Nationl Unification Thriugh the Modern emperor System

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This research report is comprised of two parts,"The Meiji Restoration and International Relations" and "National Unification Through the Enperor System During the Earky Meiji Period. "The former examines the ways in which international relations both facilitated national unification under the emperor system and characterized the way in which that unification took place. The latter looks at the practices surrounding the holiday for the emperor's birthday (Tenchosetsu), established after the meiji Restoration, and demonstrates the process by which the common people's traditional festival customs and enperor-worship practices were given a national form.The shock of international relations served to facilitate Japanese national unification in the following ways. First, because the foreign threat was not immediate, a coordinated response was possible. Second, Japan at the time was already basically prepares undertake political centralization and economic development. Third, it was, accordingly, possible to manipulate the foreign threat to promote national unification.From the beginning, events commemorating the emperor's birthday combined court and government ceremonies with the celebrations of ordinary citizens. Foreign diplomats offered advice on the planning of those ceremonies, and indeed prefrctures like Kanagawa and Nagasaki, with their open ports, held the most lavish celebrations. This is one example of the way international relations were utilized to give a modern face to emperor-woeship practices.