans inspired by China's system. Japan also participates in the wars on the Korean peninsula as allies of one side but get beaten and driven out. It was during this period Japan also started using the term Nihon (日本) to refer to themselves, instead of the old Chinese name Wa (倭), which roughly translates as dwarf or submissive, hence why Japan understandably did not much like it. Japan also gradually started to resemble Japan that would be recognizable today.

• Nara Period (奈良時代) (710 - 794) - Here, shit got really baaad. Japan suffered a series of wildfires, famines, droughts, even several epidemics. Emperor's power was weakened by that and Yamato themselves were almost overthrown, and although it didn't happen, Fujiwara clan managed to turn the monarchs into their puppets. At least first truly Japanese books were created in that period.

• Heian Period (平安時代)(794 - 1185) - During this period, a distinctly Japanese culture started developing from the earlier Chinese Tang-influenced one. It is considered as somewhat of a high-point of Japan as culture and the imperial court were at their peak, though the shape of things to come could already be seen as the real power rested in the hands of the Fujiwara clan. The samurai (侍) also emerged during this time. Its end ushered the familiar fare of clans jockeying for the position of the shogun and thus true power in Japan.

• Kamakura Period (鎌倉時代) (1185 - 1333) - here, completely powerless Emperors truly became a puppet of military leaders called shogun. Japan went from a mighty centralised Empire inspired by China to a complete feudal mess much closer to Europe of that time. Emperor Go-Toba tried to restore the power in 1221, but was defeated, and for years any attempts at the restoration of absolute monarchy ceased. Also, Mongols tried to invade Japan here.

• Kenmu Restoration (建武の新政) (1333-1336) Started when an Emperor attempted to restore power and ruled for 3 years. Before angering the Samurai and ending up as a figurehead again. The last time the emperor would hold any real power over all of Japan until the 19th century.

• Muromachi Period (室町時代) (1336-1573) - Noted for being ruled under the Ashikaga shoguns and seeing a rise in the religious sect of Zen Buddhism, as well as political and educational reforms. Ashikaga was easily the weakest of the three shogunates as despite technically being in power for over 200 years, they held practical control of all of Japan for slightly over 50 years of it.

• Nanbokuchō Period (南北朝時代) (1336-1392) - Translating as the Northern and Southern Courts Period, during which Japan had two imperial courts, each claiming to be the one true court. While the Ashikaga Shogunate set-up a figurehead court in Kyoto, the emperor in charge of the Kenmu Restoration did not give up that easily, setting up a new imperial court in southern Japan in the city of Hoshino. In terms of warfare, preference for fighting on foot over horseback starts to gain prominence during this time. The period is notable as the time when large weapons such as the Odachi, the Japanese greatsword, and Kanabo, the Japanese warclub, were popular. The katana was also introduced during this time, as the older tachi proved less effective when fighting on foot instead of horseback. The period would end with the southern court merging into the northern court. Despite this, 20th century Japan would eventually recognize the southern court as the legitimate court of the country during this time, thanks to it's possession of the imperial regalia. Ironic, considering that todays imperial court is descended from the nourthern court.

• Sengoku Period (戦国時代) (~1467 - 1600) - Arguably the most well-known part of Japanese history. A succession crisis over who will become the next shogun, the man who really held power in Japan. Eventually devolves into everyone wanting the pie for himself. A notable aspect of this period was the rise of the ashigaru (足軽, footlight), peasant footsoldiers who would do most of the fighting during this period, while before fighting was primarily done by the warrior class, the samurai. While this era lasted for almost 150 years, most only care about the last 40 (1560 onward) or so (known as the Azuchi-Momoyama Period (安土桃山時代), when defacto unifier Oda Nobunaga began his rise to power and enough Europeans visited to document the happenings as a neutral enough third party. Everything before this is regarded as a bunch of stalemates for the most part. Gun spam was popular at the last part of this era, leading to the country having more guns per capita than anywhere else in the world at the time and the development of tactics that would last up till the introduction of the metallic cartridge. Near the end of the conflict one of the largest powers led an invasion of the Korean peninsula (again) which ended in a stalemate and withdrawal (since these forces had more important things to do back home). Both sides are still butthurt about it to this day, especially thanks to the a repeat during World War II.

