Alright, so I finally decided to dive into Victoria 3 and try my hand at playing as Japan. I’ve heard it’s a pretty unique and challenging start, and boy, were they right!
First things first, I started a new game and, obviously, selected Japan. The initial setup is pretty wild. You’re this isolated nation with all these outdated laws and a pretty weak economy. My first goal was simple: don’t collapse immediately.
I began by looking at my political situation. The Shogunate is in charge, and they’re not exactly fans of progress. I knew I needed to start chipping away at their power, but doing it too fast would cause a civil war, and I definitely wasn’t ready for that.
Economic Reform
- I started building a few construction sectors in my most populous states, trying to kickstart things.
- Then, I focused on getting some basic industries going – tools, textiles, that sort of thing. It was slow going, but every little bit helped.
- I also started researching technologies that would help with resource extraction and production. I needed iron, coal, and all that good stuff to really get things moving.
Political Maneuvering
This was the tricky part. I started supporting the Intelligentsia and Industrialists, hoping to get them into power eventually. They’re the ones who want to modernize, which is exactly what I needed.
I also tried to pass some early reforms, like better policing and maybe a slight change to the land laws, to boost the economy and make some of the people happy and slowly weaken the Shogunate. It was a balancing act, trying not to anger the Shogunate too much while still making progress.
Opening Up (Carefully!)
I knew I couldn’t stay isolated forever. I started looking at my diplomatic options. I decided to try and improve relations with some of the European powers, hoping to get trade deals and maybe even some technology sharing going.
It was super slow, with lots of waiting. Sometimes a revolution started, or some other world event interrupted my processes, it was frustrating.
But after a lot of trial and error, a lot of restarts, and a few near-disasters, I finally managed to get Japan on the path to modernization. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s a lot of fun seeing this nation transform from a feudal state to a (hopefully) major player on the world stage!
