| 研究課題/領域番号 |
18K01422
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| 研究機関 | 早稲田大学 |
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研究代表者 |
LEHENY DAVID 早稲田大学, 国際学術院(アジア太平洋研究科), 教授 (80817479)
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| 研究期間 (年度) |
2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
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| キーワード | Meiji / Commemoration / Politics / Narrative / Affect / Local History / Tourism / Emotion |
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| 研究実績の概要 |
During the first year of the research project, I focused on four sets of key activities. First, I used site visits to two of the prefectures (Kagoshima and Saga) engaged in substantial Meiji commemorative events because of their historical role in the Restoration. Second, I began to build a more substantial collection of historical and data resources on the Meiji restoration itself, including not just the spread of Boshin War and Meiji commemorative sites but also the (frankly limited) national-level commemorative activities. Third, I incorporated elements of this research into my presentations at two key international meetings (Association for Asian Studies and International Studies Association). Fourth, I began work on a co-authored article on commemoration with Professor Robert Hellyer of Wake Forest University, which compares commemorative activities, particularly Japan Foundation-sponsored conferences, around the world with the types of activities in Japan. We argue that the 150th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration has become something of a "global moment" in Japanese studies, drawing together scholars from different continents, institutions, and disciplines to consider the Meiji today.
These became elements of a publication strategy aimed at using the various was in which the Meiji Restoration has (and has not) been commemorated to think about Japanese politics, about debates on Japan's global role, and the affective dimensions that link them. I address the challenges and possibilities below.
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| 現在までの達成度 (区分) |
現在までの達成度 (区分)
3: やや遅れている
理由
Although the field research trips were fascinating and successful, and my conference presentations went well, I will be forced to redesign the project a little because of the limited national government activity in commemorating the Meiji Restoration. Prime Minister Abe referred to it in his first speech of 2018 and hosted a small gathering in Tokyo to commemorate the event, but beyond that -- mostly because of the pressing political concerns and challenges -- the government's focus was not on commemoration, and even the government's website on the Restoration mostly linked to activities being carried out in different prefectures and towns, usually for obvious tourism-promotion reasons.
In keeping with the proposal's interest in the construction of narrative and its relationship with contemporary politics, I am now considering embedding the Meiji Commemorations into a broader set of events occurring during the duration of this research project, namely the transition from the Heisei to Reiwa Eras, as well as the 2020 Olympics. In both cases, there have been intense efforts by the government and private public/actors alike to create and display stories of what Japan has been, what it has become, and what lies in the future. The purpose will be think productively about narrative and politics by reconsidering the Meiji commemoration in a broader set of debates about Japan's past and future.
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| 今後の研究の推進方策 |
In the immediate future, I will be drafting four related articles/book chapter for refereed (and SCOPUS-indexed) publications: a co-authored paper (with Robert Hellyer of Wake Forest University) contrasting global and local representations of the Meiji Restoration's 150th anniversary; a book chapter for a new Oxford handbook of Japanese politics; a book chapter for a book on the Heisei era, drawing especially on national narrative and nostalgia; and a paper on "internationalization" that will reflect in part on how the Meiji Restoration is memorialized as a key moment in Japan's exposure to the "outside" world. I expect to have drafts of all of these completed by the end of 2019.
In 2020, I will continue working on the aftermath of the Meiji anniversary, looking especially at how it is drawn into discussions of Japanese history during the Heisei-Reiwa transition and the upcoming 2020 Olympics.
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| 次年度使用額が生じた理由 |
During the coming year, I hope to use funds to take another trip to Western Japan -- particularly to Kochi and Yamaguchi prefectures, which had their own important Meiji commemorative events -- but mostly to focus on document collection in Tokyo. In addition to resources directly connected to the Meiji Restoration, I plan to focus both on scholarly accounts of Japanese politics, debates about narrative and status, and commemoration, as well as on popular representations of the Meiji (film and TV shows dealing with leading Meiji figures). My goal here will be to consider in part how the "humanization" of historical figures, usually rendering them in terms recognizable to contemporary audiences, fits in larger debates about the politics of commemoration. I also plan to submit the four articles I have been asked or encouraged to write.
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