Article: Rebel Rich.(what the world will look like in 2012)(sovereignty for Hokkaido, Japan)

A rebellion is brewing on Japan's northern frontier. This one doesn't involve armed guerrillas, or even a last-gasp campaign by Hokkaido's few remaining indigenous people, the Ainu, demanding the return of lands occupied by displaced samurai in the 19th century. No, Japan's next territorial struggle will be bloodless and democratic. It will happen when Hokkaido's roughly 6 million inhabitants simply vote to quit the country of their ancestors.

Fantasy? Today it might seem so, but by 2012 Hokkaido could be a major centrifugal force in Japan, just as it was once a major unifying force. After 1869, Tokyo's drive to colonize the northern "wasteland" marked Japan's ...

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