Dontgonearthere
23-08-2007, 23:59
Tokyo was a busy city, more busy than it had been for some time, even since it become the capitol when the Emperor took power from the Shogunate. Perhaps it wasnt as large as Beijing, or as important a trade center as Hong Kong, but it was the heart of the Japanese Empire, the Emperors palace was in Tokyo, the vast gardens and structures took up a goodly chunk of the city. It was certainly not as grand and ostentatious as the Chinese Forbidden City, even commoners were allowed in the East Gardens, but that, to the Japanese, made it all the greater. The whole building said:
"We are rich, and we are so rich we dont have to cover this building in gold to let you know it."
The rest of Tokyo was comprised chiefly of commericial enterprises, telegraph offices, banks, stores, the 'end of the line' before people bought things or traded them or shipped them overseas for other people to buy and trade. Japan was, however, heavily industrialized in a number of its cities. Fukuoka was producing as much as any western city by this point, pumping out steel and arms and food and furniture, all fueled by the desire instilled in the Japanese people by the Emperors stirring messages.
Japan is a great country, it is time we took our place amoung the Great Powers, and through your efforts, it will be done. We are many people, but we speak and act as one.
For years Japan had been a mostly agrarian society. There were those with swords, and those who ate millet. Most people ate millet.
Now, with the spread if industry, with the arrival of factories and new farming methods and a flood of other western ideas, the farmlands produced even more, despite having fewer men to work them. The cities grew huge as people flocked to find jobs in the factories where they made the blood that fueled the heart of the Japanese economy, and that economy was a world economy, or at least, an Asian econoy.
Even Korea and China were in on the act. China supplied the raw materials needed for the Japanese to process. Korea supplied and had its own industry. Working together, the Japanese had virtually everything that a growing nation could ever want. Oil, coal, a huge food surplus, iron, wood. It was all within the grasp of Japan.
And still, the Japanese went further. California, Oregon, both were now supplying their own goods to Japan.
The great Shipyards of Hawaii and Tokyo both were packed with warships awaiting compleation, the very best that could be assemled by Japans famously obsessive engineers.
And, if the words of the Emperor were to be beleived (and who could not?) this was only the start.
"We are rich, and we are so rich we dont have to cover this building in gold to let you know it."
The rest of Tokyo was comprised chiefly of commericial enterprises, telegraph offices, banks, stores, the 'end of the line' before people bought things or traded them or shipped them overseas for other people to buy and trade. Japan was, however, heavily industrialized in a number of its cities. Fukuoka was producing as much as any western city by this point, pumping out steel and arms and food and furniture, all fueled by the desire instilled in the Japanese people by the Emperors stirring messages.
Japan is a great country, it is time we took our place amoung the Great Powers, and through your efforts, it will be done. We are many people, but we speak and act as one.
For years Japan had been a mostly agrarian society. There were those with swords, and those who ate millet. Most people ate millet.
Now, with the spread if industry, with the arrival of factories and new farming methods and a flood of other western ideas, the farmlands produced even more, despite having fewer men to work them. The cities grew huge as people flocked to find jobs in the factories where they made the blood that fueled the heart of the Japanese economy, and that economy was a world economy, or at least, an Asian econoy.
Even Korea and China were in on the act. China supplied the raw materials needed for the Japanese to process. Korea supplied and had its own industry. Working together, the Japanese had virtually everything that a growing nation could ever want. Oil, coal, a huge food surplus, iron, wood. It was all within the grasp of Japan.
And still, the Japanese went further. California, Oregon, both were now supplying their own goods to Japan.
The great Shipyards of Hawaii and Tokyo both were packed with warships awaiting compleation, the very best that could be assemled by Japans famously obsessive engineers.
And, if the words of the Emperor were to be beleived (and who could not?) this was only the start.