A chain of islands off the North-eastern coast of Asia with the capital being Tokyo. It should be noted that in most AH, Japan, no matter the time period, will always have similar capabilities to post-Meiji Japan and will, for some reason, be able to conquer Indianised SE Asia. This is known as the First Rule of Poorly thought-out Asian AH. See also India for the Second Rule.

Having lost the Second World War, Japan has nonetheless managed to persuade a generation of American youth that its culture is the best thing since sliced bread boiled rice, and by 2100 the USA will probably be persuaded that Japan won and was on the Allied side anyway. (Some tourists are even convinced that the whole World War II was a ‘minor’ affair when asked about it)

Japan is famous for for its vast and weird array of cartoons called anime, much of which has an adult theme unlike those in the West, as well as hordes of tourists that have either colonized Hawaii or can be seen in the most remote corners of the world. Resident China expert Hendryk is fond of Japanese inspired tentacle porn.

Japanese popular culture has managed to do what the Imperial Forces could not, and that is spread across the world in a type of media based imperialism, seducing people of all ages with utter coolness and a huge amount of weirdness. Ironically, it is pretty popular in many of the places the Japanese formerly ruled, such as Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and even China and South East Asia. Certain AH.commers have found this so irritating that they banded together to form the Royal and Imperial Society for the Promotion of Nipponoscepticism.

AH.com is not known to have any Japanese members, although gaijin is a Dutch member who lives in Japan, and East Asian Studies specialist Sargon once used to live, work and study there as a result of his degree.