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Abolish Shogunate; become Empire of Japan

Not Ironman Compatible

(It is my policy that anyone can use the work I've done here, and modify or add it to their own mod, and publish it, though please note the original source.)

Optional Graphical Add-on: "Flag of the Empire of Japan" [ http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1193106990 ]

In a game that lets you form the German Kaiserreich and the Kingdom (or Republic) of Italy centuries before they ever existed, it seems strange that even after you’ve united Japan you’re still stuck playing as the archaic Shogunate, which was never more than the top of an insular military clique whose beliefs and practices proved to be Japan’s greatest hurdle in its path to becoming a world power (albeit briefly) during the 19th century. Even under the largely united Tokugawa Shogunate, Japan was never more than a regional power, if even that; and when we refer to the “Empire of Japan” it is generally the Japan after the abolition of the Shogunate and subsequent restoration of the Emperor as Japan’s effective political leader during the Meiji period. Thus, I present to you a mod that lets you do just that, Abolish the Shogunate, and experience the same period of rebellion and troubles as the Emperor did when he tried (and succeeded) to rapidly modernize and militarize his nation in a span of a few decades.

!!Public Service Announcement:
This mod abstracts historical events into gameplay in the same manner as most of Europa Universal’s historical campaign—a manner which is often more light-hearted than the history covered. Probably as one would expect from a game. Nevertheless, given the real world results of Japanese Nationalism, numerous war crimes and other atrocities committed in China, and the continuing relevance these events (or the denial of them) hold in contemporary Japanese politics, I think it would be remiss of me not to address the subject.

In general I regard Nationalism to be a foolish and evil thing, and the body count and history of misery it has managed to accumulate to its various incarnations in the past several centuries is a greater testament to this than I could ever adequately summarize here. My own country—the United States—continues to find its integrity threatened by the most sinister form of humbugs of “Race Realism” and “White” Nationalism, two ideologies which have done no favors for the old Republic, but I digress.

Japanese Nationalism continues to be a rather pernicious force in Japan to this very day, both overtly in the relative popularity of Far Right and often openly fascist politicians who moreover deny Japanese War crimes—something comparable to a popular German politician openly denying the Holocaust or an American Senator defending Slavery—yet also more subtly in the widespread ignorance of Japanese youth of Japanese War Crimes in WWII. (In fact, I recommend studying further into the subject yourself, as there are several informative videos on Youtube on the subject of Japanese Nationalism to begin with.) Suffice to say most of the flavor text regarding Japanese Nationalism does not reflect my own opinions of the morality of the Japanese Empire but, like most EU4 flavor text, is meant to reflect the subjective historical perspective of the in-game nation’s citizens.

See discussion thread for full details of the contents of the mod: https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/workshop/filedetails/discussion/1188486737/1841314700702643038/