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Japan on Display Morris Low (University of Queensland, Australia)

Japan on Display By Morris Low (University of Queensland, Australia)

Summary

The author explores the role of science and photography in representations of Japan and Emperors Mutsuhito and Hirohito, covering a period of over a hundred years from the Meiji period through the Emperor Hirohito's death in 1989.

Japan on Display Summary

Japan on Display: Photography and the Emperor by Morris Low (University of Queensland, Australia)

Sixty years on from the end of the Pacific War, Japan on Display examines representations of the Meiji emperor, Mutsuhito (1852-1912) and his grandson the Showa emperor, Hirohito who was regarded as a symbol of the nation, in both war and peacetime. Much of this representation was aided by the phenomenon of photography.

The introduction and development of photography in the nineteenth century coincided with the need to make Hirohito's grandfather, the young Meiji Emperor, more visible. Photo books and albums became a popular format for presenting seemingly objective images of the monarch, reminding the Japanese of their proximity to the Emperor, and the imperial family. In the twentieth century, these 'national albums' provided a visual record of wars fought in the name of the Emperor, while also documenting the reconstruction of Tokyo, scientific expeditions, and imperial tours.

Drawing on archival documents, photographs, and sources in both Japanese and English, this book throws new light on the history of twentieth-century Japan and the central role of Hirohito. With Japan's defeat in the Pacific War, the Emperor was transformed from wartime leader to peace-loving scientist. Japan on Display seeks to understand this reinvention of a more 'human' Emperor and the role that photography played in the process.

About Morris Low (University of Queensland, Australia)

Morris Low is professor of East Asian sciences and technology at Johns Hopkins University. His previous publications include Science, Technology and Society in Contemporary Japan (1999); Science, Technology and R&D in Japan (2001); Asian Masculinities (2003); Building a Modern Japan (2005); and Science and the Building of a New Japan (2005).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations. 1. Imagining the Emperor 2. The Death of the Meiji Emperor 3. Hybridity and the Whiteness of the Japanese 4. Collecting Manchuria 5. The Emperor's Sons go to War 6. The Emperor, Imperial Tours and the Tokyo Olympics 7. Techno-Nationalism and the Family 8. The Emperor as Scientist. Epilogue: The Death of the Showa Emperor

Additional information

NLS9780415649353
9780415649353
0415649358
Japan on Display: Photography and the Emperor by Morris Low (University of Queensland, Australia)
New
Paperback
Taylor & Francis Ltd
2012-11-02
216
N/A
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