Kaijo

Kaijo (海常), officially Kaijo Metropolis (海常都) is one of the three special administrative regions/districts of the Federal Kingdom of Teiko. In 2017, it has an estimated metropolitan population of almost 12.5 million making it the most populous city in Teiko and the fifth largest urban agglomeration among member nations of the Alliance of Independent Nations. Kaijo is also the center of the Greater Kaijo Area, the premier gateway for legal immigration to Teiko and transport hub hosting the country's largest and busiest seaport and airport. As Teiko's most important city, it is the country's commercial financial, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment center. It is also home to the Teiko Stock Exchange, one of the largest stock market in the world by market capitalization.

Although often referred to as a city, it is official known and governed as a "metropolitan prefecture" which differs from and combines elements of both a city and a prefecture; a characteristic unique to Kaijo and Rakuzan. The Kaijo Metropolitan Government Authority, the arm of Teiko's federal government that controls the metropolis administers over the twenty special wards of Kaijo (each governed as an individual city), which cover the area that was formerly the City of Kaijo before it merged and became the subsequent metropolitan prefecture in 1975. Beika and other directly adjacent and surrounding cities, towns and villages are often included in calculation of the Greater Kaijo Area population and area but a few of these municipalities fall out of the Kaijo metropolitan government's jurisdiction.

Historically, Kaijo has served as Teiko's capital for years until 1990 when Tetsuya was opened to public as a planned capital city. Kaijo traces its roots from a small fishing and trading village of Hakata which was established by Mibu Kyoichirou in the 13th century. Kaijo has also survived attacks from Mongol Empire leader Kublai Khan in 1274. The city has also been center of several political revolutions that led to Teiko's independence from Japan in 1895 when Teiko became a Kingdom and sovereignty was reestablished. Since 1946, Kaijo has served as Teiko's trading center and has gradually grown into the country's chief economic center.

Kaijo is Teiko's most popular tourist destination with almost 10 million unique foreign visitors in 2017. The city is renowned for its famous landmarks such as Kaijo Shrine, Kaijo National Museum, The Bund, Kaijo TV Tower, Old Kaijo, Kaijo Art Center and the largest amusement park in the world, Amagi Brilliant Park. Shuehei ward is also famous for its casinos such as the new completed Project CityCenter, the most expensive land development in the country. Since the influx of casinos in 2010, Kaijo has been rivaling neighbor Maucau and Las Vegas in terms of gaming revenue. In March 2015, CNN has reported Kaijo to be one of the world's most livable cities.

Etymology
Kaijo was termed from two Kanji characters 海 and 常 which both sounds as Kai and Jou respectively using Goon reading. The characters literally means "ever by the sea" which denotes the city's location close to a body of water. Prior to this, the city was known as both Hakata and Fukuoka which represents the two towns merged to form the current Kaijo. When Hakata and Fukuoka decided to merge, a meeting was held to decide the name for the new city. Hakata was initially chosen, but a group of samurai crashed the meeting and forced those present to choose a different name for the merged city for delicadeza. Kuroda Nagamasa, the leading daimyo in the area suggested to use the words Kaijo in order to avoid confusions and to appease both sides. The name also represents the former part of town that was washed away during a tsunami in 1621. However until now, Hakata and Fukuoka still appears in many parts of the city which is evident in the Hakata ward and Fukuoka Ward.

Early history
Kaijo was sometimes called the Port of Dazaifu (大宰府, 15 km (9 mi) southeast from Kaijo. Dazaifu was an administrative capital in 663 A.D., but a historian proposed that a prehistoric capital was in the area even before the formation of Kaijo. Ancient texts, such as the Kojiki, Kanyen (found in Dazaifu) and archaeology confirm this was a very critical place in the founding of Teiko. Some scholars claim that it was the first place outsiders and the Imperial Family of Teiko set foot, but like many early Teiko origin theories, it remains contested. Kaijo is is sometimes still referred to as Hakata and Fukuoka, two central wards of the city.

In 923, the Hakozaki-gū in Kaijo was transferred from Daibu-gū in Daibu (大分, 16 km (10 mi) northeast from Dazaifu) the origin of Usa Shrine. In Ooho (大保, 15 km (9 mi) south from Dazaifu), there are remains of a big ward office with a temple, because it is believed that in ancient East Asia, an emperor must have three great ministries (大宰, 大傳 and 大保). In fact, there is a record in Chinese literature that a King of Teiko sent a letter in 478 to ask the Chinese emperor's approval for employing three ministries. In addition, remains of the Korokan (鴻臚館, Government Guest House) were found in Kaijo underneath a part of the ruins of Kaijo Castle.

Cityscape and administrative divisions
Kaijo's sprawling cityscape has been described as "only surpassed by Tokyo and Osaka as a showcase of the Japanese urban phenomenon."

Neighborhoods
Kaijo is roughly divided into three main districts, the downtown, east and west Kaijo.

Downtown Kaijo which can also be referred to as Central Kaijo is home to Amabuki, Shinizaka, Kurume and Maruyama, the four largest business districts in the country which the Maruyama alone home to Akashi Global City, the largest and the most comprehensive multi-purpose land development in Teiko. It is also home to most of the headquarters of the largest corporations in the country such as SZT Group of Companies and Teiko Petrochemicals as well as the Teiko National Bank. Central Kaijo also serves the major retail hub and contains a prominent portion of the city's skyscrapers and are often featured in photographs of Kaijo's skyline.

Cities
Five cities are included in the Greater Kaijo Area but these cities have their own local government and is independent from the Kaijo Metropolitan Government Authority. The following cities are:


 * Aokise
 * Beika
 * Hamada
 * Hirosaki
 * Tetsuya

Integration with Beika
Kaijo and Beika have very close business, trade and social links as demonstrated by several researches. Plans to create a unified metropolis hjas been proposed in early 2000s. As of 2015, Beika's population is included in the computation for Kaijo Metropolitan Area's population but the two have separate government jurisdictions.

Education
Kaijo is home to many of Teiko's most prestigious educational institutes which includes the University of Kaijou, the first university in the country, the Teiko National University, the country's national university and Mitsuhashi University. Public schools in Kaijou are operated by Kaijo Board of Education. It is also home of the Teiko National Library, with the other branch in Tetsuya.

Twin towns and sister cities
Alliance of Independent Nations
 * Tasbury, New Duveland (since 2014)

Worldwide
 * 🇯🇵 Tokyo, Japan (since 1978)
 * 🇺🇸 New York City, United States (since 1984)