Japan

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Japan, also known as Cipango, is a civilization and island country situated in East Asia with the world's oldest monarchy.

A relatively younger nation in comparison to its neighbours, China and Korea, Japan experienced an initial period of imperial centralization and tremendous cultural flowering through its import of Chinese societal and political customs. Over time, the aristocratic preoccupation with their insular artistic lifestyle gave rise to feudal states ruled by an elite military class known as the samurai. The emperor henceforth became a figurehead for the head of the samurai, the shōgun.

As centuries passed, this decentralization culminated in the Sengoku period in the 16th century, wherein hundreds of states vied for dominion over all of Japan and hoped to establish a new shōgunate. It was in this pivotal era that the contest between the Assassins and the Templars in Japan reached new heights, for they integrated themselves heavily in the turmoil through their training as ninja, allying themselves with daimyō, or—in the case of those such as Oda Nobunaga—serving as warlords themselves. In this chaotic contest, the Assassins emerged the victor in 1603 through their chosen ally, Tokugawa Ieyasu, inaugurating almost two centuries of peace and stability coupled with social stagnation and isolationism.

Japan was eventually pressured to rapidly modernize by the threat of Western imperialism and dissolved the shōgunate in 1868, returning full prestige, if not power, to the emperor. In the present day, the State of Japan is a sovereign state with its capital at Tokyo. An Assassin presence in Osaka, one of its largest cities, survived both the Great Purge of 2000 and a Templar assault in 2012. It became integrated with the Onmoraki-Gumi, a yakuza crime syndicate, in late 2013.

History

Kamakura period

By 1257, knowledge of the country had reached the western world. Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad suggested spreading rumours that his Apple of Eden had been transported to Japan or Cyprus to draw away the Templars from looking for it beneath Masyaf.

Sengoku period

After several defeats by the Assassins in Europe during the early 16th century, the Templars led by Francis Xavier sought to spread their influence in Japan. Despite the difficulties posed by the the island's warring states, they recruited a few Japanese sympathizers like Mochizuki Chiyome. The Assassins responded by recruiting rival ninjas like Hattori Hanzō.

Modern times

Abstergo Industries gave J. Robert Oppenheimer authorization to test the atomic bomb, making them directly responsible for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended World War II.

Whaling in Japan is a controversial issue; Susan Drayton, an Assassin and environmentalist, originally intended to use the Altaïr II to fight Japanese whalers.

In 2013, the Assassin headquarters in Osaka was attacked by the yakuza faction known as Onmoraki-Gumi, resulting in the death of Mentor Kenichi Mochizuki. As retaliation, his wife Saeko Mochizuki led an attack on the yakuza faction, taking over the organization and using it as a front for the Assassin activities and leading as the Japanese Brotherhood's new Mentor.

Trivia

• In his cryptic messages, Clay Kaczmarek made references to the Yonaguni Monument, and drew imagery of Mount Fuji, Nara-style pagodas, and a torii.

References

Japanese Rite of the Templar Order