• Edo Period (江戸時代) (1600-1868) - After the reunification of the land a long period of peace ensued. A few decades into this however a brief Christian rebellion led to the expulsion of foreigners and began the sakoku ("closed state") dictate where minimal outside trade occurred. However, there was still some progress during the seclusion - agricultural tech got advanced and the population markedly increased, Japanese intellectuals like Motoori Norinaga began pondering what it meant to be truly Japanese (apparently it was haiku) and the trade with the Dutch at Nagasaki slowly introduced western learning and science to Japan. This seclusion would last till July 8th 1853 when an American fleet led by Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Edo to forcibly re-open trade. This set off a widespread division and panic in the government on what to do, leading to the last 15 years of the period being called Bakumatsu (幕末, end of the shogunate). The period is where many of the myths concerning the samurai come from, as not having any wars to fight allowed the samurai to go really deep into thinking what being a warrior is all about and meant they would mostly go around carrying only swords, not bows, guns or polearms.

• Meiji Period (明治時代) (1868-1912) - In 1868-1869 the boy who would become known as Emperor Meiji took advantage of this panic to seize power back from the shogunate in a relatively short and bloodless war. Under his rule the country would refuse to bend over and become a colony like many non-industrialised nations at the time had. It quickly modernized, abolished the caste system, replacing the samurai with a conscript army, and became a world power onto itself. The era is generally seen as a time when the western influences were at odds with Japanese traditions, many of which were perceived as backwards only to be glorified again a few decades later. In 1894-95 Japan would crush China in the Sino-Japanese war and establish itself as the dominant power in Asia. 1904-1905 they would crush Russia in a totally unexpected victory, something that really got them noticed, as for the first time, an Asian power won against an European great power. During this time, Japan adopted the system of one era per Emperor, where they would divide this and future periods of their history by the reigning emperors. As a result, this era ended with Meiji's death in 1912.

• Battle of Tsushima (対馬沖海戦) (27-28 May 1905) - Deserves a special callout as one of the most decisive moments in Japanese national history as well as naval history. In an utterly one sided rout, the IJN sunk 143k tons of Russian ships, including 6 battleships, for the loss of 3 torpedo boats. It was the last time in history where a fleet was forced to strike their colors and surrender at sea. The Russian admiralty wasn't exactly all that to begin with but even so the totality of the defeat stunned the world. Fear of a costly repeat is why WW1 saw so few naval battles, now that everyone fully understood the power of the dreadnought navy. This victory however influenced the Japanese naval planning to such an extent that despite being among the first to embrace the aircraft carrier, they still imagined that any future naval war would be decided with a single decisive battle fought between battleships and end with the whole enemy fleet either sunk or surrendering at sea, leading them to build the largest battleships in history which ultimately basically did nothing.

• Taishō Period (大正時代) (1912-1926) - The rule of his son till 1926. Largely seen as a period of stability following the rapid change of the Meiji era. This period is also seen as a time when Japan was experimenting with democracy, seeing the rise of a number of political parties that would eventually be pushed to near-irrelevance once the army junta took sufficient hold on power. The country's entry into World War I is the main thing of note here. During the war the Japanese navy dominated the pacific. This showed the victory in the Russo-Japanese war wasn't a fluke which scared the shit out of the rest of the world. Also, Einstein visited Japan in 1922 during his world tour and liked it (especially the women).

