For Want of A Sandwich - A Franz Ferdinand Lives Wikibox TL
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Ryukyuan Revolution
The Ryukyuan Revolution was a peaceful uprising in the Ryukyu Archipelago that happened amid the 1987 Japanese Revolution, that resulted in the restoration of the Ryukyu Kingdom and the independence of the country from Japan.
Formerly a vassal kingdom of the Empire of Japan, forming integrant part of Japan since the Meiji Era, the Ryukyus nevertheless managed to develop a distinct cultural identity in spite of Japanese colonialism. What was felt as cultural obliteration resulted in the burgeoning of a Ryukyuan separatist movement, following the repression of the 1970 Okinawa Riots ; heavily influenced by Tolstoyism, Ryukyuan nationalists maintained a non-violent opposition, resulting in numerous sit-ins and peaceful vigils, heavily repressed by the Japanese military. Okinawan leader Tatsuhiro Oshiro, an award-winning author, exiled himself to California and promoted Ryukyuan identity, stressing that it could be easily merged with the Japanese culture.
In the aftermath of the downfall of the Empire of Japan, Ryukyuan nationalists took to the streets and heavily protested during Summer 1987, refusing to draw blood and peacefully parading throughout the many islands of the Archipelago ; Oshiro returned from exile and made his best to persuade Japanese nationals that an hypothetic Ryukyuan independent country would not mean their expulsion from Japan ; as a result, experienced politician Masahide Ota joined the protests and pushed Oshiro to proclaim an independent Republic of the Ryukyus, with the former as Prime Minister and the latter as President. The Japanese military garisson had been sent back to the Home Islands to quell down protests, civilians accepted the prospect of a stable independent country without the violence that had happened in Formosa, Korea or China, and the Japanese government was too busy dealing with chaos to repress Ryukyuan independence.
On March, 13 1988, the Ryukyuan Revolution was completed with the adoption of a Constitution, reestablishing a monarchy : the heir to the last Kings of the Ryukyus, Sho Hiroshi, who had lived in Tokyo for his own life and didn’t even spoke Okinawan, was designated as King, succeeding Oshiro. Ota would rule as Prime Minister until 2007. The Ryukyuan Constitution proclaimed both Okinawan and Japanese as its official languages and stressed upon the physical integrity and freedom of its residents, basing Ryukyuan citizenship on both jus soli and jus sanguinis.
The peacefulness and smoothness of the Ryukyuan Revolution was heralded throughout the world, particulary in light of the protests that happened in Japan, Russia and South Africa, and the Ryukyuan Kingdom had been hailed as a model state of peaceful coexistence, even if recent governments stressed their support for the use of Okinawan language and revival of the Ryukyuan folk religion over respectively Japanese and Shinto.
Ryukyu Standoff
The Ryukyu Islands Incident (also known as the Ryukyu Standoff) was a naval standoff between China and Japan, that happened in the vicinity of the Ryukyu Kingdom, that lasted from 21 July 1995 to 23 March 1996.
Newly returning Japanese Prime Minister Shintaro Ishihara, an proud Pyrist, had promised for his country to turn back to its past glory and dispatched Japanese Navy battleships to the Ryukyu Archipelago, that had been newly independent since 1987 and had been part of Japan for more than a century. The Ryukyus had always been heavily influenced by neighbouring China, and Ishihara claimed that Chinese plans were to eventually annex the islands. The Chinese Navy dispatched their own vessels to the Ryukyus, fearing that the small kingdom would meet the same terrible fate than the Republic of Ezo the year prior.
The resulting standoff, even if it was believed as the time to be a close call for an all-out China-Japan war, saw no shot fired : Ishihara believed it to be a test for the resolve of China against Japanese resurgence, while Chinese President Wen Jiabao prefered to concentrate upon the Formosa and Hong Kong questions, all the while protecting Ryukyuan independence. In the immediate aftermath of the bombing of Formosa, the Ryukyu Governement allowed the standoff to stop by proclaiming its absolute neutrality in Asian affairs, abstaining itself from rejoining the Asian Prosperity Sphere.
