Imperial Diet
Nokanawa
Empire of Greater Oikawa
01:24 PM
The room was filled with the sound of suppressed voices whispering to each other, like a bee hive at the peak of activity. The wooden ranks of the old diet building were filled to the last place, and it seemed as if no place was left deserted on this day. From one of the smaller windows on the sides, the bright blue sky could be seen from the inside of the building. Various cameras and people with microphones were posed on a rank above the chamber - the area for the media personnel. Normally this rank was rather empty, as only two channels covered every session of the Diet, but today the media ranks were as packed as the seats below them.
The room immediately turned quiet as a small man with a white beard, dressed in an adequate black suit, entered the hall, aiming straight for a microphone that had been positioned in the middle of the body. In his hands he held a single sheet of paper.
"Your Majesty, Members of the Diet."
Kihara Itsuki spoke in a slow and quiet voice, with only the microphone turning his mutterings into distinguishable words.
"I stand before you in times of trial. Last night, the world changed. Last night, the very foundation of our existence was questioned by the rogue acts of people who are unaware of what terrible events they have started, for themselves and indeed, all the people of Toyou."
Again the man paused, looked up from his paper and rested his eyes on a few figures that were sitting in the highest political organ of the Empire, this greatest anachronism of history, right now.
"The treason with which we are faced, speaks for itself. So does the suffering of the people of Tenzing. We have to face the facts: the world has changed. And we have failed to imitate that change. We have been caught unaware. I have been caught unaware.
Never since our victory in the Great War, where the people of this continent prevailed over the barbaric forces of Bolshevism, has there been a moment so defining for our national future and indeed, the future of all of Greater Touyou. Half a century of progress are severely threatened. Half a century of the sweat of two billion people, working in unison to emancipate themselves from the sickness that was Western colonial government.
The integrity of our national polity is at risk.
We have been caught unaware, and we will have to draw consequences from this. I will have to draw consequences. What is needed now is swift action for the safety of the League and the two billion people of Greater Touyou."
Once again the man paused and turned his eyes down to the ground, before finally closing them. His hands were resting on the podium by now.
"Our enemies accuse us of aggressive agitation on the world stage. It shall be recorded in history that until the very last moment, the Imperial Government of His Majesty in Nokanawa was still in consultation with the rogue elements in Jizhou that have threatened not only the union of the League of Free States, the union that allowed this great alliance of free peoples to outlast the Alliance for a Greater Europe and prove, indeed, that our model is the way to the future for the people of the East, but also the wellbeing of the people of Tenzing and Jizhou, by trying to reanimate long-gone sentiments of national hatred and losing the focus on our grand goal: the political, economical and cultural unity of the people of Greater Touyou in common defense against Western agitation. In this way, these rogue elements are an enemy to the entirety of the Han race."
Kihara looked up. Now, the TV cameras recorded a stone cold gaze and two eyes that were full of sadness and coldness, as if a blizzard was raging within them.
"It is therefore that I announce with heavy heart that I have tendered my resignation as Minister of War and Foreign Affairs as well as Chairman of the Council of Misters to His Majesty one hour ago and have asked him to install General Yoshikawa as my successor in both positions. I take personal responsibility on behalf of the Imperial Government for the failure to prevent the situation from deteriorating to the point it has."
Loud mumbling started to rise in the chamber, but the man on the microphone continued unwaveringly.
"I have full confidence in my successor's ability to do what has to be done to restore safety, unity and stability to the Greater Touyou era. It is with this confidence that I give my final appeal to this body, and indeed, the two billion souls of the liberated East.
People of the East! We have won a great struggle before and have created the greatest political experiment in human history! Do not let hatred, intolerance and hedonistic separatism deter you from the path we have embarked upon. Stay vigilant, stay proud and have confidence in the ability of the youth to master the legacy of their parents and grandparents. It will be them who will once again rally around the banner that is the cause of Eastern Independence.
Your Majesty, it has been an honor to serve you. I resign in the confidence that there could have been no greater honor than this, that there could have been no greater purpose in live than this.
May the ancestors keep watch over this sacred land and its sacred people."
