Since 1965, a number of Japanese universities influenced by Trotskyist intellectuals had begun protesting and revolting against the government for a variety of social issues. The Japanese Kempeitai estimated that a tipping point would come in 1968. Prime Minister Eisaku Sato believed that activating emergency powers would be necessary to maintain order if the government's fears became true. However, to do so in the face of largely peaceful protests would be a damning act of authoritarianism upon the eyes of the international community, a reminder of Japan's previous administration, the totalitarian Taisei Yokusankai, whose influence the United States had promised, was completely eradicated. His predecessor, Hayato Ikeda, had seen GDP growth figures of up to 14% annually. One of the greatest slumps for the Sato cabinet, however, was the status of Oceanyka's pirates. While the Pacific could be easily crossed, trade with Europe required passing through the Malacca Strait, which was relatively unsafe. Over the past twenty years numerous Japanese vessels had been captured, sometimes with their sailors impressed into service. While Ikeda's administration did not suffer from significant problems with the pirates, owing to the partial collapse of Farenday's pirate state following a massed German aeronaval strike on their home port, by 1967 they had reconstructed much of their fleet using Soviet weapons and funds derived from an extensive criminal and black market network spanning the whole globe. To redirect the public's attention, it was decided later that year to initiate a military operation. The bait would be an unprotected Japanese container ship carrying brand-new Toyota Briska pickup trucks, a predecessor to the famous Hilux model. It was known by the Japanese government that Oceanyka's demand for Japanese pickup trucks was extremely high, and they were very sought after. Kempeitai agents infiltrated within the Federation purposefully fed this information to Farenday through an anonymous link, and the bait was taken; on January 29th, the cargo ship "Akirakanawana" was seized off the coast of Java. The Japanese government declared their intent to initiate a maritime peacekeeping operation in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Despite negotiation attempts by the Oceanykan Council, the Japanese Navy sailed off on February 12th, thus beginning the Kaizoku War (or Pirate War).
Numerous skirmishes took place over the next two months and a half, in which Japanese warships usually resulted victorious, owing to their better training and higher technology. However, the Oceanykans were truly masters at even maritime guerilla tactics; fishing boats ladden with explosives, "German" cargo ships revealing an enormous cannon battery to white-faced Japanese sailors, night-time boarding teams setting off on-board torpedoes, and a number of mischevous operations aimed at exhausting Japanese willpower. As expected, student protests began to escalate in 1968, so PM Sato activated emergency powers (due to being in an "armed conflict with southern bandits"), and neither the international community nor the national press made much of a fuss about it. However, in March 29th the Okinawa Raid ocurred, in which Oceanykan pirates attacked the important port city of Naha, taking an enormous amount of loot and hundreds of hostages. Thrown into a crisis, the Sato cabinet was forced to sign a "favourable" peace treaty on May 8th. The protests continued escalating.