Shimakawa

Shimakawa is an island country situated south of Akiteiwa, close to the continent of Kesh. The country has two official languages: Akiteiwan and Teuton; however, Akiteiwan is the dominant language on the island. The country’s capital and largest city, Nankōminato (Teuton: Ostentor), is located on the southern end of the island.

The country encompasses the northern branch of the Yuhai archipelago, also known as the Shimakawa archipelago, which consists of 12 islands spread over 500km. Shimakawa itself is 2,025km2 in area. Shimakawa Island, the most populated island in the chain, is 119.1km top to bottom and 35km at its widest. To its south is Iōjima, the second-most populated island. The island groups surrounding the two are the Schild (Shield), Kreuz (Cross), and Elisabeth Islands.

Shimakawa has more than 1.1 million permanent residents, along with many visitors and Akitei military personnel. The capital and largest city is Nankōminato on the island of Shimakawa. The country's ocean coastline is about n km (n miles) long.

Shimakawa's diverse natural scenery, warm tropical climate, abundance of public beaches, oceanic surroundings, and dormant and picturesque volcano make it a popular destination for tourists, surfers, biologists, and volcanologists. Because of its location in the Jade Sea and 19th and 20th-century labour migration, Shimakawa's culture is strongly influenced by Artemian and East Keshitic cultures, the most prominent being Akitei.

Etymology
Shima = Island Kawa = River

History
The island was discovered by Akitei raiders in the early 8th century. The raiders quickly settled on it, given its proximity to the wealthy coastal cities of what is now Kodeshia through the Yuhai island chain, of which they also settled on.

As pillaged wealth slowly accumulated on the island throughout the years, the small harbour town of Nankōminato (literally, Southern Port City) grew in size, eventually becoming a bustling hub for Jade Sea commerce long after the years of raiding, pillaging, and looting.

In March of 1812, Mount Kurai erupted violently, leading to the two islands being connected by a land bridge. The eruption left the island in tatters; the global temperature dropped by 2 degrees centigrade for the rest of the year, leading to food shortages in Artemia. The 1812 summer came to be known as the “Year Without a Summer”.

Teuton explorers first stepped onto the island in 1855, shortly after the start of colonization efforts in Alvakalia. Oskar Reitz von Marburg, a prominent explorer, after setting foot on the island, gave the island the name of Neustrien, after the small Duchy of Styria in Artemia, incorporated into the Teutonic Empire in 1840. Eventually, in 1866, the Teuton Kaiser Wilhelm III granted the exploration group an imperial charter, signed by then-Chancellor Robert Weiss. This period of colonial expansion by the Teutons was short-lived as Wilhelm III died shortly after in 1869 of a heart attack, and his heir, Georg II, was more interested in internal affairs. No other colonies would be founded by the Teutons after Wilhelm’s reign.

In 1868, the Treaty of Ostentor/Nankō-shi was signed between the Teutonic Empire and Akiteiwa, making Neustrien a condominium of both countries. However, as the Grand Campaigns came around, the Teutonic Empire was reduced to its former holdings in modern-day Alvakalia, which had been independent since 1920 after the patriation of its constitution. However, Akiteiwa had grown in size, and in 1925, Akiteiwa assumed complete control of the island, setting up the Imperial Akitei Protectorate of Shimakawa.

During the Kesh War, Shimakawa’s Teuton inhabitants (most of which, although descended from Teutons, were born in Shimakawa, and spoke both Akitei and Teuton) were interned in the Hontama and Fujitsukawa internment camps, their possessions either stolen, destroyed, or repurposed by the military. Nankōminato Port was repurposed as a naval base, converting it from a commercial port. The surviving interned and their families were compensated for their losses and were apologised to by the Akitei and Shimakawan governments in 2004. However, by 1959, Akiteiwa had pulled out of the war in a separate treaty with Guurdalai, and the port was reconverted back.

The island was hit hard during the Yindong Crises as international trade from East Kesh practically slowed to a halt. Akiteiwa struggled to revive its economy following the Crises, and due to the failures, brought down Shimakawa as well. Economic stimuli measures, as well as an upheaval in the Akitei government in the mid-80s, were able to recover both Akiteiwa and Shimakawa. The warming of relations during this economic boom in Kesh between Alvakalia and Akiteiwa, dubbed the Reconciliation Era, helped bring the economic boom to Shimakawa as Teuton Alvaks set up businesses, creating more jobs.

