Chapter 2: Death of an Empire
September 30th, 1905
Onboard the Ocean Liner Awa Maru
Half of Tokyo was gone, lost beneath the waves. The result of a massive earthquake unlike any that had been seen before. The devastation was immense, and not just confined to Tokyo. Every part of Japan, from Kyushu to Hokkaido, similar devastation had been reported.
The Awa Maru, which carried the Japanese delegation home, was being used as a meeting place for the Japanese government, or what remained of it. Komura Jutaro soon learned that he was all that remained. Prime Minister Katsura Taro was dead, as was the rest of his cabinet. The members of the Privy Council were either dead or missing, and the Imperial diet was too scattered to be an effective governing force. In the dining hall of the Awa Maru a makeshift collection of survivors had gathered, members of the diet that had escaped the destruction and now joined Komura aboard the Maru. Also present was Masuda Takashi, founder of the Mitsui Group, one of the most prominent corporations, or Zaibatsu, in all of Japan. Masuda had been assisting in rescue efforts and had been trying to form some kind of organized leadership before the Maru arrived.
"What of the Emperor?" Now Acting Prime Minister Komura Jutaro asked of those present.
The atmosphere in the room become more depressed, it was the question all those in the room had been afraid of. A young member of the diet, Murai Isomu spoke up, "We do not know, The Imperial Palace was lost beneath the waves. We are assuming the worst but…" Komura raised a hand to silence the young man. It was far worse that Komura could have imagined, not only was the Emperor unaccounted for, but the entire Imperial Family was missing, if the nation lost it's Emperor...
Komura stopped himself, now was not the time to wallow in despair, now was the time for action. "What of the military? Have he had any contact with our forces in Korea or Manchuria?"
"We have been unable to contact Marshal Oyama, but we do know he was in Manchuria at the time of the quake. The army is working on contacting him as we speak." A young Lieutenant answered.
"Continue your efforts, we need Marshal Oyama's support if we are to regain control of our Empire." Murai demanded.
"Regaining our Empire should be our last priority!" Masuda Takashi barked. Receiving the sunned looks from the rest of those present.
"How could you possibly say such a thing!" Murai argued, "The Japanese people have worked for far too long to be recognized by the rest of the world! To give up now would be an insult to the Emperor and the people of-"
"Think for a moment boy!" Masuda interrupted, the young representative was taken aback by the insult. "Japan is gone! Our Emperor is gone! How can you possibly be thinking of rebuilding our empire when Tokyo itself lies beneath the sea!"
Komura spoke up, "Masuda-san, respectfully I must agree with Representative Murai. We need the support of our outlying territories if we are to rebuild Japan. Our people are going to begin starving soon, we must make arrangements for relief supplies to be sent from the colonies."
Masuda smirked, "I have already taken care of that Prime Minister."
The room went silent, "What!?" Komura inquired.
Masuda stood up, "If there is one mistake Japan has made over the years, it was isolation. We isolated ourselves for centuries under the Tokugawa Shoguns, as I am sure most of you are aware that isolation was forcibly broken by the arrival of the Commodore Matthew Perry. We learned just how far behind Japan had fallen and in our haste to prove our superiority we have isolated ourselves from our neighbors. Our actions in Manchuria mean that the Chinese will not support us without our complete subjugation to a foreign emperor, after the war Russia would never assist us. Lastly the other great western powers will not support us because they secretly wished this day would come, they feared the rise of an upstart power outside of their sphere… all but one."
Komura realized what he was referring to, "You can't possibly be suggesting-"
"Not suggesting" Masuda interrupted, "I have already done it." Masuda looked around seeing the confusion in the others, "Yesterday I managed to contact our embassy in the United States of America, and requested that the ambassador request assistance from the President of the United States." Masuda declared, much to the shock of the others in the room.
"Have you heard back from him?" Murai asked
"Not yet, but I am confident that the Americans will assist us."
Before the room erupted into argument, a messenger entered the room. "Ministers, the Mikasa has just arrive in Tokyo."
Everyone in the room was relieved, just the knowledge that Grand Admiral Togo Heihachiro still lives will be enough to raise the morale of the Japanese people.
