ABSTRACT
Sixty years after the end of the Pacifi c War, it is still diffi cult to understand the process by which the Japanese people came to imagine themselves as a distinct nation centred on the emperor. For better or for worse, the emperor was used to help defi ne Japan as a nation and photography played a signifi cant role in representing him. How was he imagined? His legitimacy was associated with having been part of a mythic ‘unbroken’ imperial line but in the postwar period, he aligned himself with science and rationality. How do we reconcile these contrasting representations?