Both sides considered the result as a victory, Shintara viewing it as evidence of Chinese weakness, China as a direct confrontation easily avoided. As of the Ryukyus, they continued to fear Japanese irrendentism, and they would eventually join the Sphere in 2001.
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Mamoru
Mamoru (born 18 August 1950 in Tokyo, Japan) has been King of the Ryukyus since August, 30 1996, succeeding his father Hiroshi as the second regnant monarch of the Asian archipelago since its independence in 1987.
The great-great-grandson of Tai, the last King of the Ryukyu Kingdom before its annexation by Japan in 1872, nothing would have expected Sho Mamoru to become one day a reigning head of state. After his family had been deprived of their demesne during the Meiji era, they accepted themselves into Japanese nobility, bearing the title of Marquess and serving, as his father did, in the Japanese Imperial Navy. Nevertheless, the Sho family soon became embroiled in the Ryukyuan Revolution, after the Empire had been thrown apart in the Home Islands; after the independence was proclaimed in 1987, acting President Tatsuhiro Oshiro went to see Sho Hiroshi and asked him to claim his birthright as the rightful monarch of the Ryukyus. Even if he had always been faithful to the Chrysantheum Throne, and his ancestors before him, Hiroshi, aged 70, guessed that the family's future didn't look so bright in the new Japanese Republic, and he accepted, adopting the title of constitutional monarch on March, 13 1988. He would reign for less than six years and a half before passing away, leading Mamoru to take his succession.
King Mamoru was not a native speaker of Ryukyuan, but has tried his best to enforce his constitutional role and duties, letting his Prime Ministers hold executive power, in the contrary of his former Japanese overlords ; the office of King of the Ryukyus is an enormous advantage for the young country, giving them a legitimacy that many post-Sphere of Coprosperity countries would desire.
I hope these few updates will quench your thirst...Add me to the list of people who want to see something about Japan
Something along 70 % Muslim, 15 % Hindu and 15 % Sikh, as the large presence of Muslim refugees from neighbouring Bharatavarsha and Kashmir helped to tilt the balance in favor of Islam these last decades. Why do the Sikhs are still the reigning people in Khalistan, going so far as to have the Guru Granth Sahib, their only book, hold the position of perpetual Head of State ? The Sikhs took the British side during the Indian War of Independence as they feared persecution from Hindus and Muslims, and nominal control over Punjab when it came time to lay down arms. Still nowadays, the Sikhs form the elite of the country, holding tremendous power within military, diplomacy, law, police, press and all fields of government and power. Yet, since 1987, freedom of cult and peaceful coexistence have been big deals in Khalistani society, even if many fear, given the situation in Kashmir, that the powerkeg would soon explode once more in Punjab. However, the zealots in Bharatavarsha and Islamist terrorism act as quite effective foils.
How did Tokyo metro area manage to gain independence? Did central government completely collapse?
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Hokkaido and Ryhkyu both gain independence? Is there some sort of civil war erupted after the revolution?
Am I reading this wrong or is the largest city named after Hermann Goering himself? Also, what is the OTL location of Goering, then?
Civil war, no. But the Japanese Empire didn't go with a whisper, that's for sure.
This one, yes. The Germans didn't like too much the name "Fort-Lamy" and decided to honour it with the name of a former prestigious colonial administrator.
What "achievements" did Goering have ITTL as a colonial administrator?
How dare you ! General Göring was a war hero and he practically built from scratch German administration in Kongo, Morocco, Kamerun, Tsingtao and Madagascar. Without him in place, we would have never used these Askaris to fight in the World War.
Yeah, he spent most of his time on safaris with his fellow war buddies and extremist politicians from the homeland, so what ? Who didn't do that ?
He scorned upon the Natives, gunned down rebellions, deported and forcibly settled tribes, exploiting them to the death, but again, that's the German way.
Well, he embezzled funds and made a huge personal profit from the mines in Katanga, but...
HE WAS A WAR HERO !