Ministerial Transferrence Speech, 2080 (Wastelands: Map Game)

[Translated from Japanese]

Shinikami: Ah... good evening. It's nice to be here after a night of worrying about whether or not I got to sit in that chair again.

[Minor laughter]

Shinikami: But you know, I didn't expect that people would vote me in by such a large margin. I thought someone who had the same name as an anime character and the last name of a battleship would never get elected, not in a thousand years!

[Laughter from younger supporters]

Shinikami: Well, uh... thank you. It remains an honour to be Prime Minister of this country.

[Applause]

Shinikami: Until recently it was named after a single city, but now, I've made the name so long your children will be complaining about it for ages.

[Minor laughter]

Shinikami: But it had to be done. We are a larger country now. A growing country. And we need to look towards the future.

I was told before I came here that this event was unneeded, that I could tell you all of this over paper, or ink, or maybe just record it. But I decided that it would be better to be honest. So, today, I have a few changes to announce.

'''[A moment of silence ensues. A few murmurs are heard in the audience.]'''

Shinikami: Today, the Prime Minister position is abolished, and its powers will be transferred to the Presidential position. This is to reflect that fact that we have been voting in not an emperor's best minister, like in times past, but that we are electing real, established leaders.

I was told that this would be controversial. I do not deny that it is and will always be.

[Silence]

Shinikami: I should be trying to break the atmosphere here... right?

[Several people laugh in the audience]

Shinikami: But it had to be done. I want to make sure that you can elect your leaders, that your children can elect their leaders, and that their children and the generations after them can as well. Not puppets to an emperor. Leaders.

Almost half a century ago the country that was situated here was allies with one of the greatest and strongest leaders on Earth. At times, he would engage in... unsavory action. But nevertheless, he was revered across the world for his strength and his power. And that 'he' was one of many, almost fifty men possessing that title.

I am sure many of our younger friends will never have heard of him. Well, yes, I am young at only thirty-six, but don't let that get to your head!

[Restrained laughter]

Shinikami: That man was called the President of the United States. At times, his power could dictate the fate of the country here, Japan.

One hundred and thirty-five years ago, the President of the United States of that time decided to drop two nuclear weapons on the former cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. It brought Japan to his country's knees, faced with a daunting alternative.

For the many years between then and the nuclear apocalypse of fifty years ago, that man almost always came to Hiroshima or Nagasaki to pay his own respects in his own right to the dead. Whoever that man was at the time, he always solemnly respected the cities he had bombed.

Today, that man is gone.

[Silence]

Shinikami: One of the men that took that position made the terrible mistake of wiping out almost all human life with the powers he was granted. A position so respected by the world, ultimately, ended it.

But I want to go further than men like that.

I want this country and its leaders to command the same respect and power that he had, and to use that power responsibly. To that end, I am instituting the two-term limit on the Presidential position as well. The President of the United Republics will not be a corrupt, infallible person.

[Applause]

Shinikami: With that said, there are many other details of what I plan to do that I can't say without making half this room sleep.

[Laughter from the younger section]

Shinikami: So with that said, yet again, thank you all. Good night!

[Applause as Shinikami leaves the podium]