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Let me start where I shoul😛 two days ago

I just finished my story arc (the day before) in regards to the eHungary, eChina and eJapan business. The level of insanity or...idiocy, admittedly, asked long time resident of eJapan (and, even though he's Dutch, he's essentially a Japanese native):

Are your articles meant for troll and have fun or are you really as uninformed as your articles are making you look ?

This did not come as a surprise to me. In fact, I've been waiting at least a month for someone to ask the same question. And, here's what I told him:

Oh, it's complete trolling. Don't worry about it, it's all a public persona thing like, and it's just my inspiration and not a comparison, Stephen Colbert. I don't know if you've heard of him or not. Anyway, this is all done on purpose as a deconstructive parody into the lack of quality in modern media based on making baseless accusations and pointless arguments. It's for fun and to make a statement on the importance of research, fact-checking, and activity in media. I aim, not for votes and subscribers, but for discussion; the most important part of a democratic society. And "what the hell did Hitoshi say?" is certainly a fun topic for discussion for many people, I am sure.

And as an aside, just in case you were wondering, though I publicly state dislike for forums, it's absolute nonsense. You might actually see me lurking from time to time, or on other forums with activity. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the character of Hitoshi Makoto as much as I am. Personally, it's relaxing to write without any regard of, well, anything. If you're going to create a multi, I suggest the same thing.

But shhh... it's a secret.

And it goes one to where he tells me to be careful around new players, and yeah. Anyway, me gots pics if ya don'ts believe me.

Anyway, moving on, that conversation got me thinking about the past two weeks and where I'm going with Hitoshi Makoto. Well, I guess to understand that, we'll go back even furhter in time... around two and something years ago.
My friend Abdullah, (yep, we have Muslims in Canada too) the original Hitoshi Makoto, had been playing eRepublik for 6 months or something. I actually don't know how long. He conceived the idea of Hitoshi Makoto as the "ultimate eRepublik player". Trust me, it's not a sentiment I share. Not then or now. To achieve this dream, he wanted to outfit Hitoshi Makoto with
a) a Japanese-sounding name and
b) a "lot of kick-ass weapons"

We were in Grade 8, give us a break. We're all a lot older now.
Well, he was getting bored of eRepublik and asked which one of his friends would like to take over. At the time, I didn't know anything about eRep, except for what he showed me. So I passed it up.
Thankfully, another person took the torch (if you want to call it that), saying he wanted to try it out for himself. He was the second Hitoshi Makoto, the Hitoshi Makoto who fought a lot with Geno Garon and made all those goofy titles at the start. He led the United Bushi of Nihon [sic if you like Nippon like I do], and he's REALLY the one who moulded Hitoshi Makoto into the character of...Hitoshi Makoto.
As for me, I'm the Yuri God, or so to speak. My first article was on day 1104. About three months after the second Hitoshi stopped playing. I guess I'll get into depth there.

Let me put it all my cards on the table (again, so to speak): I don't like yuri, not one bit. I'm actually very homophobic. I got someone else to write the yuri articles. I did the rest, though. The whining was intentional, the complaining was intentional, the missteps and mistakes were intentional. I love forums, love talking on forums, and especially like eJapan's forums. That little reputation system is f*cking awesome, and I'm glad we have such an active citizen base with deep Roleplaying and discussion; instead of being, as Hitoshi so adamantly claims is best "bound to the game alone". You may actually have seen me from time to time, and the posts I've made were again, in character. The votes weren't, though.

All right, why am I saying all this? Well, after 987 days or so of this character being active and after almost 6 months of playing myself; I'm retiring the character of Hitoshi Makoto. I actually want to get into seriously playing this game now, as well as playing another game similar to eRepublik (wink wink) once it gets out of pre-beta. I want to participate in eJapan in this fascinating time. I also want to thank the 196 (the 197th is me) subscribers, and 120 friends (I think 1 is Plato) who have come along the way. I want to thank the eIrish for their hospitality, and I want to thank all of you for playing along.

I hope you've all enjoyed the character of Hitoshi Makoto as much as I have. If anything, though this wasn't why me or my friends did it, realize the improtance of quality journalism. There's a reason some votes get 100+ votes and 1000+ subscribers. Other than "I want media mogul" or "I want votes" or those (in)famous trolls, we have a lot of quality journalism in eRepublik that's active. It's been a wild ride, everyone. I hope none of you forget about Hitoshi Makoto, I certainly won't. He's rubbed off on me a bit, as I feel myself losing 2 IQ points just playing him.
I've learned a lot about eJapan, too. I've learned they are a warm, welcoming people who are intolerant of idiots or jerks ruining what you've got here. I've learned you guys care a lot about this country, and that you, all of you, are dedicated to making it a better place. It's rare to see that in an eCountry, where most of them are concerned principly with expansion, we have a place like eJapan.

That's all I've got to say. In the immortal words of one of broadcasting's greats: Good night, and good luck.

And I'll be back for realsies soon

-Hitoshi Makoto
Signing off

P.S: I'm sending my entire wealth to the treasury. Vote it to the NBJ, when you want to.