T-Gear99
Information and Communications / Technology

The Tokugawa Group's internal network terminal, connected by plastic optical fibers to the Tokugawa Building's supercomputer, Hallelujah. The Tokugawa Network is comprised primarily of all the T-Gear99s in operation.

In order to access the Tokugawa Network, one needs to:

1. Possess a Tokugawa ID card for passing an ID check.

2. Clear a password check. The password check uses a special family crest format said to be extremely difficult for a non-Tokugawa Group employee to pass.

The Tokugawa Network offers such services as:

1. E-mail, file sharing, a BBS, and remote access computing.

2. Multi-function search engines such as SADAOKI, Gopher, and Raptor.

3. People databases such as Whois.

4. A business database containing various business information such as reports and memoranda.

5. Confidential financial services.

Furthermore, data on employees of Tokugawa businesses, as well as the families of employees, can only be obtained via the Tokugawa Network. It is also possible to view information from outside the network through its disc device. The media it uses may look like old-fashioned 12-centimeter CD-ROMs, but they are actually holographic optical discs made out of a germanium-antimony-tellurium alloy. One disc boasts 5.12 terabytes of storage space, with the data read not by a laser, but by charging a needle containing an atomic force microscope with a 0.5 volt electric pulse. Combining this type of archaic media format with the latest in super-high density memory technology virtually eliminates the chances of an information leak, should a disc fall outside company hands. Almost all confidential information distributed inside the Tokugawa Group is recorded on this type of disc.

For security purposes, the T-Gear99 is not made available to the public.

telomere lengthening
Culture and Sports / Life Science / Society / Technology

A medical procedure developed this century that delays the aging process by manipulating pieces of DNA responsible for aging called telomeres. Telomeres, located at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes and composed of a six-base DNA sequence of TTAGGG in humans, are tightly wound and highly repetitive structures that are extended over time by telomerase, a special reverse transcriptase, in order to prevent cellular senescence. However, the action of telomerase is not enough to extend telomeres indefinitely, due to the nature of cellular division. As these structures are considered an aging clock for the body, it is thought that by synthesizing telomerase and thereby extending telomeres as they naturally decrease with every cell division, it is possible to extend an organism's life span. While not permitted by law, it is said that the military, along with certain government organizations, have already started performing this procedure on people via gene therapy. A consequence of telomere lengthening is an increased risk of cancer, though this too is addressed via gene therapy. Further research is currently being conducted that will attempt to turn normal cells into immortal cells without the aid of such regular procedures.

Terrestrial
Culture and Sports / Outer Space / Society

Slang for a person born on Earth.

Tokugawa Festival of Japan
Culture and Sports / Society

A festival organized by Tokugawa for Japanese people living on Beyond Coast. Held once a month, its official purpose is to thank employees for their hard work and promote friendship among coworkers, but it is also an occasion for Tokugawa businesses on the colony to get together to consult with one another. Anyone employed by a Tokugawa company, a family member of an employee, or persons with Japanese blood can participate.

Kenzo and Lorraine Hojo met one another at this festival.

Tokugawa Group
Society

A global Japanese conglomerate that can trace its origins to the 1950s, when Zenzo Tokugawa founded Tokugawa Industries, a small local factory. It manufactured products such as lathe machine parts, but Zenzo's foresight helped usher in large waves of growth and eventually turned Tokugawa Industries into Tokugawa Heavy Industries, which later became a leader in the Japanese shipbuilding and iron and steel industries.

Tadashi Tokugawa took over the company in the 1980s, expanding it into the field of semiconductors, with offshoot Tokugawa Electronics soon becoming the top electronics company not only in Japan, but overseas as well. In the 1990s, its revolutionary biomaterials development and the business rockets and satellites it built with technology purchased from Russia meant that Tokugawa was advancing into space ahead of everyone else, setting the benchmark for all future operations in the Space Age. It also actively participated in the "free flyer" experiments from their beginning, these experiments being the forerunner to the Made in Space industry, now the key to surviving as a business in outer space.

Tokugawa then bought up a slew of foreign companies at the start of the 21st century, transforming itself from a Japanese zaibatsu derivative into a global conglomerate. The Third Industrial Revolution that came with the birth of the Space Age also gave Tokugawa its biggest earnings since the company's inception.

Joseph Sadaoki Tokugawa, the company's present head, quit BCP in 2020 with the retirement of Tadashi, becoming the new young leader of this empire. He used his personal history as a Policenaut to completely revamp the company's image and eliminate the Tokugawa bashing that had previously existed.

The conglomerate then moved into new areas that were to become central to space development, such as rockets, spaceships, space stations, satellites, as well as the sensor and computer equipment these require. It also applied the high-tech architectural engineering know-how it acquired at places like the Tokyo Waterfront and the Zeo Front to space base and space station construction, helping to set up space's infrastructure. In addition, these activities sparked the arrival of the next generation of the construction industry, which had been in a state of stagnation at the time, opening up the industry's advancement into space. Furthermore, Tokugawa also established the first civilian base on the Moon.

Having devoted a significant portion of its assets to space development, Tokugawa then proceeded into full-scale Made in Space product development, manufacturing products in microgravity and high vacuum environments, thereby helping the company to achieve a dominant position in outer space. It currently offers its support to many facets of space development, not all of them strictly for profit.

The Tokugawa Group today is divided into a total of 138 companies. Tokugawa Heavy Industries remains its primary focus, with some of its larger arms being Tokugawa Electronics, Tokugawa Construction, Tokugawa Pharmaceuticals, Tokugawa Foods, and Tokugawa Mining. The conglomerate's logo, the mitsuba aoi, or three hollyhocks, is regarded throughout space as a symbol of absolute power.

Tokugawa Hills
Society

An exclusive residential district originally set up by a Japanese electronics firm. The firm constructed a number of company residences there shortly after Beyond Coast was completed. Tokugawa later bought the land from the electronics firm, and it now houses Tokugawa employees. Located in the middle of B Sector at the far end of the colony, which is also the area with the most expensive land prices, it lies on top of a section of hollowed-out ground, positioning it slightly higher up than the surrounding areas and giving it the best view of any area on the colony. Furthermore, this area is considered safer than other areas because it is located furthest away from the colony's mirrors. Buildings here are also allowed to employ, to a certain extent, different layouts and modifications, as well as house their own plants, even without the expressed permission of the Beyond Coast Architectural Committee. Furthermore, select buildings are allowed to use materials from Earth, such as real, untreated lumber, as well.

torus colony
Outer Space / Technology

A donut-shaped space colony supported by Tokugawa. It is a smaller-scale colony, with a maximum population of around 10,000 people. Also known as the Tokugawa model, since it has been created almost solely by technology developed by Tokugawa. All space colonies currently under construction are torus colonies, the largest torus colony built so far consisting of 4 levels.

transplant coordinator
Life Science / Society

A person who works with organ donors and recipients, helping to arrange expedient transplant operations for patients. Also called a transplant manager. There are currently over 4,000 transplant coordinators on Beyond Coast.