New Tokyo 3, it's remaining moon, and the ring formed by its shattered second moon.
The New Tokyo system is best known for being dominated by East Asian immigrants. It is currently ruled by House Yasuyama under Duke Yasuyama Akihiro. New Tokyo's planetary capitol city is Shinjuku, and its Impball team is the New Tokyo Managers.
It is also believed to be the new home of the yakuza, once their old home in the Eastern Bloc was destroyed by the Vin Shriak Holy War of the early 2250s.
Early History
Founded in 2209 during a wave of expansion onto former Bug worlds, New Tokyo was colonized by humans from East Asia who had rejected the Eastern Bloc in favor of the Earth Federation. Although settled mostly by Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and Thais, there are also smaller populations descended from many other Southeast Asian cultures, including Filipinos and Indonesians. New Tokyo also absorbed many refugees from the losing side of the Eastern Bloc Civil War.
Yes, we rebuilt Tokyo - are you that surprised?
Located near the border with the K'Nes Tor and Jurvain Commonality, and strategically situated between the industrialized Phoenix system and the western hyperspace shipping lanes crossing through Wilke's Star, New Tokyo quickly became a hub of travel, trade, and treasure. With a booming economy, the system developed and industrialized rapidly.
Modern History
In 2234, at the request of Lwan Eddington, the Fuji Depository was built on New Tokyo, essentially a massive magical containment unit designed to hold the Orb and prevent the Caal from learning of its existence & location. Unfortunately, nine years later in 2243, the Depository was breached and the Orb stolen by Xavier Pollos, which in turn led directly to the Caal Invasion twenty years later in 2264, and the subsequent collapse of the Earth Federation.
Third Civil War
New Tokyo's strategic location made it a battleground during the Third Civil War of 2243, where It was seized by sided with the Tech Infantry Rebels early in the conflict. Ironically, although there was no fighting between humans on the planet, it was invaded by the K'Nes Tor, which quickly won the space battle for control of the system. The K'Nes's initial troop landing on the planet, however, coincided with Xavier Pollos stealing the Orb. Wielding its immense magickal power, Pollos effectively turned back the K'Nes landing single-handedly, then split New Tokyo's second moon in half and hurled the debris at the K'Nes fleet in orbit, destroying half of their warships (including their flagship and capital ships) and forcing them to retreat back to Midgar.
Although this crippled the Tor Navy and effectively stopped the K'Nes invasion of human space dead in its tracks, it also caused meteorites to rain down on New Tokyo 3 for years to come, causing massive damage across the planet. Eventually, Earth Fleet was able to move any moon debris large enough to be dangerous into a stable orbit, which eventually spun out into a small ring system around the planet over the course of decades.
Vulthra Wars
Thankfully, New Tokyo was far enough away from the front lines to be spared the worst of the Vin Shriak Holy War of 2251-55, although many refugees fleeing the destruction of the Eastern Bloc migrated to New Tokyo (including Yasuyama family members Akihiro, Takamitsu, Kim Wen, and Kim Ji-yoon). This is also when the yakuza is thought to have relocated to New Tokyo 3.
The First Vulthra War in 2253 ended before the Vulthra reached New Tokyo. During the Second Vulthra War four years later in 2257, however, the Vulthra invaded the system. In the Battle of New Tokyo, Earth Fleet ambushed and destroyed the bulk of the Vulthra fleet, turning the tide of the war. Thankfully, the Vulthra never got the chance to land troops on New Tokyo 3.
Ascension War
Again, New Tokyo was lucky enough not to be in the path of the Caal Invasion of 2264. During the following Ascension War in 2265, however, New Tokyo played a crucial (albeit indirect) role by kicking off the Red Spring.
What started off as corporate espionage between the Ministry of Public Safety and Anshin Heavy Industries (owned by the Yasuyama family) escalated until the Yasuyamas raided and destroyed Sisko Hawke Barracks in retaliation for General Karen Wagenecht's attempt to steal Anshin's new Zeta Armor prototypes.
This attack was misinterpreted by the local Cult of the Emperor as the beginning on an open rebellion against the Ministry in favor of the Holy Terran Empire, and became the triggering events for a wave of pro-Imperial riots and revolts throughout New Tokyo. The Yasuyamas and the Cultists allied together, and after a long and bloody campaign managed to seize control of New Tokyo and unify it with the Empire.
Meanwhile, the Ministry had re-unified with the Earth Federation. While the Ministry was neutral toward the Empire, the Federation was at war with them. Angered by this and inspired by New Tokyo's success, Imperial Cultists in many former Ministry systems rebelled in a series of protests, riots, and revolts known as the Red Spring. This sapped the Federation's strength, resources, and manpower, and was a major reason why the Federation ultimately lost the Ascension War to the Holy Terran Empire.
More coming later...
Season 8 Alternate Timeline
In the Middle Kingdom alternate timeline, New Tokyo was ruled by Earl Cheon-Ha Jeong, and its criminal underworld was dominated by the Tanzhi yakuza family. The bulk of Cho Yamazaki's plotline took place on New Tokyo, mostly in the spaceport city of Tatsumori.
Many New Tokyo businesses and products were mentioned in Season 8 which may or may not exist in the main timeline, including:
- Honshu Park in Tatsumori
- The Shaanxi Hotel chain
- Sushi City - sushi delivery restaurant
- Nirvanas - popular (and legal) brand of marijuana cigarettes
- Mitsu Shobai - bar catering to (and owned by) the yakuza
- Tanzhi Casinos - casino chain owned & operated by yakuza-Tanzhi, also a front for money laundering
- Hello Kitty Club - run by Madam Shinaki, a high-end strip club where the dancers can also be rented by the hour
- Kawaii Club - another strip club/brothel, but much cheaper, rougher, and seedier
Behind the Scenes
Since Tokyo has been destroyed and rebuilt in so many anime series, it seems fitting that Nathan Bax would include a New Tokyo system. In this case, it references the city in the film Akira, although you could just as easily include Tokyo-3 from Neon Genesis Evangelion. In fact, we chose to put the main colony on the third planet from the sun specifically so we could refer to it as New Tokyo 3.