Shimakawa quickly modernized through construction and a rapidly growing tourism economy. Later, state programs promoted Shimakawan culture. The Shimakawa State Convention of 1988 created institutions such as the Ministry of Shimakawan Affairs to promote indigenous language and culture.

Geography
The island is separated into two sectors: the northern Hirosaki/Neupankow area, which contains the dormant volcano of Mount Kurai, and the populous southern Yamagawa/Neuprovidenz area. The two are linked by a narrow but long land bridge.

Politics
Politics and the running of the state in general in Shimakawa are overseen by officials in mainland Akiteiwa given its status as a protectorate. However, there are growing movements for increased autonomy and independence for Shimakawa on the islands.

Shimakawa is a unitary constitutional monarchy modelled after the Akiteiwan government, with the Akitei Emperor at its monarch.

Economy
The history of Shimakawa's economy can be traced through a succession of dominant industries: sandalwood, whaling, sugarcane, pineapple, the military, tourism and education. Since the end of the Reconciliation Era, tourism has been the largest industry, despite efforts to diversify. The state's gross output for 2003 was KIA 47 billion; per capita income for Shimakawa residents in 2014 was KIA 54,516. Shimakawan exports include food and clothing. These industries play a small role in the Shimakawan economy, due to the shipping distance to viable markets, such as the Akitei mainland and Kodeshia. The country's food exports include coffee, macadamia nuts, pineapple, livestock, sugarcane and honey.

By weight, honey bees may be the country's most valuable export. According to the Shimakawa Agricultural Statistics Agency, agricultural sales were KIA 370.9 million from diversified agriculture, KIA 100.6 million from pineapple, and KIA 64.3 million from sugarcane. Shimakawa's relatively consistent climate has attracted the seed industry, which is able to test three generations of crops per year on the islands, compared with one or two on the mainland. Seeds yielded KIA 264 million in 2012, supporting 1,400 workers.

As of December 2015, the country's unemployment rate was 3.2%. In 2009, the Akitei military spent KIA 12.2 billion in Shimakawa, accounting for 18% of spending in the country for that year. 2,000 Imperial Akitei Ministry of National Defense personnel live in Shimakawa.

Languages
Shimakawa has two official languages: Akitei and Teuton. Guoyu is also spoken widely in the country, mostly as a lingua franca due to heavy trade between Shimakawa and Kodeshia. Guurkhun is rarely spoken outside of some communities but still makes a presence.

Religion
Although its parent country of Akiteiwa practices Shinto as its state religion, Christianity, more specifically the Protestant sector, is the most widespread religion in Shimakawa. However, small communities of Marian and Catholic Christians exist. Shinto is the second-largest religion on the island, while Buddhism, brought over by the many Guurkhuns and Kodeshis who settled on Shimakawa, is third. Unaffiliated account for a sixth of the population.

Health
As of 2019, Shimakawa's health care system insures 92% of residents. Under the country's plan (modelled after the Alvak 1927, 1978, and 2018 Health Acts), businesses are required to provide insurance to employees who work more than twenty hours per week. Heavy regulation of insurance companies helps reduce the cost to employers. Due in part to a heavy emphasis on preventive care, Shimakawans require hospital treatment less frequently than the rest of Akiteiwa, while total health care expenses measured as a percentage of the country’s GDP are substantially lower. Proponents of universal health care elsewhere in Akiteiwa sometimes use Shimakawa as a model for proposed federal health care plans.

Education
Shimakawa has a unified nationwide school system. Policy decisions are made by the nineteen-member state Board of Education, which sets policy and hires the superintendent of schools, who oversees the state Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education is divided into eight districts; four on Hirosaki and four on Yamagawa. The main rationale for centralization is to combat inequalities between highly populated Yamagawa and the more rural Hirosaki, and between lower-income and more affluent areas.

Public elementary, middle and high school test scores in Shimakawa are below Akitei national averages on tests mandated under the No Child Left Behind Decree. The Shimakawa Ministry of Education requires all eligible students to take these tests and report all student test scores. This may have unbalanced the results that reported in August 2005 that of 282 schools across the country, 185 failed to reach state minimum performance standards in mathematics and reading. The APST college placement tests show that in 2005, seniors scored slightly above the national average (21.9 compared with 20.9), but in the widely accepted APST examinations, Shimakawa's college-bound seniors tend to score below the national average in all categories except mathematics.