The next meeting of the Japan History Group (JHG) at the Institute of Social Science (ISS), University of Tokyo, will be held on Tuesday,
14 May, at 6:00 PM in Centre Conference Room (Centre
kaigishitsu) of
the Institute of Social Science, 5th Floor of Akamon Research Building.

Presenter: Jordan Sand (Associate Professor, George Town University)

Title: "Tokyo as an Imperial Capital"

Discussant: Ryuichi Narita (Professor, Nihon Women
University)

Abstract:
How did Japan’s status as a colonial empire between
1895 and 1945 manifest itself in Tokyo, the imperial capital? This presentation will examine the imperial city’s monuments and the itineraries of tourists who visited it. A variety of different tour itineraries were created for different groups of visitors from the West, from within Japan, and from the colonies and elsewhere in Asia. In addition to the considering the visual and spatial vocabulary and the politics of the city’s major monuments, the paper also explores the gaps and tension between the aims of Japanese hosts presenting the imperial capital and the responses of visitors. Particular attention will be given to the officially sponsored tours known as naichi kankō, organized to show Taiwanese aborigines and Micronesians the Japanese metropole. To understand the significance of these exercises in mutual cultural performance, I propose a contrast between two types of modernity: the global and the imperial.
--
-------------------------------------------
Dr. Naofumi NAKAMURA
Professor of Business History
Institute of Social Science,
The University of Tokyo
naofumin[at]iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp