Cool, cool 
What are the smaller parties in the Diet? KMT is Kuomintang, from Taiwan? NKT are commies, right?
What are the smaller parties in the Diet? KMT is Kuomintang, from Taiwan? NKT are commies, right?-
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Cool, cool
Yep, NKT are commies and no, KMT is not the Kuomintang. I probably should've used another short hand, but they are the Komeito. The "totally not" front organisation of the Soka Gakkai. MST is the remains of the solo-liberals and IND is of course independents.
Right, thanks. I forgot, is Taiwan a full and equal part of the Empire? Do the Taiwanese get to elect anyone to the Diet?
IIRC Koreans don't. How is it with the Japanese citizens living abroad? In Manchuria or China or wherever? Can they take part in the elections, like by mail or at an embassy?
They are and they do indeed. The Taiwanese elect 5 members of the Diet and whilst the island has seen the rise of a few independent politicians, most of them have merged into the wider political system in the Empire.
I think I mentioned it before as well, but the right to vote is not necessarily tied to being Korean or Japanese, well it is but only so far as both are "Imperial Subjects" and the right to vote is limited to those people, living in the so-called Home Islands/"naichi". Those living outside of it do not have the vote for Diet members regardless whether they are Japanese or not. Ostensibly due to the fact that they don't reside in an electoral district and thus cannot vote. As a side note, the Japan of our world only began to accept overseas votes in 2000 and was only forced to accept them being able to vote for district MPs, not just proportional MPs, in 2007.
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And while Japan is embroiled in the Chinese quagmire, the Yankees extend their grip even further...
1965 - Black Veil (Part 2)
The scandal in Tokyo would not remain the last that year. Even as Kasumigaseki was labouring hard to work out legislation allowing for assemblies to dissolve themselves, young reporters put their ears to the ground and began listening. In truth, what they heard was nothing that had not been floating around some press club or another for some time now and by the 1960s all major Japanese political players had become rather adept at using reports to try and topple their rivals with the 'Shipbuilding Scandal' in 1956 being the most recent and successful application of it. Yet, most of these scandals went unmentioned or reported, barring major opportunities and power struggles within the system. Most older journalists were often fearful of being cut off from not only their information sources, often senior officials, but also the social networks they had built up in press clubs causing them to restrain themselves and act when told. Although true among parts of the new generation entering journalism, many there to shared the ideals of liberty as those protesting on campuses and in the streets. Despite this, many tried to sneak past the press barons that they worked for to pierce the 'Black Veil' that covered the backroom of Japanese politics few would prove successful. Despite their good instincts for stories, it would take more than just determination to get their stories past with those that refusing to drop stories often seeing less than comfortable foreign postings land on their tables. Instead those with guile and a bit of luck would succeed. Such as in the case of Arafune Seijūrō, the transport minister at the time. Beginning already in early April, the minister was in hot water over a statement that he had made to journalists that visited his house, boasting his ability to control the trains to benefit his constituents. As the crisis in Tokyo continued flaring calls to investigate his actions in the Diet became ever louder and in an attempt to avoid this Minister Arafune announced his resignation on the 3rd of May, following consultations with senior party officials. In a press conference addressing his resignation, the minister denied any wrong doing on his behalf, but called this a necessary step to return stability to government.
Although Arafune would never hold another cabinet position, he would maintain close ties with
Prime Minister Tanaka, whose eventual faction he would eventually back in exchange for benefits to his constituents.
Despite the best intentions of Arafune, his resignation would however not make things simpler for the ruling party as his subsequent regionalism in speeches to his constituents continued to baffle the media at large, which now felt a bit more free to print his sayings given that the cat was out of the bag and the man out of office. Despite reflecting negatively on the party, none of the leadership felt a particularly strong urge to call Arafune to order. Although senior party officials, as well as his own faction leader, did privately advise him to tune his statements down, none of them was willing to be responsible for rebuking him. Attempts by the various faction leaders to pressure the Prime Minister also proved unsuccessful, with Tanaka proving very headstrong in his reluctance to call the former minister to order given his own very strong regionalist tendencies. Due to this, as well as Taishūtō remaining surprisingly quiet on the subject, the burden of reaping the benefits from these indiscretions fell on the Kōmeitō as well as the Kyōsantō. Even though the two parties stood worlds apart, one a nominally Buddhist party standing for the Soka Gakkai and the other a Syndicalist organisation, the two would push hard on the subjects of clean government and attract quite a bit of support among idealists. They would not have to wait long for their next target, as the stabs into the veil now increasingly began to reveal what lay behind. On the 6th of June, Tanaka Shōji, no relation, with his closer associates and family were arrested on suspicion of illicit dealings with state land that were later revealed to have been sold to fund campaigning. In his role as head of the Audit and Administrative Committee of the House of Representatives, the Diet member had enjoyed a lot of control over the proceedings and thus deemed liable. Whilst initially arrested for just that case it later emerged that he had also been involved in numerous cases of blackmail and revealed to have rather deep links with the criminal underworld. In the investigations Arafune's name would once more surface, but later be discarded. The same luxury was not afforded to Tanaka, who was under police investigation. Hoping to save the party from being associated with such criminal affairs, Tanaka was expelled from the party following his arrest and convinced to retire from the House of Representatives on his own accord on the 30th of June.
A Niigata native like the Prime Minister, Tanaka's position as head of the Audit Committee gave him plenty of chances
to extort those people under investigation for his own profit, earning him the nickname Match-Pump Tanaka.
Even as the revelations arising from the investigation into the Tanaka case continued to amaze the public, as well as invite a number of demonstrations to Nagatachō, they would be met in kind. The revelations of a conservative, Tanaka, and a centrist, Arafune, as corrupt had made many with those leanings suspicious of the liberal wing of the Rikken Seiyūkai. Turning the usually quiet dog days into a media whirlwind, as buckets turned to sieves overnight with July seeing a number of lower ranking liberal Diet members, as well as bureaucrats of that leaning, being accused in articles of impropriety. The liberals responded in kind and the prime minister proved incapable of calling the party to order. In many ways, the political crisis has been later called a timed charade as it worked great in turning public attention away from the ongoing military crisis in China, which increasingly had the cabinet worried. The increased amount of Imperial soldiers in China had seen the casualty rates increase by almost 9 fold, in comparison to previous years, to say nothing of the Chinese troops despite their relegation to secondary roles. The Imperial Armed Forces had lost around 9000 men by May of 1965 alone. In comparison, in the preceding three decades that Japanese forces had been present in the Qing Empire, the casualties of the China Expeditionary Force had amounted to little over 20 000 men, which included those lost in the offensives of 1964. The growing casualty rates, along with the actions taken to make the public very aware of them, also began to worry military officials given that the casualty rates approached the most combat intensive months of the East Indies Revolt or the Australasian Intervention with seemingly no end in sight. In an attempt to combat public awareness, cabinet considered many possibilities yet few seemed truly appealing or explainable to the public. Thus
despite both conservatives and military officers voicing their displeasure at what they saw as the undermining of the traditions and fighting spirit of the Imperial Army as well as the policy of conscription, the Tanaka cabinet appeared before the Diet with a plan to introduce voluntary service across the Japanese held colonial territories, such as Korea, the parts of the Indonesian archipelago still under Japanese control or Tasmania. The conservatives continued making their displeasure heard in parliament and although the policy would pass, with the help of some Taishūtō members as well as an independent Diet member of Korean origin, rumours seemed to suggest that whilst they had lost the battle the conservatives would not give up the fight.
Japanese propaganda posters used to encourage the volunteers program in Korea. Although disguised under idealistic
imagery of unity, the volunteers more often than not remained segregated to their own units
and more often than not thrust into tasks deemed too dangerous for regulars.
Tanaka Kakuei and Satō Akiko, following Tanaka's fall he would increasingly attempt to gain control from behind the scenes.
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May
May 8 - Japanese forces in Manchuria capture Russian operatives acting under the guise of soldiers from Transamur with weapons and munitions thought to be headed for Korean guerillas in the Changbai mountains.
May 16 – Close to 5,000 Republican guerillas mount an attack on Linqing, overrunning its military headquarters and the adjoining militia compound. The guerillas are eventually beaten back by arriving Japanese forces.