• Shōwa Period (昭和時代) (1926-1989) - The rule of his son. Best known for the country's role in World War II. The politics became increasingly influenced by the military and the "evil customs" of the past (aka. Shinto, Samurai and Bushido) returned in a forceful but arguably corrupted manner. While this era would last up till the Emperor's death in 1989 (as per the one era per emperor system), the country was radically different before and after it's defeat in 1945. Before it's defeat, Japan was one of the most militaristic countries in the world, with a propaganda machine that made it's soldiers fanatical to the extreme. The shogun and the samurai were long gone but the emperor was again largely a figurehead, with real power in the hands of the military. Despite this, state propaganda made the emperor seem like a godlike being which proved essential in country's eventual surrender as the Emperor himself admitted defeat (or rather, as he put it, "the war has not necessarily gone in Japan's favor"). After the war, the American occupiers allowed the emperor to stay in power, though again as a figurehead, thinking it would be easier to keep the population under control that way. They would write a new constitution for Japan, with particular emphasis on article 9, which has Japan denounce war as it's sovereign right. Thanks to the US needing a bulkhead against communist China and the industriousness of the people, Japan recovered quickly and sprang up to be the second most powerful economy on the planet before crony capitalism and financial speculation brought it all down in the 90s.

• • As an unfortunately necessary side-note, this period also stenched up the history of Japan that haunts it with historical baggage and unresolved issues right until the present day. Long story short the Japanese managed to combine a racial inferiority complex coupled with a near-constant need to "catch-up" to the West with a fanatical militarist ideology (State Shinto + "Neo-bushido") AND a belief that they are the only valid paragons of asiatic civilization since China was conquered by the "barbarian" Manchus (who were originally not Sinic but Tungusic and thus not "true" Chinese) piled on top of all the stuff before. The result was a rather batshit Imperial Japan that went around Asia committing crimes that put them as bona fide runner-ups to Nazis as the most fucked up fascistic regime. Japan today has done away with most of the bullshit of the 20th century but there are still sore spots like treatment of minorities and all but open denial of various war crimes (japanese apologies boil down to "we are sorry that we did things 50-60 years ago and we will leave it at that, sayonara"). Like in Europe, everything from the 1930s to 1940s is SKUB SUPRA MAXIMUS so feel free to educate yourself on it but don't go into detail here, please.

• Post-War Heisei and Reiwa periods (平成時代, 令和時代) (1989-20XX) - Beyond this Japan is just another first-world country for /tg/ purposes. The two most acute issues Japan is facing are the demographic decline (over 1/4 of the population is 65 or older) and the threat of rising China, although as of the 2020s there seem to be some signs of a intra-country political shakeup with the consequences remaining to be seen. Article 9 also proved to be somewhat of a mistake for the US in the long run, as Japan would turn from one of US's greatest enemies to one of their greatest allies. Very little non-native fiction has modern Japan as it's primary setting, though it is a stock foreign destination. Japan is however a relatively high priority country for games set in the "real world but..." to explain the differences from reality of. The exception is the Cyberpunk genre, where Japan dominates the world culturally and financially since at the time of the genre's origins it was believed that Japan would achieve economic conquest of the world in the future and despite the Lost Decade and other economic setbacks it remains as a tradition of the genre.

Japanese Culture

Japan has, over the span of almost 2000 years, developed an unique blend of Chinese, Korean and (most recently) Western culture, mixed with their own stuff on top of THAT. There is no single defining characteristic that can describe it, but important elements are - honor, dedication to what one does, family/clan, industriousness and hierarchy. Some of these, such as emphasis on honor and family have been somewhat eroded by modern times, but others like loyalty to one's family/clan/corporation and deference to authority/hierarchy still endure.

One particularity of the Japanese culture is how its language was adapted to the social hierarchy. Japanese language has "politeness levels" - different ways of pronunciation and speaking reserved for those both above and below you on the social ladder. Though in itself complex, the levels can be roughly divided into 3 categories - how you'd speak to your junior/trainee/younger sibling, your equal/coworker/brother&sister and your superiors/bosses/parents&grandparents. At its core it's not that dissimilar form how you'd speak in English in a western setting (you wouldn't address your boss like you would your friend and vice-versa).

Another cultural note is that the Emperor is still highly revered in Japan culture. In the same way that Americans hate desecration of their flag, the people of Japan do not tolerate disrespect of the Emperor. Case in point: The mayor of Nagasaki was nearly assassinated in 1990 for criticizing the Emperor.

