2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

The process of reorganizing the public support base of symbolic emperor system

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24720293
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Japanese history
Research Institution	Hitotsubashi University
Principal Investigator	SEBATA HAJIME 一橋大学, 大学院社会学研究科, 研究補助員 (10611618)
Project Period (FY)	2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	天皇制 / 歴史学 / 日本現代史 / 政治学 / 昭和天皇
Research Abstract	The purpose of this research is to shed light on the reorganizing of the public support base of the emperor system in Japan after the Asia-Pacific War. So it focuses on the policy process by the Imperial Household Agency concerning Emperor Hirohito in the "Postwar Tour" of 1946-1954. There was the clear purpose of comforting the victims of war for him, and people gave favorable responses to him who spoke to them during the first stage in tours. However, when the scale in tours was expanded gradually, a large amount of outing expense was the target of criticism, and they had to be broken off. After resumption in 1949, the Imperial Household Agency was subordinate to the government and only managed the tours. The government made use of the emperor as disturbing communism. But people reacted sharply against political exploitation of the Emperor. It became indispensable to the support from people to be recognized as a "human being" in whom the Emperor impresses familiarity.

(3 results)