May 27 – Internazionale beats Benfica 1–0 at Camp Nou, Barcelona and wins the 1964-65 European Cup.
May 29 – German astronaut Eberhard Eimler becomes the first human to walk in space after leaving his spacecraft for 12 minutes.
Despite their successes, the German space program had increasingly come under pressure for its exuberant spending.
June
June 1 - More than 200 people are killed and around 300 people gravely wounded in the Yamano coal mining explosion.
June 6 - The All-Japan Football League, the second national league of a team sport in the Japanese Empire, is founded. Just like the baseball league that preceded it, the league is highly tied to the zaibatsu, who own most of the teams and supply the players. The inaugural champions are the Hiroshima based Toyo Industries team, which wins 12 and ties 2 of the 14 matches they play.
June 18 - The Tanaka cabinet announces the Volunteers program, which opens the door for loyal subjects living outside of the Home Islands to volunteer for service in the Japanese Army. The policy is dated to begin in 1966 and is touted as an important step in bringing the various peoples' of the Empire closer together.
June 26 – The Karachi Accords mark the end of the Maldivian Emergency. The island chain is divided between the German-backed Sultanate of the Maldives in the North and the Indian-backed United Suvadive Republic in the South.
Although the Karachi accords maintained a place for Germany in the Maldives, the proximity of India
to the islands saw German economic dominance wane, just like it had in Sri Lanka.
July
July 14 – Dutch soldiers crush an American backed coup in the Territory of Curaçao, whilst guerilla attacks intensify in Surinam.
July 24 – The Hiroshima Committee of Soldiers Mothers begins publishing the names of each soldier from Hiroshima that has died in China in the morning edition of the Chūgoku Shimbun in an attempt to draw attention to the growing amount of casualties. Due to the cheap cost as well as difficulty in suppression, due to the patriotic tone, the custom slowly begins to spread across the nation.
July 26 – An article in the Bungei Shunjū details how businesspeople close to Tanaka, and indeed Tanaka himself, had profited by buying up land through paper companies prior to the announcement of construction tenders during his stint as Finance Minister.
July 29 - An 18 year-old boy from Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture goes on a shooting spree killing a police officer and injuring another with a rifle. The boy then steals the handgun of one of the officers and makes his way to Shibuya, Tokyo by hijacking 4 cars. The police capture him after a firefight in which 16 people are injured.
Dutch soldier interrogating captured prisoners in Surinam, as the last European nations in the Americas
the Dutch had come under intense pressure from the Americans both diplomatically and more covertly.
August
August 3 - An earthquake in Matsushiro-machi, Nagano Prefecture marks the beginning of the Matsushiro earthquake swarm, which lasts for about five. The close to 1 million earthquakes produce a total sum of energy equivalent to about a M6.4 earthquake.
August 14 - Small demonstrations breakout in the Portuguese colony of Macao demanding reunification, but are quickly suppressed by the Portuguese Army. Fears of a repeat of Goa leads the Salazar government to approach the Japanese for assurances.
August 27 - Le Corbusier goes missing whilst swimming in the Caribbean and is never heard from again. Barred from architecture by the Germans following the collapse of the French Commune, the Frenchman had emigrated to America in the late 40s following an invitation by Chairman Browder to rebuild America, but had allegedly fallen out of favour with party officials in recent years and even been denounced as a reactionary in the Young Syndicalists Daily as part of the Socialist Education Movement.
August 31 – A demonstration for clean government takes place before the Imperial Diet in Tokyo in advance of the planned Seiyūkai leadership election. The demonstrators call for an end to corruption and new elections to expel those suspected of corruption.
Bogged down in the Colonial War in Africa, the Salazar government could hardly afford another quagmire.
However, its requests for guarantees to assure its rule were not met kindly in Tokyo, which had long
regarded the continued Portuguese presence in Asia as an affront to its geopolitical ideals.
And the veil keeps slipping as the Seiyūkai turns on itself, what is to come next. I do apologise for the high repetition in last names in this post, but it could not be avoided. Now onto the comment.
It's as if the giant is waking up, yet what happens when it does.
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1965 - The Turn
Although Tanaka's resignation was deemed worthy a sacrifice to end the public power struggle within the Rikken Seiyūkai, it did little to improve the atmosphere of paranoia and more covert struggles between the various factions of the party. This was primarily due to the simple fact that Tanaka's resignation was little beyond a blip in the grand scheme of things in the face of the leadership elections that were to follow. This was primarily due to the drastic change in the power balance between the various factions of the party since the previous leadership elections. The general election in early 1965 had seen the position of the liberal 'stream' weaken drastically in relation to those of the conservatives and centrists. Whilst some opportunists had defected, the most notable losses to the liberals came from the hands of Seiyūkai candidates belonging to the other 'streams'. Although liberal Diet members in general had been hit hard due to the recession, the losses had been especially great among those that had strongly campaigned in the 1961 elections promising to rapidly strengthen the environmental protections across the Empire. Even though the topic of environmental degradation remained a hot button issue, and an important vote winner in a number of regions, many voters that had sided with the Ikeda coalition had since lost belief in the Seiyūkai to deliver the promised change. Although the economic turndown had a major effect in this regard, more can be attributed to the inability of the 'environmentalists' to push any meaningful legislation on the subject through the Diet. The realignment of centrist 'stream', more of a moniker for factions neither conservative nor liberal than an outright faction in and of itself, during the 'Black Veil' struggle had also seen the liberal factions lose steam as the political weathervanes turned against them. Still despite all this, the liberal 'stream' still maintained a slim majority over its opponents and had relations between them been good, there would have been little issue in confirming a new liberal Prime Minister. Yet the installation of Tanaka had ironically done more to undermine the liberal coalition than it had done to bind it together as Ikeda's successors and Satō jockeyed for control over the self-minded Tanaka. Their conflict had only intensified during the 'Black Veil' crisis and come ahead during the funeral of Ikeda, where all three attempted to gain as much political clout out of the event as possible.
The opulent state funeral of Ikeda Hayato attracted quite a lot of attention from
both the media and the opposition, but failed to cause an uproar among the public.
During those days after the resignation of Tanaka, it seemed as if you could cut the tension with a knife and it seemed to many that the first to reach an accord with the conservatives, would be very likely to secure their position as Prime Minister. Yet, the conservatives still remained greatly fractured following the death of Kōno Ichirō in July of that year as few had been drawn into the Fujiyama Aiichirō 'rebel' coalition. However, as is common in times of crisis, solutions arise from unexpected places. Rather than risk losing control over the situation, slowly but surely feelers began to be put out by a mystery member of the House of Peers, in hopes that Satō, Ōhira and Maeo could reach a deal and reconcile their differences. Even though all parties remained suspicious of such efforts, given the unwillingness of the person behind it to divulge their identity, all three would agree to a meeting in a ryōkan located in the the hot spring town of Atami, to be hosted by this mystery Peer. Arriving in as clandestine a manner as possible, assisted by only a few close aides, all three were surprised to be greeted by none other than Kishi Nobusuke, life peer and older brother of Satō. In his memoirs Ōhira records being outraged at the sight of Kishi, believing this to be some trick, and claims that he would have likely left had Satō not been as surprised as he was by the sight of his brother. The meeting, which has the unlikely honour of accruing increasingly yakuza-like tones in each and every successive memoir, saw Kishi convince the three men to put aside their differences and take power in a triumvirate of sorts. Despite being officially independent of party politics, Kishi, like Ikeda before him, was reluctant to see the Rikken Seiyūkai fall into infighting and, at least in his own words, to "lay the path for a socialist victory'. The deal would see Satō, as the leader of the largest liberal faction, become Prime Minister, in exchange for supporting Ōhira or Maeo, as the next leader of the party ahead of the general elections in 1969. Fully aware of the precarious position they found themselves and unwilling to relinquish power to the conservatives, both Ōhira and Maeo would reluctantly accept as Satō required little to no convincing for this nepotistic deal. This rapid change from infighting to amiable relations between the liberal factions did not go unnoticed as orders were circulated inside the factions by neither the political players nor the mass media. Although the origin of this quick and unexplained change of heart seemed unclear, as far as everyone was convinced Satō now seemed to have a clear way to the position of Prime Minister. The party convention on the 18th of September would confirm these expectations, as the liberal caucus carried Satō to victory, and even saw defections from a number of centrists, leaving his conservative competitors in the dust.
Although known for his 'conservative' nature, as a life-peer Kishi had seen it fit
to throw his weight behind the liberals and more specifically his younger brother.
Even though Satō enjoyed a position that was much more politically secure than that of Tanaka, given his control over the largest faction in the party and lack of would be puppet masters, the same could not be said for his position as prime minister. As far as the public was concerned there might have been a new man at the top of the Cabinet, but the China War still raged on without a clear end in sight caring very little for the change in civil leadership. Despite the fact that the Japanese economy seemed to have survived the worst effects of the 'Resource Shock' there was still little good to report about the economy, as despite the fact that it had begun to show to show growth again, it still stood as a shadow of the Gilded Shōwa that had preceded it. Worryingly it had also began to show the negative side-effects of the 'Income Doubling Plan' that the Ikeda era growth had managed to conceal. Although in the eyes of historians this would in a way vindicate Satō, when he had called for a more sustainable economic development plan, an action which had set him at odds with the Ikeda and his 'rapid growthist' faction, in the first place, that was little consolation to him in the moment. Especially as he found it difficult in his current position of Prime Minister to curtail the last echoes of those same policies that he had argued against as a faction leader. The widespread infrastructure expansion plans announced under Tanaka were extremely popular, but they had an undeniable inflationary effect, as many shelved regional projects that had been put on hold prior to the Olympics were put to work with little regard for soundness of the yen. Thus the Satō cabinet spent much of the remainder of 1965 combatting the results of the economic goals of the previous two cabinets rather than being able to enforce their own policies of more controlled development. This included cancelling a number of more outlandish projects that had not yet been put into work, including a few of the planned Shinkansen lines, as well as restoring price controls on a number of goods, that had technically been enforced during the Ikeda cabinet, but had been allowed to lapse in the Tanaka cabinet. Amid all this however, the general stance of the Satō of interfering less and allowing demand of heavy industry, rising primarily thanks to the war, and consumer industry to grow the economy more naturally already began to take shape. However the China War, as well as the economic instability that it had precipitated, only continued to feed what was to become the true bane of the Satō cabinet, internal stability.
The return to 'slower' growth rates shocked the Japanese public,
especially those born after 1937, threatening the social contract between state and masses.
Although the China War had a chaotic influence over the Japanese sphere, it also had an undermining effect across the Empire itself. The Manchurian stand-off was currently used to keep Korean outrage under control, but many questioned how long it could last. Especially, if the corpses of Korean soldiers began to show up causing many to question the soundness of the volunteers program or at least of expanding it to Korea. Additionally, even as student radicals seemed unsuccessful as of yet at attracting support among the wider student body or the public, worrying signs began to show that the public might not be as behind the war as had previously been believed. Indeed a news report that was accidentally released without vetting by an editor, which saw footage of some of the excesses taken by Japanese troops in dealing with a sniper in a Chinese village, seemed to confirm as much even as the newspaper article covering the same event did little to illicit the same result. Many were worried about the possibility of charismatic activists latching onto the deployment of conscripts to China, as well as the fact that the supposed liberator of Asians lacked a real reason for its presence in the region. Their worries were justified, however the troubles would not arise from the issues themselves, but from something much more common. Even though there had been a few 'skirmishes' between students, faculty and law enforcement after the 'Resource Shock' in 1963 lead some places of higher education to consider raising tuition fees, the quick decision by the Ikeda cabinet to freeze tuition fees had averted most trouble for the time being. These policies had however lapsed in the summer of 1965, as the party fell into internal conflict and the policy had been deemed redundant amid the economic recovery. Summer break halted discussions about the topic, but September saw them return in force. First protests against fees increases would take place at Takazaki Higher Commercial School, located in Gunma prefecture, where both staff and students banded together in organising a strike against a plan by the financially strapped local government to turn the institution into a private school and later against an attempt to massively raise fees. The event became a real media circus and seemed to at least put some universities off from raising fees at the moment.
Indeed, the autumn of 1965 would see a true re-awakening of the Japanese student movement, which had in reality laid half asleep since the Taishō era, as a mass movement of itself under the name Zenkyōtō (All-Campus Joint Struggle Leagues) and not just as a scattered few radicals on the sideline or as a part of other protests. The strike in Takazaki would be followed in quick succession by a call by the students at the Tokyo Female Teacher's Training College to boycott classes for and indefinite period over changes to dormitory regulations. November saw a nearly three week long strike at the Tokyo Merchant Marine College over fees increases and the year would culminate with the First Waseda Struggle. Similar to the other conflicts that preceded it at the colleges the conflict in Waseda, where the Zenkyōtō term had arisen during the sparse protests was rooted initially in an existing struggle, in this case over control of the management of student hall, but later ballooned after an announcement of tuition fees increases. At its height the conflict saw students from entire faculties across the university declare a strike with the final holdouts faculties finally agreeing to call off the strike-off in July of 1966. Due to the stamp it stuck in public memory, a number of parallels have been drawn with the students groups of the Taishō era, that together with the Navy are credited together for the Constitutional Reforms of 1937, however the Zenkyōtō of the Shōwa era differed greatly from their earlier counterparts. More than a group bent on any one ideology or goal, the Zenkyōtō represented a wide tent movement or an ideal. Rejecting hierarchy and authority, at least on a movement wide level, the Zenkyōtō organised democratically and remained remarkably revolutionary to a fault, rejecting all reformism and the goals it had achieved. Indeed the best description of the movement comes from the phrase by which they would become famous - "Smash the University".
Waseda student protesters clash with riot police attempting to stop an attempt to occupy university buildings.
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September
September 3 - Osaka is chosen as the site to host the 1970 World Expo by the Internationales Büro für Ausstellungen. The theme for that World Expo is later confirmed as 'Progress and Harmony of Humanity'.
September 17 - In Denmark, Palle Sørensen shoots and kills 4 pursuing police officers. He turns himself in after 48 hours following a massive manhunt. The incident leads to a decision by the Danish government to arm police officers with pistols.
September 18 - Satō Eisaku wins the Rikken Seiyūkai leadership race and is confirmed as the Prime Minister soon after.
September 30 - Forces of the Indonesian Army crush a coup attempt by other elements of the Indonesian Army with the support of Japanese sailors.
Lead by one Major-General Suharto, the 'loyalist' forces of the Indonesian Army
easily over came the poorly prepared forces of the Presidential Guard.
October
October 6 - 'Jungle Emperor' becomes the first serialized animated show to appear in colour on Japanese TV.
October 13 - The Indonesian Army begins a massive persecution campaign those thought responsible for the coup attempt. The persecution of ethnic Chinese prompts outraged calls from the Republic of China and Qing Empire.
October 21 - The comet Ikeya–Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometres from the Sun, and becomes extremely bright, just slightly less bright than the full moon. Due to this it gains the nickname Great Comet of 1965.
October 30 - Jean Shrimpton wears a controversially short white shift dress to the Victoria Derby at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia. The event becomes a pivotal moment in the introduction of the miniskirt to women's fashion.
Photograph fo the Ikeya-Seki comet over Toyama.
November
November 1 – A trolleybus plunges into the Nile at Cairo, killing 74 passengers.
November 8 – '11 PM', the first Japanese late-night talk show, launches on All-Japan TV.
November 9 - Keith Holyoake, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, announces that it plans to accept migrants, but not refugees from China. Officially the policy is announced as a way to fill shortages in the manufacturing and mining sector, but it is the result of a year of diplomatic pressure by Japanese officials to get the New Zealanders to accept Chinese refugees.
November 21 - Syndicalist revolutionaries succeed in overthrowing the German-aligned government in Sierra Leone and proclaim union with the Syndicalist Republic of Guinea, prompting the West African Emergency.
German armed Askaris formed the backbone of the revolution in Sierra Leone, prompting
many calls to the recruiting practices as well as further German deployments to the region.
December
December 7 – An attack on an army base by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Brazil marks the beginning of the Brazilian conflict.