Starting from about the 70s, a major cultural trope that developed in Japan is the Kawaisa (可愛さ) or "the culture of cute". It's the reason why you see so much cutesy stuff in public broadcasts, flyers, iconography and in general culture. The phenomenon is not without it's detractors within Japan however as it drew flak for supposedly "infantilising" the population, suppressing assertiveness and/or enforcing same-think. Still, for better or worse one can expect tons of cute shit from every direction when visiting the major metropolises of Japan.

Japanese Religion, Gods and Mythology

see also: Mythology

Japanese people have always had a tendency to assimilate stuff from other cultures, most notably China and Korea. Their religion reflect this as they can be said to have "2+1" traditional religions - Shintoism, Buddhism and Christianity. Shintoism is the oldest and effectively the true native religion, being a blend of animism (meaning that all objects & creatures have a spiritual essence and worship is tied to specific places where said spirits reside) and nature/ancestor worship. Buddhism was introduced in 6th century from Korea and tended to blend with Shinto. Christianity is the youngest of the three, having been introduced by St. Francis Xavier in 16th century, it flourished for a time but a combination of distrust, European intrigues and peasant rebellions had the authorities ban it until the late 19th century.

Here are some of the more known terms and critters from the mythology and beliefs of the Japanese:

• Yokai - General term for fantastical creatures, spirits and demons that roamed Japan in elden times, maybe. Are distinguished by several characteristics such as true form (human, animal, plant), source of mutation/change (spiritual, mundane, natural, reincarnation) and external appearance (human, animal, plant, object, natural phenomenon etc.). As a fun side-note according to some folk beliefs the Yokai really dislike electricity so their absence or hiding is sometimes attributed to the rise of technology in the modern world.

• Tengu - Martial beings resembling winged humanoids that were initially thought to take the forms of birds of prey or monkeys and can be traditionally depicted with human, monkey and avian characteristics. Sarutahiko Ōkami is considered to be the original model of Konoha-Tengu (a supernatural creature with a red face and long nose), which is today widely considered the Tengu's defining characteristic in popular imagination.

• Kitsune - One of the most famous and recognised Yokai, often depicted as foxes or monstergirls with fox tails (anywhere between one tail and nine). They possess supernatural magical abilities that increase as they get older and wiser which is indicated by their tail number increasing until they become low-level demigods. They are also closely associated with the kami Inari as her messengers.

• Tanuki/Bake-danuki - Known as Japanese Racoon Dog to weebstern barbarians, they are real animals but also appear as mischievous spirits who often troll people just to make them look like fools. They use a wide array of disguises to achieve this and are sometimes described as even willier than the Kitsune. Oh and they also have xboxhuge testicles which they may sling over their shoulders and/or use as drums...yeah.

Mind the claws and lvl5 necromancy.

• Oni - This big red lug could be described as Japan's ogres or trolls. Taking the appearance of a huge humanoid with bovine horns and red skin often wielding a Kanabo. They were initially seen similarly to the aforementioned ogres and trolls as brutish and evil giants but over time morphed into "noble demon" protectors. One of the most well known stories is a surprisingly wholesome tale of a Red Oni who wanted to befriend humans and Blue Oni who pretended to attack a human settlement so that Red could be seen as "saving" it and thus be accepted among humans.

• Nekomata - The OG furry/nekomimi catgirls of Japan. Described as shape-shifting cats who were kept for too long and have sprouted twin tails and gained many supernatural abilities. Alas, this monster girl was on the asshole side of the spectrum and was associated with death and necromancy, but as any neckbeard worth their salt knows that's just a tsundere waiting to open up and be loved. Beware of the claws however.

There are also a handful of particular gods of note which have shrines in their honor. The four below constitute the bulk of the shinto shrines in Japan, each having at least ten thousand existent shrines.

