The Japan of 2050 is completely different than what was expected by the early 21st century. It was once the 3rd largest economic power in the world, but that changed after the collapse. Like many other nations, Japan succumbed to its ever increasing debt. By 2010, their debt was 200% its annual GDP – this was doubled by 2017 when Japan teetered on the verge of Civil War.

The Democratic Party of Japan, which had controlled most of the votes in Japan’s representative democracy for quote some time, was revealed to have been under the influence of Yakuza briberies. For years, they had taken a hard line approach to combating them, so when it was revealed that this was a ruse the people were not happy.

It did not take long for leadership to shift to the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party), a more traditional and conservative party that had long been in second place. Taking a platform of “cleaning the corruption” and truly cracking down on the Yakuza, they won elections by landslides.

Their promises were not without worth, either. Once in control, the LDP mobilized JSDF forces to arrest known bosses and countless DPJ politicians were arrested and charged for their corruption in what was essentially a legalized and (albeit, short sighted) populace supported coup.

The Yakuza were not going to die out without a fight, though. The unprecedented crackdown called for unprecedented cooperation. Two of the three largest syndicates – the Yamaguchi-gumi, and the Inagawa-kai decided to join forces and combat the threat…rather directly. Armed with modern weapons and armor the Yakuza fought a guerrilla war against the JSDF – bringing Japan into a state of martial law. While the Sumioshi-kai, the second largest syndicate, hadn’t originally wanted to work with the other two the violent turn of events left them no choice – and it didn’t take long before the other smaller syndicates started to fall in line creating the Unified Syndicates of the Yakuza known today.

Many of the smaller groups, however, eschewed the commands of the larger groups. Primarily younger syndicates, these groups went on to merge with the old “Bosozoku” gangs, eventually leading to the violent street gangs that roam Megatokyo today.

Megatokyo, itself, is the name of one of if not the largest metropolises in the world. It spreads all the way from Sendai on the north end of Honshu to Fukuoka on Kyushu. The public transportation system, which has always been a hallmark of Japan, is still strong with high speed mag levs crossing the entire country.

In 2038 – just as the battle with the Yakuza was coming to a stalemate, tragedy struck the region – the SS Ad Astra exploded in the upper atmosphere, raining thousands of tons of material – including nuclear waste. Just as it began to fall, however, a high powered typhoon came and blew most of the material away from Japan, leaving very little impact to the nation on what would have otherwise been a catastrophe.

The LDP lauded this as the return of Japan’s “Kamikaze”, or divine wind. In ancient history, this “Kamikaze” had sent storms that wiped out Mongolian invaders multiple times. The act was enough to renew faith in the struggling leadership, now enamored with the visage of their long-time figurehead emperor. As waters rose from global warmring and Japan’s already small land area was shrinking, they decided it was time to return to their imperialistic roots and started taking control what was left of small islands in the south pacific. This went well until they reached the Philippines, and encountered resistance from Indonesia.

Currently Japan and Indonesia fight small-scale battles on occasion for control of different resources in the land – and the people of the Philippines suffer on the sidelines.