December 13 - Demonstrations, that develop into riots in some locations , occur in Australia over the rumour that the Menzies cabinet might be accepting Chinese refugees from Indonesia at the second anniversary of the decision by the Menzies cabinet to sponsor resettlement efforts of Chinese refugees into Australia that have already seen close to a million Chinese accepted. The protests also take a clearly anti-Japanese tone calling for the removal of Japanese troops and the return of Tasmania.
December 16 - The Meihan National Highway, linking together Osaka and Nagoya, opens as a two-lane express-way.
December 30 - Ferdinand Marcos is inaugurated as the Third President of the Philippines following the death of Emilio Aguinaldo in office and his succession by Vice President Fernando Lopez.
Although most Australians had nominally accepted the end of the White Australia policy,
many had quietly nursed a grudge against the Japanese that ended it and those that had helped them.
The rapid influx of North Chinese migrants quickly saw those feelings boil over into outright hostility.
Whew, done. We might be moving away from Japan for a post, but that's still open.
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1966 - The Long Road to the Great Southern Land
Menzies stepped into, or depending who you ask was installed to, power at a pivotal time for Australasia. Although a pre-war politician his distance from Labor and their continued antagonism towards the Japanese, but support among the 'common man' had made him the perfect man in the eyes of the Japanese occupation forces. His position was affirmed thanks to the support of Prince Marshal Kan'in Haruhito, who would personally go behind the backs of more higher ranking officers in Tokyo directly to the Imperial Palace, in order to assure that Menzies would receive the position and the full support of the occupation authorities. The Australian public proved surprisingly accepting of this power transition, being as they were tired of the Syndicalist War that had had brought them naught but an increasingly nonsensical system of rationing as well as unmarked graves on distant battlefields and below the waves. However, both historians and commentators suggest that this lack of a full and total resistance had less to do with some real overnight change of heart by the Australasian public and more with terrifying show of atomic force as well as the rather large quantity of Japanese bayonets present in enforcing these decisions. This belief is rather well backed up by the fact that once a sizeable amount of Japanese forces were removed from the region following the the Treaty of Nagasaki in 1954, that dissent which had previously been spoken in whispered tones began to take shape very publicly. The notion of the 'perpetual Japanese occupation' would prove especially powerful among the Australasian public at the time, but Menzies proved adept at appeasing both Tokyo and the public at home groups. The Treaty of Nagasaki had indeed been a way to reinforce the position of his party and himself by painting themselves as having liberated Australia, despite the fact that Japanese troop largely remained in most of the places they had been. This would also apply to the White Australasia Policy, which Menzies had himself helped tear apart, as he suggested on a number of occasions that the step had been out of his hands, even going so far as to actively bemoan the end of the policy whilst praising the new Australia it had wrought. Menzies flexible attitude towards certain policy sectors would have likely sunk his cabinet had it not been combined with the seemingly unending 'Recovery Period', which would only end in 1961 after the injection of staggering amounts of Japanese capital injected into the country.
The presence of the Sydney Opera House near to ground zero caused some contention,
however it was also seen as a way of displaying a new Sydney, one that left the past in the past.
The December Race Riots or 1965 Race Riots took their worst toll in South Australian coastal cities, which ironically enough
had seen few, if any refugees with most being housed in specially built towns near mines across Australia.
Menzies and Holt, prior to the resignation of the former. In many ways, Holt saw himself as living
in the shadow of his predecessor and was eager to get out of it despite his deep admiration for the man.
Despite the Queen remaining more restrained in her speech than the Prime Minister, her visit was still greatly welcomed by the Tasmanians that had felt 'snubbed' when she did not visit the island during her post-coronation visit around former Australasia.
Due to needing to tend to matters of state, discussions about the handover of Tasmania were
primarily conducted not by the respective Prime Ministers, but by Foreign Ministers Ōhira and McMahon.
January
January 2 - The tokusatsu show "Ultra Q" premiers on TBS signalling the start of the 'Kaijū Boom', building on the success of Godzilla and other 'monster' movies that came before.
January 15 – A bloody coup is staged in Tunisia by American supporters in the Tunisian military, resulting in the death of Chairman Georges Adda. British sailors of the Mediterranean fleet support a counter-coup against the American forces and manage to restore the pro-British faction to power.
January 20 - Demonstrations rock the Korean peninsula as people take to the streets demanding an end to high prices of both staple and 'luxury' foods. The protests also demand an end to the martial law enforced by the Japanese government to conduct the Manchurian War, which leads to the dispersal of protests.
January 26 – Three children disappear on their way to Glenelg, South Australia, never to be seen again.
The American-British split had seen the two organise numerous propaganda campaigns aimed
at trying to get one over on the other and achieve the leading role in African affairs.
February 4 - All Japan Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay whilst on a night approach in clear weather resulting in the deaths of all 70 people onboard.
February 10 – Thirteen American fiction writers, among them Kurt Vonnegut, Margaret Atwood and Frederik Pohl, are sentenced to twenty-five years in a labour camp for 'anti-American' writings.
February 16 - The Bulgarian government surrenders to advancing Greek forces following the capture of Sofia, prompting the Romanian army to disarm the Bulgarian units and take control of their sections of the front.
February 27 - Indonesian President Sukarno signs a document ordering General Suharto to restore calm to the nation, handing de facto control of the state over to the General.
Japanese ships recovering the crashed fuselage of the All Japan Airways Flight 60. The first crash of the
vaunted domestic YS-11 prompted a number of inquiries as well as a leading to a decrease in public interest towards air travel.
March 1 - American Airlines flight 402 crashes in severe turbulence over Mount Fuji killing all 80 people onboard including, the American ambassador to Japan, returning home after being recalled for discussions.
March 5 - 'Merci, Chérie' by Udo Jürgens wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 for Austria.
March 12 - A delegation from Australia headed by Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Harold Holt visit Tasmania for the first time following the end of the Australasian War. In a speech given in Hobart, Prime Minister Holt makes a speech promising to endeavour to return Tasmania to Australian sovereignty or die trying.
March 20 – The FIFA World Cup Trophy is stolen while on exhibition in London, prompting a rare case of legal dissidence in the country as journalists admonish the government for being unable to secure the trophy of the Worker's Sport.
The efforts of Pickles in recovering the World Cup trophy lead to a storm of letters demanding that the dog be rewarded
somehow and eventually culminating in the dog made a member of the Order of the Red Flag of Labour.
April 8 - Massive anti-Japanese protests take place in cities across the Republic of China demanding an end to the North China bombing campaign as well as the immediate withdrawal of all Japanese troops from the Qing Empire.
April 13 – Air India Flight 101 crashes into Mont Blanc, killing all 117 persons on board, including Dr. Homi J. Bhabha, chairman of the Indian Atomic Commission and father of the Indian atomic bomb.
April 26 - For the first time in history, Japan National Railways workers back private railway company employees in a wage dispute resulting in a nigh total halt of public transport.
April 28 - The first physical examinations take place under the Volunteers program, unlike regular conscripts volunteers begin service almost immediately. Reports soon leak into the media from the Army Ministry on how only 6% of the volunteers are fit for service, in comparison to the 35% of A rank conscripts, equivalent standards to those of volunteers, from the Home Islands.
The strike shocked both the operators of private train companies as well as the Japanese Labour Board due to the
flood of angry letters and phone calls leading both to agree to the wage concessions demanded by the workers.
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What's up with all these prominent people dying in plane crashes??
Also, is the Korean unrest just "business as usual" or a boiling over of long pent up anger?
Also, is the Korean unrest just "business as usual" or a boiling over of long pent up anger?
What's up with all these prominent people dying in plane crashes??
Also, is the Korean unrest just "business as usual" or a boiling over of long pent up anger?
Well, accidents do tend to happen. Even to the most prominent among us. However, one of these planes was in relatively close proximity to an active war zone, whilst the other was carrying a man set to return to, at least officially, discuss something that needed him physically present. I wonder what could it be that the local station chief couldn't brief the highest ranked civilian in the country about.
As to the Koreans, little bit of column A little bit of column B, at the moment it's not clearly either. But the Koreans do seem to be getting weary at their country being used as a staging point, not to mention the government not responding to their food issues whilst demanding more of them.