• Amaterasu - The Sun Goddess of Japan and mythical origin of the Imperial line. Shinmei shrines are dedicated to Amaterasu.

• Hachiman - Embodied in Emperor Ōjin, Hachiman is a Budda-like figure and of great importance to the Samurai. Hachiman's domain is over enterprises of skill, particularly war, archery, and fishing, and the guardian of the Imperial house.

• Inari - Indelibly associated with foxes and the red torii gates of Inari shrines. Inari is the patron of agriculture, fertility, and prosperity in general. Understandably, there are more shrines devoted to Inari than any other single kami, over thirty thousand.

• Tenjin - The kami of Sugawara no Michizane, one of Japan's most famous ancient poets. Tenjin is the patron of scholars, and shrines in his honor are ubiquitous (and very busy) near colleges. Making an offering to Tenjin before taking a major test (particularly admissions tests) is practically a rite of passage.

Japanese Magic

Japanese have their own traditional form of magic and it can be grouped in two broad categories.

The first one is Kotodama or "soul of language" and it is basically using the true-name type of magic to the extreme. Using specific sounds, it was believed that one could influence objects, environment, body and the soul itself. This is something they inherited from exposure to Buddhism and is common across the far east; if you've seen Kung Fu Hustle or Dune ("Some thoughts have a certain sound. That being equivalent to a form...") you have the basic idea.

The second comes in the form of Japanese witches. Unlike western ones which were said to derive their powers form the Devil, the Japanese breed gained their prowess form forming pacts with fox familiars. Once a fox was bribed (oftentimes promised a steady supply of food and shelter) it would confer to their witch/wizard many powers, usually related to trickery and subterfuge. A fox could turn invisible and used for spying, create illusions to trick their enemies and most feared of all - posses another human being and make them do their bidding. While lone foxes being aided were often benevolent, if one was employed by a human, they were almost always used for nefarious purposes.

Self Defense Force

After World War II, Japan was hated and feared by the Allied Powers, and unlike West Germany it was not seen as a critical barrier to Soviet invasion. As such Japan was forced to adopt a constitution that prohibited an army, navy or air force and renounced the right to belligerency. As the Cold War heated up, NATO realized Japan was critical to preventing Communist dominance of the Pacific. Accordingly Japan was able to exploit a loophole and create a "self defense force" that was an army in all but name. Said Self-Defense Force, as the name implies, has full authority to deal with domestic threats like terrorists and pirates threatening Japanese shipping, but any sort of offensive or overseas actions are more rigidly controlled and require the cooperation of the United States, per the bilateral security treaty.

While not the latest tech, the JSDF's equipment is absolutely modern and contains plenty of armored vehicles. Their main rifle is the Type 89, a pretty straightforward AR-18 variant that uses STANAG (M16) magazines. Unlike the British AR-18 variant, the Type 89 actually works since 1: They had the original AR-18 specs (Howa was previously subcontractor for manufacturing the AR-18) instead of a crude copy by people who never used a firearm before 2: It wasn't built by workers who knew they were going to be fired immediately afterwards. Improvements like free-floating and optics mounting are considered, but budgetary concerns prevent adoption. In December 2019 it was announced such an upgrade would finally be adopted after winning a trial, but if that will actually occur is unknown.

By the numbers, the Maritime Self Defense Force is at worst a match for the Russian Federation's Pacific Fleet, though would be heavily outnumbered if the Arctic fleet or Baltic fleet reinforced them (reinforcements from the Black Fleet however are unlikely). While it technically has no aircraft carriers, the JMSDF has four "helicopter destroyers" (two Izumo-class, and two slightly older, shorter Hyuga-class) that were quite clearly designed with a conversion or variant that carries fixed wing aircraft in mind. The obviously intended conversion of the Izumo-class into proper aircraft carriers was announced in December of 2018 and caused more than a bit of butt-hurt in Korea. The rest of Japan's surface fleet consists mostly of destroyers in a variety of classes, most of which are derivatives of the USN's Arleigh Burke class, complete with the AEGIS system.

