The Japanese Experience with Micronations

Abstract

This short article reviews the history of micronations in Japan. The Japanese experience with micronations is dominated by a micronation boom that took place in the 1980s after two events: 1) a call by a prefectural governor for more localized, innovative development and 2) the publication of a popular book, Kirikirijin (Inoue 1981), that portrayed a small, rural area in northern Honshu declaring itself independent from the rest of Japan. Most of Japan’s micronations existed during this 1980s and early ‘90s period, with approximately 150 micronations in existence in 1988. Japan possibly held most of the world’s micronations during the 1980s, when the phenomenon was still not that widespread around the world. Unlike many of the more famous micronations around the world, such as Sealand and Hutt River Principality, most of Japan’s micronations were not borne out of sovereignty experiments or landowner disputes with government but were rather created in order to drum up domestic tourism spending at rural businesses. The micronation experiment largely came to an end at the turn of the century, within a few years of the burst of Japan’s economic bubble. Several micronations, including some micronation federations, still exist however.