I liked the Heechee Saga by Frederik Pohl very much. Today, apart from being actually quite a good story, it has a certain degree of retro cringey charm. A hopelessly overpopulated Earth with *gasp* over THREE billion people living on the planet, what a dystopian future
Actually, thinking on it, the landscape of early science fiction must be way different from our timeline. All the A.C. Clarkes, L.Ron Hubbards, Isaacs Asimovs and others from the golden era of SF like that would be dead/exiled/writing in commieland. Which has fascinating implications. The very earliest pulp writing would not be too different or influenced, E.R. Burroughs (Tarzan, John Carter of Mars) and R.E. Howard (CONAN! and others) wrote and published before the biggest timeline changes... but further implications are fascinating
In OTL, SF was a somewhat "safe" genre in the socialist countries, as long as the broadest ideological guidelines were followed. Giving us Strugacki brothers and Stanislaw Lem, who wrote pretty freely compared to many other prose writers, among others. Great food for thought, IMO.
I liked the Heechee Saga by Frederik Pohl very much. Today, apart from being actually quite a good story, it has a certain degree of retro cringey charm. A hopelessly overpopulated Earth with *gasp* over THREE billion people living on the planet, what a dystopian future
Actually, thinking on it, the landscape of early science fiction must be way different from our timeline. All the A.C. Clarkes, L.Ron Hubbards, Isaacs Asimovs and others from the golden era of SF like that would be dead/exiled/writing in commieland. Which has fascinating implications. The very earliest pulp writing would not be too different or influenced, E.R. Burroughs (Tarzan, John Carter of Mars) and R.E. Howard (CONAN! and others) wrote and published before the biggest timeline changes... but further implications are fascinating
In OTL, SF was a somewhat "safe" genre in the socialist countries, as long as the broadest ideological guidelines were followed. Giving us Strugacki brothers and Stanislaw Lem, who wrote pretty freely compared to many other prose writers, among others. Great food for thought, IMO.
Indeed, also mind you this is not just limited to SF although this brought it on. This is a world very different from our own as far as media is concerned, despite some familiar creations of course
Mind you, SF wasn't always as safe as it became. Compare say, the early works of Stanislaw Lem to his later works, and you'll find that the Polish October is a pretty good line to draw between his unproductive and productive periods. The Strugatski brothers are different in this regard, as they come into their pieces already under the Khrushchev Thaw. Now compare the works of those three to the (in)famous "literary prostitute" Aleksey Tolstoy. The Garin Death Ray is a good example of this strict ideological line, mind you I like the book. However, as far as TTL is concerned, I'll leave it up to all of you to guess which one the two main Totalist ideological centres are closer to at the moment.
The implications as you put it are truly fascinating, however I would also append terrifying onto it in regards to us. A strange and obscene unreal valley of a kind. However, if nothing else, I count the fact that the phrase "It's literally 1984" can't be heard there as a blessing of sorts.
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I really enjoy how much we get to learn from Japanese society/politics/economy within your updates,
I'd say that's a goal I kinda have.
The American and British competition at Africa seems interesting to watch, nice to see them fighting between themselves.
I'd say that's a goal I kinda have.
The American and British competition at Africa seems interesting to watch, nice to see them fighting between themselves.
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I really enjoy how much we get to learn from Japanese society/politics/economy within your updates,
I'd say that's a goal I kinda have.
The American and British competition at Africa seems interesting to watch, nice to see them fighting between themselves.
You're far too kind. Your one seems quite a bit more grounded in that regard. I've recently been going through some of the older posts. Both as a refresher on some stuff and because they keep popping up when I open the file its in and I have to say that I've really been flying by the skin of my pants on some of those ones and would handle a few things in a different manner if I were to write it now. I do hope that everyone still does continue to enjoy it though, since the only way to improve is to practice.
It is a rather interesting isn't it. Both of these states are massive and outward looking Syndicalist states after all, so it makes sense that they would try to get one over on another. The Brits are really struggling in this regard though, since the Americans do have a bigger reach due to just having more resources to throw into these endeavours. Which is why they can continue to strengthen Browderite Totalism at home, continue destabilising South America and mess with the Brits in Africa as well as Europe. All the while still having energy left to do whatnot.
Just as a general heads up, I'm going to my cousin's wedding for the weekend. This means that the post might be slightly delayed, although I'm not 100% sure in this regard since my vacation is also starting next week. Either way, since I got distracted at one point whilst writing the story have another translated song. Note, we'll probably be returning to Japan either in the next post or the one after that. But now without further delay.
Externational
1. Now the superior sons are up by the wall and the carré raises its weapons once more, the gutters brim with flowing Champagne awaits us Bastille and Neues Palais. | 2. Looking up, I see a glance a shining blade that swiftly slices my head from my neck and to the basket it rolls like a sphere, as the victorious army advances in force. |
3. Now the superior sons are up by the wall and the carré raises its weapons once more, the gutters brim with flowing Champagne awaits us Bastille and Neues Palais. | 4. The shackles that bind us feel more and more tense as rebellion once more boils in our chest our aim is clear and sacred our fight, but Victoria is still courted with lead. |
5. Doubt in ideals means sure-fire death, but a spark is needed and the country's alight we know that freedom still lies far ahead, but it will never come from Kaiser or Lord. | 6. Now the superior sons are up by the wall and the carré raises its weapons once more, the gutters brim with flowing Champagne awaits us Bastille and Neues Palais. |
7. Oh propaganda is stronger than wine, but just a brigand I surely can't be, my duty is higher by sword I shall bring the Kingdom of God down unto the Earth. | 8. All greedy pigdogs will fall by our blade and for it a dagger we cannot forget. Our shackles we no longer can bear to bear, as we know this life has naught more but Merde. |
9. Now the superior sons are up by the wall and the carré raises its weapons once more, the gutters brim with flowing Champagne awaits us Bastille and Neues Palais. | 10. Now the superior sons are up by the wall and the carré raises its weapons once more, the gutters brim with flowing Champagne awaits us Bastille and Neues Palais. |
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1966 - The Greatest Game
The 1966 World Cup represented an important moment, not only for the sport itself, but the world around it. Although had anybody floated the thought that a football tournament would have the repercussions it did, they would have likely been dismissed as a delusional fantasist. The incidents surrounding the event would however occur not only during or after the World Cup, but also precede it kicking off with the 'Pickles' incident. The happenstance that a dog, not the highly trained Popular Militia, would find the Julet Rimes trophy and that in response to demands that the dog be awarded the British government responded by presenting him one of its highest honours is remembered by many has little more than a bit of trivia. Despite or perhaps because of the ridiculous circumstances surrounding the event, it would take on a much grander meaning in Britain. Ever since Chairman Mosley's rise to power nearly two decades ago, following strong public dissent after the 'Second Peace with Honour' and amid the Canadian conflict, the British government had begun tightening screws on what they saw as the result for their loss against the Germans. Slowly but surely the Mosleyites had stamped out dissent on all levels of government as well as got rid of anyone that they had seen as a threat to their stranglehold on power. The paranoia that the Terror had infused into the British public can still be felt to this day. However, the Terror had finally caught up with its masters that had let it loose on the British public with the anti-American efforts seeing the hierarchy throughly purged for suspected ties to the Americans. This paved a way into power for younger cadre, many that although loyal to Mosley to the hilt also saw the decisions taken by their predecessors as misinterpretations of the will of the Chairman as well as allowing some anti-American dissenters back into the fold, that had been silenced but not dealt with following the alliance with the Yanks.
