The Supremely Democratic States of Hirota is a gargantuan, cultured nation, ruled by Kan Pae Down with an even hand, and notable for its museums and concert halls, deadly medical pandemics, and flagrant waste-dumping. The hard-nosed, hard-working population of 48.963 billion Hirotans have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The minute government, or what there is of one, juggles the competing demands of Defense, Healthcare, and Education. The average income tax rate is 1.2%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Hirotan economy, worth a remarkable 8,720 trillion coins a year, is led by the Uranium Mining industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Information Technology, and Retail. Black market activity is notable. State-owned companies are common. Average income is an impressive 178,107 coins, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Teach an angler how to phish and he can make a living, hypochondriacs demand treatment for genetic disorders they don't have, a cat may look at a king and a dude can look at an ass, and the number of deaths due to poor fungus identification is mushrooming. Crime, especially youth-related, is all-pervasive, probably because of the absence of a police force. Hirota's national animal is the forest owl, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Hirota is ranked 159^th in the world and 4^th in Europe for Largest Mining Sector, scoring 50,867.56 on the Blue Sky Asbestos Index.