Daihodou

Daihodou (大北道) more commonly known as Japanese Alaska is a part of the Empire of Japan. It was formerly a Russian colony but given to the Japanese during the Russo-Japanese War. However, the Japanese soon find keeping the colony very costly and difficult having to put down the Alaskan Rebellion against the Russians in 1905.

Russian Alaska
In the 1740s after sightings of Alaska in America, the Russians began to settle in the region. However, they found the region to be cold and baren unlike their European counterpart which colonised fertile land with plenty of natural resources. Due to this, Alaska was largely ignored by the St. Petersburg government and considered selling to other countries.

During the Russo-Japanese War
In 1902, Russia and Japan went to war over Port Aurthur, Vladivastok and Korea. The Alaskan fleet stationed in the region was sent to fight the Japanese but to no success. By 1905, it was clear that the war did not favour the Russians having lost both Baltic and Pacific fleet due to this, Alaska was left wide open. Revolution spirit was also increasing all across Russia especially in Alaska where Russian vessels could no longer ship goods due to fear of interception by Japanese warships. In September 1905, Russian Alaska launched a rebellion against the government. Most Alaskans were oblivious to the Russo-Japanese War and also to the rebellion and was doomed to fail. In the same month, Russia surrendered to the Japanese giving Alaska to them. With the new Japanese overlord, the rebellion was put down with the rebels either killed, arrested or deserted by the start of October.

Japanese Alaska
As soon as they managed to gain control over the colony, they renamed Alaska to Daihodou meaning the Great Northern Road and the capital, Novo-Arkhangelsk to Katsushima meaning Victory Island to celebrate the military success in the war. The Japanese now for the past 5 years have been funding immigration programs to their new colony, looking for ways to exploit its vast resources of lumber and stone, as well as how to deal with the large Native and even larger Russian population, and this task falls to its Governor General Ōyama Iwao, a war hero of the Russo-Japanese war. It will take much work to turn this remote cold land into an economically viable, and industrial colony, but with the ports already built up and improved from its Russian years, as well as the Trans-Daihodou railroad nearing completion, Japan has already made the first step into developing Daihodou.