The 'Pickles' event is seen by many as a watershed moment demonstrating this new face Totalist Britain, born from the Anglo-American split, and needing once more at least the tacit support of the public. Whereas previously, the very simple act of reporting on government failures in critical manner without being sanctioned to do so was something that could very easily end with the entire responsible department and their extended families up by the wall, coverage of the Pickles incident was surprisingly candid. The truth behind the candid nature of the reporting was however that it was an accident resulting from the failure of an overworked censor working for the London Red Flag to properly vet the report about the theft of the trophy. Although after receiving his morning copy of the paper, the censor would attempt to set out to try and have the paper pulled, he was already too late. Illustrated by the knock on his door by a man belonging to an 'organisation that needed to know'. Luckily for him, the paper had however also reached the table of the Chairman, who would issue pardons to the entire office of the London Red Flag, and called for his special announcement to be brought forward to this day. Whilst official accounts of the event in British historiography suggest that the event was the zealous action of a bureaucrat preempting the will of the Chairman, the truth of the matter would remain in official documentation. Following the announcement of the 'Wisdom of the Masses' campaign, other papers as well as the British Broadcasting Cooperative also took a more critical look into the case of the missing trophy. The incompetence of the London Popular Militia, as well as suggestions about the link between them and a string of thefts, became particularly commonplace especially after the trophy was located by Pickles. Amid this apparent loosening of the screws from the blue, as well as in direct disregard to the détente between the British and the continental powers, some journalists even went so far as to suggest that the World Cup be postponed in light of the ongoing situation in Europe. Those calls would however fall on deaf ears as the British government continued to eagerly promote the event.
To outside observers it seemed as, if the 69 year-old that had risen from the 'Voice in the Wilderness'
to the 'Patriarch of the British Nation', was getting soft in his advanced age.
The decision was seen by many, especially high-ranking FIFA officials, as an attempt to portray the image of working towards more fair qualifications for the confederations outside of Europe and the Americas. At least in comparison to having another team from Europe or the Americas. The first game of the tournament would kick-off on the 11th of July and true to the rest of the World Cup, it would prove to be a game of relatively few goals with the British playing the Peruvians to a tie. The 1966 tournament would also mark the first tournament, where most teams had adopted the more defensive and tactical style of play that would go onto define the game during this period. Nobody had taken this style of play to heart as the British team, who were eager to prove to both the audience at home and to the rest of the world that Britain and not Europe was still the home of football. This had become a matter of pride for the British public given the decades of nigh isolation, more recently broken by quadrennial blips. The British Football Association had taken the public interest to heart and kept a keen eye on the trends in continental football and reacted accordingly. This as well as other steps taken seemed to serve them well as the British team emerged first from their group and secured a clear path to the finals beating both La Plata and Portugal in the knockout stages. The British performance surprised Continental onlookers, many of whom had believed that the British isolation had lead to a degradation of British footballing prowess.
FIFA had courted outrage in Britain, where its return had been accepted but only on the condition
that it put forward a united team, leading to one of the last expressions of the Home Nations disappearing.
This 'football nationalism' quickly enraptured the British public, but failed to catch on to the same degree in Germany. Coverage of the finals remained slightly more tame in Germany and generally chose to distance the game from the from the horrors of the Weltkrieg. That is with the exception of an interview given by Sepp Herberger, previous head coach of the German team for more than 28 years, promising that this time the Germans would fight to the bitter end without a 'Peace with Honour'. Herbergers' statements proved far from the reality as far as the game was concerned. Although the the Germans emerged ahead after just 12 minutes played, the British quickly evened the score a mere 4 minutes later. The game would continue thus until a British goal on the 78th minute put them ahead and seemed to seal a German loss, until controversially the Germans were handed a free kick with one minute left on the clock by a Swiss referee. The shot brought the match to another tie just at the end of the second half with commentators making light and suggesting that unlike the battlefield it was unlikely that there would be a negotiated peace on the football pitch. Their comments would prove correct as the game entered overtime, as the German team proved unable to counter the British, who would secure another two goals before the match concluded.
The infamous third British goal that energised the public both in Britain and abroad.
Although the Heer proved capable in its role as the gendarme of Europe,
the European public showed an increasing willingness to test it at every step.
May
May 1 - Thousands of anti-war demonstrators, primarily students, gather in front of the Imperial Diet building in Tokyo demanding an end to the war in China.
May 15 - The comedy and variety show Shōten premiers on Nippon Television Network.
May 19 - Japanese and Russian forces exchange fire on the frontier, following the detection of Russian units in the Japanese rear. Clean-up reveals tunnels that Russian soldiers have dug beginning the "Tunnel conflict" period of the Manchurian stand-off.
May 28 - The Satō cabinet decides to abolish tuition fees on all secondary schools owned by the state or local governments. The fees system has been subject to bitter debate in the Ministry of Education, as fee collection accounts for more than is gained for most schools, following the de facto freeze of fees after secondary education was made compulsory in the 1940s.
Volunteer soldiers inspecting a captured tunnel, given their shorter stature and stronger desire to prove themselves
in relation to standard conscripts in Manchuria, many volunteers would be deployed as tunnel rats.
June 12 - The short-lived Syndicalist Haitian and Dominican governments officially join the American Union of Syndicalist States.
June 21 – Australian opposition leader Arthur Calwell is shot during a political meeting in Sydney, Australia. Although he is rushed to the hospital, he succumbs to his wounds a few hours later.
June 25 - Revisions to the National Holidays Act see Respect for the Elderly Day as well as Health and Sports Day created as new public holidays. The changes also establishes a system of replacement holidays for holidays falling on Sundays as well as for days falling between other holidays, providing legal basis for the nearly week long New Years holiday.
June 28 - Massive protests for independence, against deployments to Africa and for better working conditions begin across the Eastern flank of Mitteleuropa on the 10th anniversary of the Sevastopol massacre.
The assassination of Calwell, whose continued control of the Labor party represented some minor miracle, saw the
political violence in Australia deepen even as government ministers promised the public change as well as the return of Tasmania.
July 3 - All Japan Airways introduces a system of discounts for youths, in an attempt to encourage air travel following the recent spate of accidents.
July 11 - The 1966 FIFA World Cup begins in the Union of Britain.
July 17 - 'Ultraman' the successor to 'Ultra Q' begins broadcast on TBS, this time in colour.
July 26 - The Satō cabinet decides to cancel the planned construction of a new Tokyo International Airport, opting instead for an expansion of Haneda citing cost reasons as well as difficulty finding suitable land with willing owners.
Much like in Godzilla and other monster movies of the time, the foes in Ultraman represented growing concerns in Japan towards its international position in second decade of the atomic era, but lingered little in its optimism at being able to overcome it through decidedly Japanese flashy spectacle.
August 2 - Celebrations over the German loss at the 1966 World Cup turn into riots on French Sovereignty Day, as people attack German owned businesses and demand an exit from Mitteleuropa.
August 6 - The Nichibo Kaizuka women's volleyball team, the Oriental Witches of the 1964 Summer Olympics, loses its first match after 258 consecutive match wins.
August 15 - The Third Battle of the Tagliamento finally break through the Austrian defensive lines and capture the city of Udine and besiege Trieste, forcing an evacuation of the sizeable Austro-Hungarian naval force to nearby Pola. The ships are heavily harassed in transit by Italian bombers and torpedo boats.
August 26 - An All Japan Airways YS-11 training aircraft crashes after take-off from Haneda due to pilot error.
Austro-Hungarian sailors observing the damage done to their ships by the Italians. Although initially free to move as it
willed across the Adriatic Sea, the Italian entry into the war saw the Austro-Hungarians not risk their necks.
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Haven't had much to say lately, but wanted to chime in and let you know I'm still following
We've been spoiled by a fantastic series of updates here.
I wonder if the butterfly effect will save our new PM from drowning (which in this environment would probably foster all kinds of conspiracy theories) or if the Japanese will be blamed for that when it happens.
I wonder if the butterfly effect will save our new PM from drowning (which in this environment would probably foster all kinds of conspiracy theories) or if the Japanese will be blamed for that when it happens.
