Rakuzan

Rakuzan (洛山), officially Rakuzan City (海常都) is one of the four special administrative regions of the Federal Kingdom of Teiko. It is the second of the two metropolis of the country succeeding Kaijo. Rakuzan existed as designated city until 2001 when it was approved to be a metropolitan prefecture but it's main jurisdiction only encompass the original 10 wards of the former City of Rakuzan. In 2015, it has an estimate population of 4.2 million people making it the the fifteenth largest urban agglomeration among member nations of the Alliance of Independent Nations.

Heian to Edo period
Katō Kiyomasa, a contemporary of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was made daimyo of half of the (old) administrative region of Higo in 1588. After that, Kiyomasa built Rakuzan Castle. Due to its many innovative defensive designs, Rakuzan Castle was considered impregnable, and Kiyomasa enjoyed a reputation as one of the finest castle-builders in Japanese history. After Kiyomasa died in 1611, his son, Tadahiro, succeeded him, but Tadahiro was removed by Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1632, replacing him with the Akashi clan.

19th century to present
The modern municipality was established in 1899 with the order from Prince Akihiro who planned to make Rakuzan as major trading center for ship goods and resources to Korea and China. Later the city went massive expansion until it reached its current size of 580.43 sq. km. (224.11 sq mi). Rakuzan was the industrial center most clearly defined in the development of capitalism in Teiko. The rapid industrialization attracted many Korean immigrants, who set up a life apart for themselves. The political system was pluralistic, with a strong emphasis on promoting industrialization and modernization. Literacy was high and the educational system expanded rapidly, producing a middle class with a taste for literature and a willingness to support the arts.

Like its European and American counterparts, Rakuzan displayed slums, unemployment, and poverty. In Teiko it was here that municipal government first introduced a comprehensive system of poverty relief, copied in part from British models. Rakuzan policymakers stressed the importance of family formation and mutual assistance as the best way to combat poverty. This minimized the cost of welfare programs.

During the World War II, Rakuzan suffered great damage from the attacks of the Japanese Imperial Army in 1942. The city also experienced air raids from the United States Army Air Forces during the liberation efforts to push the Japanese army back to Honshu.

Twin towns and sister cities
Alliance of Independent Nations
 * Nakama Matsukawa, Nakama
 * Nakama Shiromoto, Nakama

Worldwide
 * 🇯🇵 Japan Osaka, Japan (since 1998)