Occupation of Hinomoto

The occupation of Hinomoto by Chisei occurred following the end of the Second Escar-Varunan War, beginning in 1944 with the end of the war and ending in 1974 with the handover of Hinomoto. Though Chisei was the primary nation occupying and governing the territory, Chanha and Yeongseon also played small roles in the occupation. The occupied area covered almost 94% of Hinomoto island and was sometimes referred to as North Hinomoto or Chiseian Hinomoto. Yamatai maintained exclaves on Hinomoto under the Hinomoto Province.

History
In the closing stage of the Second Escar-Varunan War, Hinomoto was invaded by the Escaric Allies in the devastating Battle of Hinomoto. After months of heavy fighting, Yamataian forces had been pushed to a small pocket around Asagi as well as the Yuzu Peninsula by July, when the Treaty of Senbonzakura enacted a ceasefire between the Allied and Yamataian forces. The Allied forces, particularly Chisei, planned to occupy Hinomoto, with a long-term plan to eventually grant the island independence as a Chisei-aligned buffer state between Chisei and Yamatai, as historical Yamataian invasions of the mainland were launched from Hinomoto. Furthermore, the island is bereft of natural resources and was considered a liability for Chisei during the period of time.

In the months between ceasefire and occupation, the Chiseian and Yamataian governments decided on the official borders between the different zones based on the battle maps drawn by both sides leading up to the exact moment the ceasefire was signed. During this chaotic period, Yamataian troops occasionally infiltrated the Hinoan zones and continued to evacuate key personnel, wealth, and cultural treasures. Firefights between Yamataian and Allied troops were occasionally reported, and some Imperial Army units had also gone missing. These units were rumoured to be operating in complete isolation to enact Operation Kemurikage II, a mass insurgency against the Chiseian forces within the occupied areas.

On 1 September 1944, the Chiseian Royal Army Hinomoto Campaign Headquarters was reorganised into the Hinomoto Joint Occupational Headquarters, with General Hamamoto Atsushi as the first Supreme Commander Occupational Forces. On the same day, the Joint Occupational Headquarters issued an official Declaration of Occupation.

Under the early occupation, Hinomoto received only basic rebuilding and humanitarian relief as Chisei was unable to support the island in addition to dealing with the extensive war damage in Chisei itself. The Hinoan economy was left to spiral out of control, eventually devolving into a barter system in some areas and experiencing extremely high inflation rates with no less than four different currencies in use. At the same time, many areas of the occupied region became embroiled in lawlessness and violence as criminal groups emerged.

From 1945, the Chiseian occupational authorities began building border walls and fences along the borders with the Yamataian-controlled areas in an effort to control smugglers and Yamataian saboteurs and guerillas based in the Yamataian areas. Though Operation Kemurikage II never achieved its intended goals following the death of mastermind Colonel Fujimoto Saburo in 1947, various unconnected pro-Yamatai guerilla groups and former Imperial Army personnel still continued to launch attacks on Allied troops and installations. In a 1948 report to the Council of Elders, General Hamamoto Atsushi called Hinomoto a "useless wasteland".

However, the situation changed when General Sannyoayn assumed the position of Supreme Commander in 1949. Sannyoayn was unusually dedicated to repairing Hinomoto in order to alleviate the living conditions of the people living there, and enacted numerous economic and social reforms. This included the creation of the Monetary Authority of Hinomoto and the Hinoan Kin to unify the Hinoan currency and monetary situation, recreation and arming of a local police force to get the crime problem under control, carrying out educational reforms and building schools, as well as carrying out major reconstruction and public infrastructure projects. Initially, Sannyoayn was highly controversial in the Chiseian military and government community for his support for Hinomoto and requisitioning of crucial money and resources for the island. He campaigned heavily for help to be extended to Hinomoto and used various personal connections and favours to secure aid for Hinomoto. To this day, Sannyoayn is celebrated as a hero in Hinomoto.

Operating under the assumption Hinomoto was to be eventually granted independence, Sannyoayn began the policy of working closely with local Hinoan nationalist leaders and community leaders to create an informal parliament. These local leaders were allowed some measure of authority over assigned areas, but were kept under strong oversight from the occupational authorities. Educational reform was carried out to remove Yamataian ultranationalist indoctrination and increase the pool of skilled labourers. In 1958, an agreement was reached with Chiotanne to take over several former Mitsuhishi factories in Hinomoto to boost the local economy.

Attitudes in Chisei towards Yamatai began changing as rapprochement became a reality in the late 1950s and early 1960s due to the efforts of Yamataian leader Okabe Nariakira and the ongoing reality of the Escaric Divide. More support was granted for Hinomoto, which began to rejoin the regional economy. However, the initial ideas for eventual Hinoan independence were quietly discarded in the 1960s by the Chiseian government and the Supreme Commanders after Sannyoayn. Communist revolutionaries had begun infiltrating Hinomoto, and there was a strong concern that an independent Hinomoto would somehow succumb to a communist revolution and threaten Western Escar. Though support for Hinomoto was more enthusiastic, it was also undeniable that the island was a liability to the Chiseian treasury that did not provide any major returns as an occupied territory. In the mid 1960s, secret agreements were made with the second Prime Minister of Yamatai Okudera Gunzo to return Hinomoto to Yamataian control on the 30th anniversary of the Chiseian occupation, with the agreement that Yamatai would govern Hinomoto as a special semi-autonomous region.

Prior to the handover, the occupation authorities began enacting policies to smoothen the transition process, beginning with the takeover of various industrial facilities by Yamataian corporations. Various pro-Yamatain political leaders in Hinomoto were identified by the occupational authorities and were approached by the Yamataian government to form the future General Assembly of Hinomoto. Meanwhile, the pro-independence Hinoan nationalists that collaborated with the Occupational Headquarters were not made aware of the handover, but were eventually able to infer and discover the policy change following sudden pro-Yamatai policies taken by the Occupational Headquarters, such as the arrest of radical Hinoan nationalist leader Iriyama Yasushi.

Various Hinoan lobbies and international groups called for Chisei and Yamatai to respect the Hinoan people by holding a plebiscite to decide the fate of Hinomoto, but the numerous requests were rejected by both states multiple times, including at the Ordic League. Both countries cited the instability and weakness of Hinomoto's political groups as a sign the area was not prepared for independence, while Yamatai also focused on the 1867 Treaty of Fujishima between the Shogunate of Hinomoto and Empire of Yamatai as a binding document that gave it legal control over Hinomoto.

By 1970, it became obvious to the Hinoan public that the occupation was ending with a return to Yamataian rule, with no hope for Hinoan independence. This triggered major sectarian violence between pro-independence and pro-Yamataian factions that culminated in the 1972 Hinoan Riots, which were suppressed by the Chiseian occupational forces. As the handover date approached, security was ramped up in Hinomoto to almost post-war levels, and Yamataian military forces also secretly began entering Hinomoto. In June 1974, a general election was facilitated by the Occupation Headquarters held to elect the first Chief Executive of Hinomoto, sparking another round of pro-independence protests.

At exactly 12 noon on 1 September 1974, Hinomoto was handed over to Yamatai, which regained sovereignty over the Hinoan to its pre-war extent. This marked the end of the Chiseian occupation of Hinomoto. The region was officially renamed the Hinomoto Special Administrative Region, and the first Cabinet of Hinomoto was formed by newly-appointed Chief Executive Matsuda Yoshihide. Yuzu, which had served as the capital of the Yamatain-controlled zone, continued to serve as the capital of Hinomoto.