1966 - Alea Iacta Est
1966 marked the 55th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution, despite or perhaps because the forces of reaction backed by the Germans had seen the Chinese Republicans forced underground for another 34 years, the reborn Chinese Republic clung dearly onto the symbols of the First Republic. Much of this is of course down to apt use of nostalgia in inspiring the revolution against the Germans in the first place, however under the leadership of the Kuomintang the first President, Sun Yat-Sen, had been turned into a nigh religious icon. Undoubtedly large parts of this can be laid at the feet of the Chinese President at the time, even as factions in the increasingly omnipresent Nationalist Party jockeyed for control between each other, the role of Soong Ching-ling, otherwise known as Madame Sun Yat-Sen, seemed unshakable. That is at least how it seemed on the surface. Despite the powerful image put on by the Kuomintang in their two decades of leadership after toppling the German backed puppet regime in 1946, as of late the Party seemed increasingly out of touch with the public as the situation continued to spiral out of their hands North of the border. The outbreak of the China War in earnest and the unwillingness of the Nationalist Party to back another Northern Expedition, as demanded by larger chunks of the population amid the chaos following the death of Pu-Yi, had been the first really difficult test for the Republican government. In contrast to the more hawkish anti-imperialists in the opposition that had openly called for throwing the Japanese, their Qing puppets and indeed all Western Imperialists into the sea, threat of retaliation be damned, the Kuomintang had chosen to chart a more careful course. The Chinese government did however provide massive quantities of material and regulars to the rebels, as it is very likely that these materials would have reached the North regardless of their wishes and doing so had the benefit of them having control over distribution as well as avoiding difficult questions by those trying to claim power. The stance was however not without its own share of difficult questions as it came under fire following the 'unfortunate incident' at the Pearl River Delta and the Japanese revenge bombing that it caused. The decision to maintain this stance in the face of clear Japanese aggression, as argued by a number of newspapers, did little to shore up government support among the masses. It was especially hurt by many politicians, speaking on behalf of officers in the area, suggesting that the Japanese had staged the entire event in an attempt to pressure the Chinese government to stop supporting their favoured anti-Qing rebels. The same arguments would resurface following the beginning of the 'terror bombing' campaign in the liberated territory of the Qing. Although the strong presence of the Kuomintang, especially its nearly unchallenged position among the Chinese working class and farmers, did not threaten a loss of control over the Yuans, as proven in the March elections of 1966, the divide between public opinion and government policy began to show more and more.
Madame President Soong Ching-ling's visits around the country made her massively popular and helped bolster
support for the Kuomintang in more early ways rather than the holy aura afforded to her late husband.
The largely untamed Chinese South offered a lot of chances for Japanese companies to
pursue newer projects that the government was unwilling to let fly in the Home Islands.
The death of Enrico Fermi had be cause for much controversy, although many believed that he had succumbed to
cancer, some still suggested that his death had carried a resemblance to other American assassinations.
The Chinese underground test was quite the risk given uncertainties about that type of testing thus
far, but managed to maintain the secrecy that the Chinese had sought for.
September
September 1 - While waiting at a bus stop Ralph H. Baer, an engineer working for Philips, writes a four-page document laying out the basic principles for a video-game played on a television.
September 17 - 'Attack from Space', the first episode of the classic German science-fiction show Raumpatrouille Orion premiers on RRG.
September 24 - The Amakusa Pearl Line opens. The Pearl Line is a network of five bridges linking the Amakusa islands to the Kyushu mainland. Although popular locally, the project becomes the centre of viscous debate in the Diet over 'localist' pork barrel projects.
September 29 - Hurricane Inez strikes Hispaniola, leaving thousands dead and tens of thousands homeless in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Despite relatively low ratings for its production cost, the Orion became a staple of the RRG line up with the network showing no willingness to cancel the show. The show also did well in the rest of Mitteleuropa despite rather virulent anti-German sentiments.
October 5 - A fire aboard the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano out on exercises in the Yellow Sea kills 44 crewmen.
October 10 - The Republic of China announces that it has successfully conducted a peaceful atomic test. In the announcement the Republicans once again affirm their stance as the only lawful government of China and implore foreign powers to end any unlawful occupation of Chinese territory, whilst ensuring that any leases and presences established legally will be honoured.
October 21 - 144 are killed by a collapsing coal spoil tip in the Welsh town of Aberfan in the Union of Britain. News organisations prove ruthless in their search for those responsible, taking full use of their liberties provided under the 'Wisdom of the Masses' campaign.
October 28 - Publication of the 'Weekly Don Juan' by the publisher Shūeisha begins in Japan.
The fire on the Shinano saw the death of many combat veterans and given the recent incidents with Japanese carriers
caused many to suggest sabotage. However it would be revealed to be little more than human accident.
November 1 - The National Theatre of Japan opens in Tokyo.
November 3 - The death of a Korean youth at the hand of a Volunteer on leave causes demonstrations by Korean university students in the city of Kōshū.
November 13 - Following the All Japan Airways YS-11 crash off Matsuyama, the third one this year, the Satō cabinet orders the grounding of all YS-11 flights until a fault can be determined.
November 24 - Students at the Meiji University declare an indefinite strike against planned tuition fees increases and attempt to cease the Izumi campus, but are forced to retreat after the arrival of riot police due to lukewarm uptake.
Besides usual demands for a return of local democracy through an immediate end to martial law. The protests drew much support by demanding a reversal to recent curriculum changes, which many saw as preparation for the implementation of conscription.
December 3 - The Portuguese government officially requests the support of the Legation Cities in governing the Macao, as it proves incapable of suppressing further riots within the city. The negotiations that follow see the Portuguese cede their power to the Legation Council, a de facto defunct organisation, which they join.
December 12 - In exchange for Belgrade being taken by Austrian troops, the Serbian government and royal family surrender to advancing Austro-Hungarian forces.
December 15 - A squad of Russian paratroopers are killed after their tunnel collapses in an explosion along the Manchurian frontier.
December 25 - The Japanese government announces that it will return Tasmania to Australia as a Christmas present with its unofficial role as Japanese colony coming to an end on the 1st of January 1967.
Together with Macao, the Portuguese government also practically ceded their half of Timor to the Japanese Empire.
Although officially power now rested in both powers, the condominium did little beyond solidifying the rule of the South Seas Development Company, the largest landowner on Timor, over the island.
Haven't had much to say lately, but wanted to chime in and let you know I'm still following
Thanks a lot and do not worry, chiming in or not your readership is always appreciated.
You mean more conspiracy theories than it actually caused? But yeah, if Holt was to go drown, the Japanese would lose quite the ally Down Under. One that as far as Tokyo is concerned seems to be able to read their wishes from nearly 8000 km away and that Australians are concerned seems to be shaping up to be quite the pusher of Australian interests. We'll just have to wait and see
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So the Republic of China has joined the nuclear club
Damn, it will be quite interesting to see how the situation in Northern China will continue to develop, one thing is certain, Japan won't be able to pull tougher measures against China now, unless they wish to risk Chinese retaliation.
Also enjoyed reading about the current tunnel war between Japan and Russia, wondering how will things go. Damn, it will be quite interesting to see how the situation in Northern China will continue to develop, one thing is certain, Japan won't be able to pull tougher measures against China now, unless they wish to risk Chinese retaliation.
1967 - Misogi
The Chinese announcement left the Japanese government baffled, although some alarm bells had been run after the Indian atomic weapons test, due to information suggesting a cooperative effort between the two in regards to atomic energy, Kasumigaseki had no real confirmation of how far the Chinese project had actually progressed. The obfuscation surrounding the 'Peaceful Atomic Test' succeeded in muddying the waters further as the subterranean nature, as well as lack of knowledge when and where the test had actually taken place, lead many to doubt the veracity of the Chinese claims. More hawkish officers and bureaucrats at the Foreign Office even suggested that there had been no test and the entire endeavour was little more than a bluff by the Chinese. They reasoned that even if, the Chinese now possessed a capacity to produce atomic bombs, that the best course of action would be to destroy the arsenal and the ability to produce more weapons. They also posited that any attempt by the Republican forces to try and use the bomb on the Continent would only serve to bolster the ailing Qing government. Both of those actions were based on quite a bit of optimism of course, based on the expectation that the Chinese acquisition of atomic weapons would only serve to forward their desires to solve the Chinese conflict in a military manner. This is why the unofficial bombardment of suspected training camps and logistical hubs on the Republican side of the border continued even after the lobbying of the doves and/or pro-China individuals resulted in an order an end to the use of Republican airspace.