By the same post-war Constitution, Japan is expressly forbidden from having nuclear weapons, and their history with them makes the vast majority of the population OK with that. They do however have a large nuclear power industry (Or rather they did, before the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster made them think twice) and a space program, so there's no doubt they could easily make some and ICBMs to go with it if they wanted to, but they don't waste money on that when America already has got them covered.

As of 2022 due to the increasing global inskubility the JSDF had begun an extensive process of expanding it's capabilities with the Diet/LDP gunning for the total military spending of the country to reach 2% of GDP with 287 billion dollars to be allocated over a 5 year period. Other developments include the procurement of up to 500 Tomahawks from the USA and a converision of their one helicopter carrier to a fully fledged aircraft carrier among other things.

Why living in Japan sucks

Despite what Weeaboos would have you believe, living in Japan is not anime and cute waifus. Not only do they still treat minorities like shit (though some people may find that desirable), but their police force is also worse than any Western nation you can name and are utterly corrupt. A 99%+ conviction rate is impossible without at least a quarter of that being false testimonies. In Japan everything is expensive and just about everyone is underpaid, as this is what happens when you fetishize a business culture and without a bunch of crappy books written as fetish fuel by some Russian whore.

Like Meat? Love Taco Bell or hamburgers? Too bad, it costs way too much. Want to buy mecha models, figures or BluRay discs from your favorite anime? That too, is overpriced. Remember when we said that people are underpaid? Well, your favorite mango and animu artists are as well and are working themselves to death, for what barely counts as minimum wage. The idiots over 50 in the Diet and elsewhere then wonder why their birthrate is falling. The obvious answer is that if young people don't have money to own a home, they're not going to give a flying shit about making babies. Hell, the people who do want to start families oftentimes find that they can't do the nasty because they're still living with their parents and the walls are paper-thin (sometimes literally), so there's a whole industry of "love hotels" just so couples can actually find a place to do it.

Like drinking? Well... good for you. East Asian people can't hold their beer. Seriously. They lack the genes for aldehyde dehydrogenase, so they don't metabolize alcohol anywhere near as fast as Europeans and Africans do. For us, drinking a 12 pack of Busch in an afternoon is a bad habit, you should probably cut back; for them, that'd be once-in-a-lifetime blackout drunk.

Like guns? Too bad. Private gun ownership is almost non-existent. Even guns for hunting and competitive target shooting require purchase permits and those are on a may-issue basis. Ammo purchase and use must be logged and the police can drop by to audit your gun locker and ammo logbook. Self defense is not a valid reason for issue and your chances of owning a service caliber handgun are zero. The police all (except for SWAT and really senior detectives) use the New Nambu M60, a 5-shot S&W clone that wouldn't look out of place on The Andy Griffith Show, and they carry them around with rubber safeties wedged under the trigger. Silver lining: they let you have realistic model guns without the retarded orange barrel tip, because while corrupt the police can actually tell the difference between a real gun and a fake just by virtue of you being allowed to own it, unlike a certain "land of the free".

They were never 'de-imperialised' the same way the Germans were 'denazified' following the WWII, which goes some way to explain why the Chinese and both Koreas still hold grudges from the Second World War (despite the South Koreans and Japan sharing a sugar daddy powerful ally in the form of the United States), in a way that the Germany and Israel do not. If you have an older family member over the age of 50, they may still hold a grudge about this as well. Interestingly enough, Taiwan turns a blind eye over the issue (despite the official government being directly screwed by them) since they would rather focus its hate against the mainland communists and many have good memories of the island's modernization under Japan.

On top of all that is the fact that you are one of two nations that tend to get a front-row seat to the nuclear saber-rattling between the North Koreans and the Americans. Indeed, due to World War Two grudges, those sabers are often rattled at you. Additionally having so many U.S. bases means that if something ever does start between the U.S. and China, you are going to have a front row seat to that "World War Three push here to start button" even if you'd rather not. (It doesn't help that China holds grudges like a dwarf and while they may not want to attack their third largest trading partner, they won't shed any tears if they have to regardless of whether or not the U.S. maintains a presence on your islands.)

