Enthroning Hirohito: Culture and Nation in 1920s Japan

This essay examines the ceremonies surrounding the enthronement of Emperor Showa in 1928 and their implications for Japanese nationalism. The 1928 celebrations displayed the contours of official nationalism at the time and furthered national integration, principally because they took advantage of the great technological and cultural developments of the 1920s. Though official versions of nationalism were powerful, people participated in the celebrations for a variety of reasons. The enthronement events were intimately related to the mass culture and consumerism of the 1920s and were a reflection and expression of urban life in that decade, not a predictor of foreign aggression in the 1930s.