ABSTRACT
From the late nineteenth century on, Japan's imperial institution has been used to access the world, to make the world accessible to Japan and to make what is accessed part of Japanese culture, society, and politics. Though it no longer enjoys the centrality it had from 1868 to 1945, the imperial institution today is still organized and staffed to promote Japan's "internationalization." Ironically, in fact, the emperor and imperial family have been more active in international affairs since the Allied Occupation ended in 1952 than at any other time in Japanese history, despite a drastically reduced palace staff and a drastically reduced role for the emperor in the Japanese polity.
