Japans Imperial House in the Postwar Era, 19452019

With the ascension of a new emperor and the dawn of the Reiwa Era, Kenneth J. Ruoff has expanded upon and updated The Peoples Emperor, his study of the monarchys role as a political, societal, and cultural institution in contemporary Japan. Many Japanese continue to define the nations identity through the imperial house, making it a window into Japans postwar history.

Ruoff begins by examining the reform of the monarchy during the US occupation and then turns to its evolution since the Japanese regained the power to shape it. To understand the monarchys function in contemporary Japan, the author analyzes issues such as the role of individual emperors in shaping the institution, the intersection of the monarchy with politics, the emperors and the nations responsibility for the war, nationalistic movements in support of the monarchy, and the remaking of the once-sacrosanct throne into a peoples imperial house embedded in the postwar culture of democracy. Finally, Ruoff examines recent developments, including the abdication of Emperor Akihito and the heir crisis, which have brought to the forefront the fragility of the imperial line under the current legal system, leading to calls for reform.