Rising Rays of the New Century: Tale of the Japanese Empire

The End of 21st Century

December 31, 2100

Expo Hall, Tokyo, Japanese Empire

A month and a week after the successful reopening of the Expo, the time had finally come, after 100 years. The 21st century, a century of more upheaval and chaos than the 20th century, had finally come to an end. On this day, the Tokyo EXPO' 100 venue was again crowded with visitors. Tonight, a countdown event was scheduled to be held to celebrate the opening of a new era, the 22nd century.

In light of the recent terrorist attack that has dragged the face of the Japanese government into the mud, security personnel and budgets are far more than the original plan. All of the pavilions were in full swing, especially the most popular, the Japan Pavilion, with waiting times exceeding three hours every day. In addition, visitors to the US, Taiwan, Russia, and Hong Kong pavilions enjoyed the opportunity to interact with the culture and people of foreign countries that they would not normally have the chance to experience.

As for the Republic of Korea, the matter was eventually settled when their government acknowledged the wrongdoing of Counselor Chang Wan-taek and turned him to the Japanese government. The Korean government said, "This is an unforgivable situation caused by Chang's personal outburst of patriotism, and we offer our apologies on his behalf to those who have been affected. From now on, we will thoroughly instruct our diplomats to prevent such misconduct from occurring."

While offering an apology, he did not admit that the induction of the terrorist organization was done at the will of the state, but since it did not result in the severing of diplomatic relations, the Korean Pavilion will resume operations.

"Hey! Let's go to the Japan Pavilion next!"

A family is touring the Expo site. They are domestic tourists from Kyushu, visiting the Tokyo Expo on New Year's Eve to take part in the countdown event. Many other tourists are visiting for the same reason. Therefore, the Expo site was more crowded than ever before.

The most popular pavilion was the Japan Pavilion. The place was mainly devoted to technical exhibits, including a display of state-of-the-art robots and androids for peaceful use, which is being developed and researched by the public and private sectors, a demonstration of holographic illumination that can realize a world imagined by humans, and a model of an undersea city.

On the other hand, there were also exhibits of traditional Japanese culture and crafts, such as full-scale models of traditional Japanese houses, kimono fitting, Japanese swords, lacquerware, and ceramics, as well as a restaurant attached to the building featuring Japanese cuisine from a famous long-established hotel in Tokyo. The waiting time for the general public exceeded three hours. However, the line of people waiting to get a glimpse of the Japan Pavilion never stopped.

"Eehh, but you can't get into the Japan Pavilion unless it's right before closing time. How about the JNSS Pavilion instead?"

In response to his sister's suggestion, a brother offered an alternative. The JNSS he referred to stands for "Japanese National Spaceline of Solar System," a state-owned company that manages and operates the Japanese Empire's spacecraft fleet for reusable space travel. It is a public corporation under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Space Development, which evolved from JAXA, and is responsible for the transportation of goods between the Earth, the Moon, and near-Earth asteroids. The Japanese-developed spacecraft follows the concept of the Fusō and is based on taking off and landing from the sea surface.

In the JNSS Pavilion, there is a completed model of the lunar colony Taketori, which is currently under construction, and a model of a Martian city that is currently under planning, as well as a small nuclear fusion reactor, the engine of the space ship, and rocks and ores collected from various celestial bodies.