In the first full-length English-language study of the monarchy in postwar Japan, Kenneth J. Ruoff examines not only its reform during the Occupation (1945-52), but also its evolution in the decades since the Japanese regained the power to shape their monarchy and polity. In order to understand the monarchy's function in contemporary Japan, the author analyzes the role of individual emperors in shaping the institution; interpretations of the emperor's new constitutional position as symbol; the emperor's intersection with politics; the issue of the emperor's and the nation's responsibility for...
In the first full-length English-language study of the monarchy in postwar Japan, Kenneth J. Ruoff examines not only its reform during the Occupation ...
In 1940, Japan was into its third year of war with China, and relations with the United States were deteriorating, but it was a heady time for the Japanese nonetheless. That year, the Japanese commemorated the 2,600th anniversary of the founding of the Empire of Japan. According to the imperial myth-history, Emperor Jimmu, descended from the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, established the "unbroken imperial line" in 660 BCE.
In carefully choreographed ceremonies throughout the empire, through new public monuments, with visual culture, and through heritage tourism, the Japanese celebrated the...
In 1940, Japan was into its third year of war with China, and relations with the United States were deteriorating, but it was a heady time for the ...