Lastly, with the incompetence of the (right wing) Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, the economy has been in a recession for over twenty thirty years (srs, wtf JPN). At this point the entire millennial generation of Japan has accepted the reality that they are simply screwed and that things won't get better, and that doomer mentality slowly seeps into every Japanese person born since the 90's as they get into their 20's. It's really not clear what Japan's economy needs to turn itself around, but without some changes it IS pretty clear that a lot of their young people don't and won't have stable jobs and having kids is becoming a luxury of the rich.

You don't have to live in Japan just because you love the country/culture, but if you absolutely must, be prepared for a lot of grueling language study (the Japanese have three alphabets and roughly three "politeness levels" that you must learn to properly nativise). Also, you better have an income of about 4-5k $ per month if you hope to live in one of the bigger cities and at least 7-8k$ if you plan on having a family. One often tried way to get in is by becoming an English teacher but for that you need college-level education and special training, because if there is one thing even detractors of Japan must admit it is that they are DEAD serious about the quality of their education.

Overall: Japan has issues, not insurmountable ones nor one totally unique to it, but they are perhaps more exacerbated then most other developed nations and certainly not helped by the geopolitics of the region. So, either prepare for a lot of sweat and blood or find yourself a japanese waifu at home and continue where the Portuguese left off wink.

Fun Facts and Moronic Misconceptions about Japan

• While honour was important to the samurai, the Bushido code varied between provinces, clans and eras. The samurai were no more obsessed about honour that the western knights were about "graeco-roman and judeo-christian values".

• Related to the above, guns were adopted and used readily until being banned by the Tokugawa Shogunate due to internal stability concerns, but the Japanese didn't go gung-ho crazy about their usage prior to that either.

• Okinawa was once and independent nation called Ryukyu Kingdom which was gradually annexed by Japan during Edo and Showa periods.

• Entering certain households and establishments with outdoor footwear is considered rude since you are basically bringing in crap from the street (use slippers or just go in with socks only).

• Weebs and Otakus were/are looked down upon in Japan just as Nerds and Geeks were/are in the west, the impression that Japan is friendly to these groups likely came from kawaiisa culture.

• Less than 10% of the Japanese speak English as of 2022. so you are more likely to hear fluent English from a digital toilet than a Japanese. While English is one of the most commonly learned second languages in Japan, few people get to use it to remain proficient, and many learn by converting English words to katakana (which also changes the word into Japanese-only syllables), which makes conversations between Japanese and native English speakers more difficult to understand.
  • The above English>Katakana is also slowly seeping into Japanese proper which may result in the Japanese language having increasing amount of English loanwords and phrases, possibly leading to "Jenglese".

• Japan as a country has over 15 names and variations thereof.

• No, most Japanese don't hate or even dislike foreigners that much (at least no more or less than many other ethnically homogenous countries). This is a complete misconception that stems from the following:
  • The Japanese culture values some level of emotional detachment/aloofness/stolidness when interacting with people that aren't part of one's family/close entourage. This, sadly, makes them come over as cold or unfriendly to people not used to it.
  • By the same token, they find tourists that behave more gregariously (like they're used in their own country) quite rude.
  • The media and Hollywood propagated some specific trope about Japan for almost a century now.
  • The Japanese government's shenanigans when it come to immigration attitudes.

Japan Analogs in Fantasy

• Nippon of Warhammer Fantasy
• The Tau Empire of Warhammer 40000
• Kozakura and Wa of Kara-Tur
• Jinin, The Forest of Spirits and Minkai of Golarion. Less direct analogs in the setting include Shokuro, Shenmen, and Chu Ye.
• Kamigawa of Magic the Gathering
• Rokugan from Legend of the Five Rings, though while culturally Japanese it takes great influence from many other Asian cultures.
• Wutai from Final Fantasy, the name of which is sometimes used as a byword for any fictional country in a fictional world with Asian characteristics.