Whilst the policy in regards to the Republic of China remained disparate, both the hawks and doves in the government remained unified in regards to the continued presence of Europeans in the region. Although the fact that the Portuguese Empire represented no real threat to the Japanese, their continued presence in Macao and Timor had long been regarded as an affront by the prevailing Pan-Asianists shaping Japanese foreign policy. Even though plans for the occupation of both regions had been drawn up during the 40s, when conflict with the Chinese Republicans and Australasians seemed likely, they were eventually shelved due to a general lack of necessity as zaibatsu and smaller Japanese firms made inroads and emerged as the dominant economic powers in the area, unofficially pulling both into the 'Yen bloc'. This policy had however not been without its downsides, especially in Macao, where the large Japanese presence had turned it into a target following the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War. Despite Japanese pressure, the Portuguese government proved unable to truly enforce order in the far-flung territory, as its interests were much more tied to maintaining order in Africa, which held the vast majority of its colonial territories, in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the West African crisis, where the German government had been forced to cede Sierra Leone under domestic pressure and international sabre rattling. Seeking to maintain face, and to avoid a repeat of the Goa Crisis, the Salazarist government officially approached the Legation Cities following another string of protests in late 1966 and agreed to the terms set out by the Japanese. Although the Treaty of Macao would allow the Portuguese to continue to cling to some degree of ownership to Asian holdings, through its position in the practically defunct Legation Council as well as the claim of a condominium over Timor, in truth it marked an end to the Portuguese presence in Asia.
Portuguese commander with local troops on Timor. Despite the large
agricultural and infrastructure investments, East Timor remained somewhat lost in time.
The collapse of the Labor party has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories, much like the assassination of Calwell that triggered it, in reality however the collapse represented decades of resentment at lost elections finally bubbling to the surface.
Even as the Japanese government struggled against two of its older foes, a more recent foe once again reared its head. Beginning in late 1964, symptoms similar to those seen in Minamata, with first cats and later people suddenly going mad and dying, began to be noticed along the Agano River in Niigata prefecture. Fearing the worst a professor from the medical department of the Hokuriku Imperial University was dispatched to examine the patients in one of the villages affected. The similarities between the patients observed in Minamata and those in Niigata and the presence of high levels of mercury in those same patients only confirmed the matter as fact in the head of the professor who would announce his findings in June of 1965. However the ongoing 'Black Veil' crisis meant that little action was taken in Tokyo until the beginning of 1966, when an independent inquiry board was set up by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to look into the 'Second Minamata Disease', as it had now been labelled in the press. The inquiries proceeded slowly at first, even with the arrival of researchers from Kumamoto that had handled the Minamata, case but by September of 1966, the research team had narrowed the culprit down to factory plant wastewater. The startling similarities to Minamata in almost every regard turned the story into a national sensation, as the headlines continued to capture the attention of the public. Amid the proceeding inquiries reports emerged from Yokkaichi, which linked a resurgence of asthma among the public to the same petrochemical plant that had been shut down during the 1960 inquiry, and Minamata, which linked the Chisso plant to the disease without a shadow of a doubt. The twin reports and the ongoing inquiry saw people once again in the streets demanding and demonstrating for companies to be held responsible for pollution, among other things. There have been some suggestions that the Japanese government delayed the release of inquiry documentation from Niigata in an attempt to better control the situation and keep it from spinning out of control. Whether these allegations are true or not, the findings could not be kept under lock and key forever and they would eventually be released on the 6th of April, totally implicating the Shōwa Denkō chemical plant at Kanose village for the pollution in the river.
Although the Shōwa Denkō chemical plant at Kanose village, circled in red, had stopped
using mercury in its reactions by 1966, the signs of the pollution still remained.
In addition to national changes, members of the public increasingly banded together to stop pollution
on a local level with meetings organised to push the idea of stopping the 'lure of polluting companies'.
January
January 5 - 'A Countess from Hong Kong', the last Charlie Chaplin film is released in Britain amid the 'Wisdom of the Masses' campaign after a more than 30 year gap. Following the outbreak of the American Civil War, Chaplin had fled overseas and remained in Exile before being allowed back into the Union of Britain after the Totalist Split.
January 14 - The Chunichi Shinbun reports that the Imperial Japanese Army is conducting secret germ warfare experiments.
January 15 - A professor at the Nagoya Imperial University reveals that the government inquiry meant a pause, but not an end to the air pollution at Yokkaichi, causing protests in the city as residents demand compensation as well as stricter environmental laws.
January 21 - The campus unrest in Kōshū is suppressed by force following a confrontation between demonstrating students and Governor-General Sugita Ichiji. Attempts to negotiate an end to the protest prove futile as Sugita is shouted down in Korean by protestors denouncing Japan as the enemy of Koreans.
Detained Korean student protestors, although the increasing number of protests against martial law
were seen as a worrying trend, the situation in Manchuria was seen as reason enough to maintain it.
February 7 - Serious bushfires in southern Tasmania claim 62 lives, and destroy 2643 square kilometres of land.
February 15 - A time bomb explodes in the men's bathroom at the Haneda Airport in Tokyo.
February 22 - A research group at Kumamoto Medical University publish a paper, proving that the methylmercury in Minamata originates from the Chisso plant by managing to reproduce the synthesis of the chemical in the same environment as the reactor at the plant.
February 25 - The American government announces that it has ordered the army to help with spring seeding.
The explosion in Haneda caused quite a deal of confusion and it was eventually discarded as a
Sōka Jirō case, after thorough investigation of the regular suspects yielded no results.
March 4 - Takamiyama Daigoro, a native Hawaiian, becomes the first ever sekitori to be born outside of East Asia.
March 12 - The Young Doctors Union, made up of 2400 students across the medical departments of 32 tertiary schools, walk out of exams in protest against planned changes to medical accreditation, which would see the creation of a 2 year residency system, where the students would not be recognised as doctors and would thus not be paid, after the current 4 years of medical school.
March 21 - Kanakuri Shizo finishes as dead last in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics marathon with a time 54 years 8 months 6 days 5 hours 32 minutes and 20 seconds. His finish marks the official end of the Fifth Olympiad.
March 27 - The Indonesian Diet officially removes all presidential powers and honours from Sukarno, naming Suharto as acting president.
The Father of the Japanese Marathon had collapsed during the 1912 Olympics and silently left Sweden in embarrassment. After being found more than 50 years later by SVT and offered a chance to finish the race, he accepted and remarked at the completion of the marathon, "It was a long trip. Along the way, I got married, had six children and 10 grandchildren.".
April 3 - Footage of a massacre perpetrated in the Shandong town of Tangfang by soldiers belonging to the First Volunteer Division (Korean) is broadcast on a news show on TBS. The news story causes a storm of outrage among the public with editorials demanding thorough inquiries even as Army officials denounce it as an isolated incident.
April 6 - The Ministry of Health and Welfare inquiry board into the 'Second Minamata disease' concludes that the Agano River mercury poisoning is caused by the wastewater run-off from the Shōwa Denkō Kanose Plant. Prime Minister Satō orders the immediate halt to plant activities and promises a full overhaul of Japanese environmental laws.
April 8 – '(Not Your) Puppet on a String' by Sandie Shaw wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1967 for Britain in their first appearance on the Eurovision song competition. The song draws a bit of controversy due to its assigned political nature.
April 24 - The Satō cabinet pushes the first of the 15 separate anti-pollution laws passed during the subsequent week, through the Diet after securing party support through threats of a snap election. The laws also contain the creation of an Environmental Agency to oversee adherence to these laws.
The Volunteers Incident was not as isolated an incident as Army leadership implied and given the touchy nature of the subject it provoked a domestic firestorm. This lead many supporters of the program to suspect that this had been the reason behind the release of the footage, which was under an unofficial suppression order ever since a similar incident by Japanese troops in 1965.
True, but nuclear chicken is a rather harsh game. The Chinese took a more covert approach to their first nuclear test, one that the Japanese will have to struggle to actually confirm happened. After all, claiming to have the bomb, having the bomb and being able to use the bomb are different things. You are however right that the Japanese will however have to tread more carefully, which might make the current policy sort of unviable which is something that the hawks would want, at least if they get what they want from the change in policy.So the Republic of China has joined the nuclear clubAlso enjoyed reading about the current tunnel war between Japan and Russia, wondering how will things go.
Damn, it will be quite interesting to see how the situation in Northern China will continue to develop, one thing is certain, Japan won't be able to pull tougher measures against China now, unless they wish to risk Chinese retaliation.
One will have to give, however there is also the possibility that that one won't be Japan or Russia.
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