The Prime Minister adjourned the meeting to greet the Admiral, but not before he spoke to the officer.
"Lieutenant." Komura greeted
"Prime Minister." the soldier saluted
"There's no need for that." Komura waved his hand dismissively, "I'm a diplomat, not a soldier. I don't deserve your salute."
The young man lowered his hand, "What is it you need Prime Minister?"
"My orders for the Marshal." the soldier listened closely, "Tell the Marshal that he is ordered to return to Japan, with all the men under his command."
"Sir we're abandoning Manchuria?" the soldier asked shocked.
Komura sighed, "Masuda was right… we need to focus on the home islands. What remains of the military here is overstretched, keeping the peace, rescue operations, communications. We need everyone here, rebuilding."
"And what of the Americans?" the soldier inquired
"Them too… we can only pray that they help us."
There was an uncomfortable moment of silence between the two, "I will pass along the message sir."
"Thank You." Komura began to walk off but as he did he turned around and asked one final question, "I am terribly sorry, but could you remind me of your name?"
"Of course sir." The officer turned back towards the Prime Minister, "Second Lieutenant Tojo Hideki."
September 30th, 1905
Battleship Mikasa
The mood on board the Mikasa, the pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy, as they sailed over the ruins of Tokyo was somber. They had been making a slow pace ever since they entered the city, occasionally the crew would rescue survivors as they patrolled the waters, but for every survivor they saved more bodies were recovered.
Even the legendary Admiral Togo was on deck, directing the crew and scanning the waters for survivors. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the bodies of two children, hunched over wooden debris.
"FULL STOP!" The admiral ordered. "Ensign!" he shouted at one of the crewmen,
"SIR!" they responded with a salute,
"Two children clinging to debris off the starboard side, get a lifeboat and recover them." Togo ordered.
"Yes sir!" the Ensign responded. The knew this was tough on the men, unfortunately the reality was they were unable to recover every body they found, the amount of dead was just too great, but the Admiral always made sure to recover the children, it was the least he could do.
Minutes later the Ensign was shouting as he approached the ship, "SIR! THEY'RE STILL ALIVE!"
The Admiral immediately ordered medics on deck to prepare to treat the two children. However as the lifeboat was brought up, to his horror the admiral saw that it was not two children, but three. An infant, not even a year old in the arms of the elder brother.
"How many are alive ensign."
"A-all three sir. It's a miracle." the ensign suttered
"Not yet ensign, they have been stranded for who knows how long, it'll be a miracle if they ever wake up." The admiral responded as he looked at the elder of the three and felt that there was something familiar about him.
"Sir… what's wrong" the ensign asked.
"Oh no…." the admiral whispered as he realized who the child was. The admiral's shock was quickly replaced by determination. "I WANT EVERY MEDIC ON THIS DAMN SHIP OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!" he shouted before running up to the bridge.
The bridge crew was shocked as the admiral burst into the bridge, "Sir…" one of them started before being interrupted.
"Find somewhere to dock as soon as possible, full speed." The Admiral ordered
"Yes sir!" they responded, "If I may ask, what's just happened."
"Those children we just recovered…" the Admiral paused, "They are the sons of Prince Yoshihito."
AN: Ok first of all I know that the Mikasa's magazine exploded and the ship sunk at it's moorings soon after the end of the Russo-Japanese War and it wasn't repaired until years later… I just really needed the Mikasa so in this universe that never happened. Also, in contrast to the Americans, where I can easily find out the actual members of all three branches of Government in 1905, from the Cabinet all the way down to the Representative from the 12th district of Texas (Oscar W. Gillespie). Finding out information about the Japanese is significantly less easy to find. This isn't too much of a problems since most of them are dead… but I will still need to make up a few people, like Murai… he wasn't real. Oh and a few notes on using Japanese words… I'll abstain as much as possible because because I don't speak Japanese and I assume most of my readers don't either. Exceptions will be the use of "-san" as opposed to "Mr." in the absence of any other title (such as Minister, Admiral, Representative ect.) and I'll be using "Family Name - Personal Name" for all Japanese characters, even the ones widely known in the West by the opposite order (Hence Tojo Hideki instead of Hideki Tojo)
Thanks for reading and I'll appreciate any feedback