| |||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Omura | ||||
| Language official |
Japanese (official) | ||||
| others | Hawaiian, English (co-official) | ||||
| Government | Ogasawara Territory of Hawaii | ||||
| Legislature | Ogasawara Town Hall | ||||
| Mayor | Kazuo Morishita | ||||
| Area main |
73 km² | ||||
| water (%) | 1% | ||||
| Population | 373 (as of 2010) | ||||
| Independence | from Japan | ||||
| declared | 1983 (de facto) | ||||
| Annexation | to Hawaii | ||||
| date | 2009 | ||||
| Currency | Commonwealth dollar ($) | ||||
The Ogasawaran Islands (小笠原群島 Ogasawara-guntō) are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. Before Doomsday, they were part of Japan, but Hawaii has approached Japanese officials about colonizing Ogasawara again for the Ogasawaran refugees in Hawaii. Although the bill passing the creation of the colonization process was only passed last year, a considerable amount of the Ogasawaran community from Hilo have already moved back independently. The islands are to be associated with Hawaii, which itself is an associated state of the ANZC, and the Japanese gave the Hawaiians orders not to let the Australians on the islands.
History[]
The Islands After Doomsday[]
The islands had been a sub-prefecture of Tokyo, Japan before Doomsday, and were sparsely populated and has their own distinct dialect, culture, and even appearances. All of that changed on Doomsday, 26 September 1983, when the capital of the prefecture, as well as capital of the nation, Tokyo was nuked by a Soviet Missile, along with other cities such as Nagasaki.
The islands had little central leadership, since the tiny population meant that everyone could "fend for themselves". Nevertheless, the islanders were determined to find out what had happened, and soon enough they realized after the Japanese soldiers on the island received incoming transmissions from the heart of Japan, they heard of the fall of Tokyo and the nuclear war. This shocked the islanders, some sobbed, others simply quietly went about just trying to survive, fishing, but over the next few months the islanders realized that the fish were simply not there. Some of the islanders thought that the sea was "cursed" and that it would never bear life again, so they resorted to farming. Yet the people who were used to farming had a hard time producing food on the steep and infertile islands and many people starved. By 1990, over 800 people had starved on the islands, and cannibalism was not uncommon. Many people wanted help, but after the 1991 Benjamen Franklin voyage, everyone thought that Japan was nothing more than a wasteland, including the Bonin Islands.
In 1993, help came in the form of Hawaii. An expedition had been sent to the island and they reported conditions as being horrific. The Hawaiians eventually evacuated every living soul, which was around a mere 900, back to Hawaii.
Abandoned[]
The islands sat empty, and other than a very small handful of people who for some reason managed to stay on the island nature otherwise claimed it as its own. The Ogasawaran community in Hawaii had been formed, and the refugees became a sort of close-knit extended family that relied on each other for most everything. Worries began when some feared that the Ogasawarans were beginning to lose their culture and were slowly becoming Hawaiian. It was their homeland that they missed more than the gradual changes they all faced together. In 2000, the first evidences of Ogasawaran home nostalgia came in the form of the creation of the Ogasawara Alliance.
Renewal[]
See the article on the Resettlement of Ogasawara for more detailed information.
Finally, the grassroots of the a Ogasawara renewal were in place. In 2003, Ogasawaran Professor Kyochi Mori and a Hawaiian Dennis Mateo approached the governor at the time on creating a colony for the survivors. The governor liked the idea, but at the time there was no money for such a massive project. However, the next governor, Linda Lingle was more open with the Ogasawaran community and, eventually, she put together a delegation to visit Japan themselves and discuss the status of the islands.
The Japanese welcomed them, but they were at the same time angry with the Americans because they felt they are the ones who started the war in their minds. But the Hawaiians assured the Japanese that they are an independent nation with ties to Australia and New Zealand but not to any form of the old America. Finally, the Japanese gave the Hawaiians the blessing to re-settle the islands, provided that the Australians stay off of it and that only the Hawaiians can maintain a military presence.
However, the Commonwealth was angry at the Hawaiians for not consulting with them at first, and this would cause trouble between the two. The government at Jervis Bay assured that is the last time something like that will ever happen. However the Hawaiians were glad they consulted with the Japanese because the Commonwealth would have either said no or taken the islands as their own territory.
Economy[]
It has only been about a year since re-settlement began, so the economy is still at the most basic. Due to the fact that the islands sat nearly completely empty, the fish population which had experienced shortages due to over-fishing and effects of Doomsday, has now grown to a population larger than pre-Doomsday standards.
Fishing is the largest factor of the economy, and all the fish caught are consumed either in the islands or in Hawaii.
Culture[]
The Ogasawarans have stuck together after Doomsday, keeping their unique version of Japanese culture, and after the resettlement, with traces of Hawaiian culture.
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