[X] My Assistant

[Hot Wheels]

Just carrying over something form the lounge, there is an Emporer in Japan but the rest of the noble clan seems to have been removed after the meiji restoration and WW2. Currently the emporer is locked in a fight with the corps. He wants something more home centered.
What do you think of him restoring noble rank to landed supporters who will make a power against the corps.

There could be lots of room to set up runs between corps and nobles, nobles and nobles and possibly even corpers trying to be nobles.

[Arcanum V]

If a formal feudal system were to develop in an industrialized nation, it would develop among the industrialists. Your noble class would come in the form of formal recognition of the corporate structure, not in a return to a land-based system. The thing that holds a feudal system together is the ability to grant assets to underlings and receive service from them. In a modern world, the most valuable assets are corporate positions and holdings, not land. Land is a valuable asset, but it's far from the most valuable one. I don't see a land-based nobility becoming important in any way other than a GM's fiat that just says "land-based nobility exists as a meaningful challenge to the corporations" in much the same way that a GM's fiat decided the population of Native Americans could grow exponentially in two generations despite the presence of a lethal pandemic. Without real assets, a titled nobility is just colorful roleplaying, like the SCA.

[Hot Wheels]

In modern Japan land is very valuble because it is hard to come by, that's why the farmers are such a powerful lobby force. someone able to amass such farm land would have influence, and sure you could get a "lord" running a corp but they change, cEO's can lose power and be replaced,so the title would have to be tied to the crop, not the family.

[Cain]

This is largely based of anecdotes and half-buried memories, so feel free to take this with a grain of salt.

IIRC, during the Meiji Restoration, many of the Daimyo realized that they could not stop what was about to happen, so instead they backed it, putting their money to use in training their children in Western business and industry, as well as building the industrial infrastructure. Former samurai became the Zaibatsu as we know it. This history is still important to them-- that's one reason why they view business as war.

Families of the once-samurai still hold prominence. I know one person who still has his ancestral sword, and is trained in its use. Given the Japanese fondness for genealogy, tracing back samurai families is quite easy; I've heard that before some marriages are allowed to take place, they track the genealogy to make sure there were no Eta in the family line, or Koreans.

[Kanada Ten]

It might also provide a way for Japan to save face on the Philippines. If the Emperor granted the colony autonomy under a "Japanese" noble that the Huk would take orders from, they could maintain some control over the area The Emperor would certainly strike a blow to those who dislike him for losing it, and it would allow him to focus on the CFS, Chile, and hell Japan. Masaru kept his "Japanese" name and is talking with the Child Emperor.

Land still has importance in the minds of populations, as a symbol if nothing else. But titles can be far more important for that. We have already seen the Emperor make symbolic moves (the arranged marriage, the divinity affirmation).

The neat part about granting Masaru the Philippines would be how it would fracture the Huk and the populace there (assuming the dragons accepted it). It would essentally tie the black dragon's hands for a time...

I wonder if the Emperor could kill two birds with one stone... Grant both Masaru and Rymuyro titles and land.