Japan's Imperial House in the Postwar Era, 1945-2019

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

Ruoff begins by examining the reform of the monarchy during the US occupation and then turns to its evolution since the J...