Jack of Harts

The Japanese Home Islands fell to a Chinese invasion during the Second Great Depression. As did most of the nations surrounding China. There were a lot of refugees from those nations, and many went to their neighbors, trying to get just a little bit further from the Chinese invaders. Whereupon they would have to run again when the Chinese expansion continued. The largest single refugee fleet crossed the entire Pacific and landed in Los Angeles. This was after the Los Angeles Blackout, and Los Angeles was not in good shape. But it had always been home to one of the largest Japanese populations outside the Home Islands, so when the new Empress of Japan set sail, Los Angeles was her destination. She put all of her surviving resources into rebuilding the new home of her people when she arrived. They called it New Nippon or New Nihon. Outsiders never did fully figure out when they would use one name over the other. Americans just took to calling it New Japan because it was a name they understood.