ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the Cultural Policy as a form of what Michel Foucault has called "govern mentality." It views the policy through an examination of the writings and recollections of high-level Government-General officials. The chapter examines the colonial state's use of ethnology as the "science and technique of intervention of the government" in the field of culture. It also examines the creation of government apparatuses concerned with two of the main fields of culture, religion and ethnic identity, such as Shinto shrines and museums. The chapter attempts to clarify aspects of the Cultural Policy that are most relevant to understanding the Culture Movement. The nature of bureaucracy enabled the colonial state to take a flexible approach, establishing offices to supervise, organize, and publish research when necessary and abolishing them after they had served their purpose. Museums were one of the main cultural facilities used by the colonial state used to assert its authority over ethnic identity.
