The Republic of Ishika is a titanic, cultured nation, renowned for its museums and concert halls, keen interest in outer space, and daily referendums. The compassionate, democratic population of 10.012 billion Ishikans enjoy extensive civil rights and enjoy a level of social equality free from the usual accompanying government corruption.

The large, socially-minded government juggles the competing demands of Education, Administration, and Environment. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Subaquarium. The average income tax rate is 76.8%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The frighteningly efficient Ishikan economy, worth a remarkable 1,263 trillion Guppies a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. The industrial sector, which is quite specialized, is led by the Information Technology industry, with significant contributions from Book Publishing, Tourism, and Basket Weaving. Average income is an impressive 126,244 Guppies, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Bigtopian interference in domestic elections is always democratically sanctioned, the government is plagued with uncertainty, apples shaped like baguettes have become a strange new food fad, and mantis shrimp studies is academia's fastest-growing field. Crime is totally unknown. Ishika's national animal is the blob fish, which is also the nation's favorite main course.

Ishika is ranked 217,141^st in the world and 1,668^th in the West Pacific for Largest Cheese Export Sector, scoring 462.71 on the Mozzarella Productivity Index.