However, once Nosaka-san passed away in 1993, the Communist government of northern Japan rapidly collapsed, and by 2000, Japan's four home islands were finally unified as a single country again. 
Today, there is much construction going in northern Japan, especially the long-dreamed of high-speed Shinkansen line from Tokyo to Sapporo. We were actually very fortunate that despite the sad and tragic use of prison labor, the tunnels for this new line from just west of Sapporo all the way to just north of Hakodate are essentially complete--Nosaka-san had them built between 1975 and 1993 as part of a very ambitious project to build a railway line from Sapporo all the way to northern Tokyo. It's only right now awaiting the opening of the Tsugaru Strait Tunnel, which just started running test trains recently.
And now, there is now talk of moving the government back to Tokyo, and the current Emperor--who ascended to the throne in 2015 after his father's passing--is studying the idea of moving the Imperial Palace back to Tokyo on the grounds of Edo Park (OOC: the OTL Imperial Palace grounds west of Tokyo Station).
Today, there is much construction going in northern Japan, especially the long-dreamed of high-speed Shinkansen line from Tokyo to Sapporo. We were actually very fortunate that despite the sad and tragic use of prison labor, the tunnels for this new line from just west of Sapporo all the way to just north of Hakodate are essentially complete--Nosaka-san had them built between 1975 and 1993 as part of a very ambitious project to build a railway line from Sapporo all the way to northern Tokyo. It's only right now awaiting the opening of the Tsugaru Strait Tunnel, which just started running test trains recently.
And now, there is now talk of moving the government back to Tokyo, and the current Emperor--who ascended to the throne in 2015 after his father's passing--is studying the idea of moving the Imperial Palace back to Tokyo on the grounds of Edo Park (OOC: the OTL Imperial Palace grounds west of Tokyo Station).