Kasane City (pronounced ka-saa-nayy) is a large urban metropolis located on the island of Hokkaido, Japan. It's the second largest city in Japan after Tokyo larger than Osaka, sits upon the Soya subprefecture, and is one of the largest megacities in the world. Sitting upon the remnants of Wakkanai which was destroyed during the initial invasion by a Xeno, the city was rebuilt over a 20 year period with international assistance from various corporations. It soon became an economic powerhouse for all of Japan, as well as the international community.
With a population of 2.3 million people it ranks further in population size than Sapporo. It is also within reach of Sakhalin, enabling easy trade and relations between Japan and Russia.
The city was built in the aftermath of the destruction of northern Hokkaido and its development was led by Takeru Shiota, an engineer of the architectural company Kanto Industries. Takeru was a man who came from the prestigious Shiota family which specialized in civil engineering and architecture since the Meiji era, and were masters of their craft. The Shiota family being one of the richest and most influential families in all of Asia. Seeing the disaster that The Spreading brought about to Hokkaido, Takeru saw it as an opportunity to build his dream metropolis which was originally going to be called Shinkai City. A project he'd been wanting to create since he was a boy.
After the destruction of the northern Hokkaido coast during The Spreading, Takeru saw this as an opportunity to build his dream city, and bring Japan out of the dark ages once again. He was able to buy out the land from the Japanese government and envisioned the establishment for the year 2055, but it took until 2080 for construction to begin.
During the initial construction of the city, Takeru met a former college student named Yuna Kasane who worked as a pharmacist for a Sapporo-based company. The two fell in love instantly and were set to marry within a year. From there Takeru would dream of ruling over his dream city with Yuna as his queen and building a better and advanced future for Japan.
A month before their wedding however tragedy struck as Yuna became gravely ill with the Asuka virus that swept the world in the years after The Spreading.
Yuna would ultimately not survive and would die just a day before their wedding, this loss left Takeru to sink into depression and alcoholism. And would ultimately lead him on an emotional train wreck for the remainder of his life, nevertheless he continued to work on his dream city. Believe that his late wife would not have wanted him to quit.
On the day of its completion in 2100 A.D during a ceremony, Shinkai City was renamed to 'Kasane City' in his wife's honor.
Kasane has easily become one of the most powerful and influential cities on Earth, various corporations are located here and the city has some of the highest GDP in all of Asia. Becoming the second economic powerhouse of Japan next to Tokyo, Kasane is known for its important trade with Sakhalin and Vladivostok located just across the water within Russia. The city is divided into several districts each dedicated to various functions, from the medical district, business, education, commercial, and residential. Norio operates its own military air base off the coast of the city to defend it.
In terms of its urban living standards and dense populations, Kasane is heavily influenced by other city's around the world with apartments, rental houses, and other living facilities virtually accessible to anyone. It is often described as "New York in Asia". Izuhara District is a relatively peaceful and quiet residential district located on the outskirts of Kasane's business and financial districts. It is here where the main character Jin and his family lives.
Kasane also keeps in touch with traditional Japanese history featuring traditional shrines and temples, many of which are used in Shinto ceremonies and taken care of by shrine maidens. These traditional structures are funded by public donations, and even Norio itself.
Despite the city's famous status, it is not without its critics and problems. Kasane's lower impoverished areas are a hotbed for Yakuza organizations, as well as foreign criminal syndicates such as Chinese triads and the Korean mafia. These groups engage in various illegal practices such as drug trafficking, money laundering, assassinations, espionage, prostitution, and rivalries with one another. Most widely known across the city is the rivalry between the Yakuza and Korean mafia.
Many of these syndicates also maintain connections within corporations and even Norio at times. While the city is generally safe like the rest of Japan in terms of its crime rate compared to the rest of the world, crime still does occur if one crosses the wrong paths.