Nokanawa
Empire of Greater Oikawa
01:24 PM
The room was filled with the sound of suppressed voices whispering to each other, like a bee hive at the peak of activity. The wooden ranks of the old diet building were filled to the last place, and it seemed as if no place was left deserted on this day. From one of the smaller windows on the sides, the bright blue sky could be seen from the inside of the building. Various cameras and people with microphones were posed on a rank above the chamber - the area for the media personnel. Normally this rank was rather empty, as only two channels covered every session of the Diet, but today the media ranks were as packed as the seats below them.
The room immediately turned quiet as a small man with a white beard, dressed in an adequate black suit, entered the hall, aiming straight for a microphone that had been positioned in the middle of the body. In his hands he held a single sheet of paper.
"Your Majesty, Members of the Diet."
Kihara Itsuki spoke in a slow and quiet voice, with only the microphone turning his mutterings into distinguishable words.
"I stand before you in times of trial. Last night, the world changed. Last night, the very foundation of our existence was questioned by the rogue acts of people who are unaware of what terrible events they have started, for themselves and indeed, all the people of Toyou."
Again the man paused, looked up from his paper and rested his eyes on a few figures that were sitting in the highest political organ of the Empire, this greatest anachronism of history, right now.
"The treason with which we are faced, speaks for itself. So does the suffering of the people of Tenzing. We have to face the facts: the world has changed. And we have failed to imitate that change. We have been caught unaware. I have been caught unaware.
Never since our victory in the Great War, where the people of this continent prevailed over the barbaric forces of Bolshevism, has there been a moment so defining for our national future and indeed, the future of all of Greater Touyou. Half a century of progress are severely threatened. Half a century of the sweat of two billion people, working in unison to emancipate themselves from the sickness that was Western colonial government.
The integrity of our national polity is at risk.
We have been caught unaware, and we will have to draw consequences from this. I will have to draw consequences. What is needed now is swift action for the safety of the League and the two billion people of Greater Touyou."
Once again the man paused and turned his eyes down to the ground, before finally closing them. His hands were resting on the podium by now.
"Our enemies accuse us of aggressive agitation on the world stage. It shall be recorded in history that until the very last moment, the Imperial Government of His Majesty in Nokanawa was still in consultation with the rogue elements in Jizhou that have threatened not only the union of the League of Free States, the union that allowed this great alliance of free peoples to outlast the Alliance for a Greater Europe and prove, indeed, that our model is the way to the future for the people of the East, but also the wellbeing of the people of Tenzing and Jizhou, by trying to reanimate long-gone sentiments of national hatred and losing the focus on our grand goal: the political, economical and cultural unity of the people of Greater Touyou in common defense against Western agitation. In this way, these rogue elements are an enemy to the entirety of the Han race."
Kihara looked up. Now, the TV cameras recorded a stone cold gaze and two eyes that were full of sadness and coldness, as if a blizzard was raging within them.
"It is therefore that I announce with heavy heart that I have tendered my resignation as Minister of War and Foreign Affairs as well as Chairman of the Council of Misters to His Majesty one hour ago and have asked him to install General Yoshikawa as my successor in both positions. I take personal responsibility on behalf of the Imperial Government for the failure to prevent the situation from deteriorating to the point it has."
Loud mumbling started to rise in the chamber, but the man on the microphone continued unwaveringly.
"I have full confidence in my successor's ability to do what has to be done to restore safety, unity and stability to the Greater Touyou era. It is with this confidence that I give my final appeal to this body, and indeed, the two billion souls of the liberated East.
People of the East! We have won a great struggle before and have created the greatest political experiment in human history! Do not let hatred, intolerance and hedonistic separatism deter you from the path we have embarked upon. Stay vigilant, stay proud and have confidence in the ability of the youth to master the legacy of their parents and grandparents. It will be them who will once again rally around the banner that is the cause of Eastern Independence.
Your Majesty, it has been an honor to serve you. I resign in the confidence that there could have been no greater honor than this, that there could have been no greater purpose in live than this.
May the ancestors keep watch over this sacred land and its sacred people."