ASAHI NO NISHISEI - Rising Sun Goes West (1)

Intermission | Those Left Behind

This is a story about my thoughts of what would happen in the world when Japan disappeared, and in particular, how the Japanese people who remained would behave.

I wonder what will actually happen... I can't even imagine.

- Bokutotsu Zen'u

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Two days after Japan's national soccer team qualified for the 2026 Canada World Cup and the whole of Japan was basking in the afterglow of that success. On September 4, 2025, Japan suddenly disappeared and was transported to another world. The coach of Uzbekistan's national soccer team, Lervel Shepanov, had the following to say about his opponent.

"We lost to Japan, but we were lucky enough. We were lucky enough to leave Japan before we caught up in their disappearance."

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"Japan disappeared!"

Newspapers around the world reported the "disappearance of Japan" on September 5, 2025. This fact plunged the world into confusion and despair. The disappearance of the world's second-largest economy has dealt the world an economic blow beyond comparison, like the effects of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, like the UK's exit from the EU, and Chinese Civil War in 2019.

We will now look at the global impact of Japan's disappearance.

Looking at each country individually, the first countries that have suffered the most are the Middle East and other oil-producing countries. Saudi Arabia and the UAE were particularly hard hit. The war in East Asia had stalled their oil exports to China, and a few years later they lost Japan as a customer. The exhaustion or disappearance of two of the world's top three oil consuming countries caused a significant drop in oil demand and an unprecedented drop in the price of crude oil.

The countries that exported food to Japan also suffered an economic blow that could not be ignored. Originally, Japan's food self-sufficiency lost its largest food exporter due to the breakdown of diplomatic relations with China resulting from the January 2019 military conflict off the Senkaku Islands between Japan and China. The Japanese government has been working to increase food self-sufficiency in earnest as a national policy, and at the time of transference, the ratio had risen to 75% in terms of calories and 90% in terms of output. However, there were still some foods, such as coffee beans and cacao, that were almost 100% dependent on imports due to climate issues. The Latin American countries that exported these products to Japan suffered an economic blow.

Another loss in other areas was the loss of US Forces Japan. With the loss of Japan, the American military will lose nearly 25.000 American servicemen, as well as the 1st Air Wing, the 18th Air Wing, and more than 10 ships of the Seventh Fleet were also lost. The US Department of Defense has called the loss 'too great to be ignored'.

The most devastating impact on the global economy was the loss of value of the yen and the loss of Japanese companies and capital. These losses alone are said to have amounted to hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars. The simultaneous layoffs of local workers at Japanese-affiliated factories and branch offices around the world, mainly in Southeast Asia and India, but also in the United States, Europe, Central and South America, and other regions. In addition, the Japanese yen and stocks of Japanese companies became worthless overnight. The loss of assets worldwide is immeasurable.

The world economy is trying to recover from the great economic losses caused by the Chinese Civil War that broke out in December 2019 and the East Asia War (World War III) that took place form November 2022 to March 2024. The disappearance of Japan in the midst of such a situation has dealt an almost killing blow to the world economy.

And it is the more than one million Japanese residents abroad who have suffered the greatest despair from this incident. Having lost their homes, they rushed to the Japanese embassies and consulates in the countries where they were staying, causing chaos at the facilities. In the midst of this chaos, Japanese diplomatic missions in cities in more than 110 countries around the world communicated with each other and came to a certain conclusion. The question was how to keep Japan alive in a situation where almost all of the Japanese archipelago had been lost.

The only Japanese territories left in the world were the six islands of Yonaguni, Okidaitōjima, Minamidaitōjima, Kitadaitōjima, Okinotorishima, and Minamitorishima. Among them, only Yonaguni, Minamidaitōjima, and Kitadaitōjima have administrative offices. Therefore, the Yonaguni Town Hall, the only "town" among them, was positioned as the new Japanese government, and the Mayor of Yonaguni Town was appointed as "Prime Minister". The ambassadors agreed to insist on the survival of Japan by designating the chief of each section as Minister of State and a certain member of the Imperial Family who happened to be abroad at the time of the transference as Head of State.

Subsequently, Sanemitsu Aruga, Ambassador of Japan to the United States, and Masumi Kosa, Mayor of Yonaguni Town and Prime Minister of Japan, announced these matters at the United Nations. They insisted that Japan had not yet disappeared from the world, and in particular, that the six remaining islands were not unclaimed land but Japanese territory, and that any aggression by any country would not be tolerated. On the same day, the Japanese delegation also met with American President Telvan Krose. They strongly demanded the continuation of the Japan-US Security Treaty from the viewpoint of national defense.

Opinions are still divided within the United Nations on whether or not to recognize the continued existence of Japan (in particular, Japan's former neighbors are in denial, while Palau and other South Pacific nations were quick to recognize Japan). The hardships of the ambassadors and consuls of various countries, Japanese citizens abroad, and the people of Yonaguni Town Hall, which was unexpectedly elevated from a small town hall to the government of a country, continue to mount.