ABSTRACT
The subject of the emperor is a sensitive one in Japan. It is highly politicized, so that whatever one says about it may carry wider implications. It may also be dangerous, as there are right wing extremists ready to settle accounts with those who in their opinion have insulted the emperor. It is an embarassing topic, reminiscing myths and beliefs that many Japanese would like to forget. As Oe Kenzaburo wrote in 1966, ‘The intellectual climate of Japan… causes writers to avoid the subject of the emperor system.’ 1 Japanese historians tend to shun the topic. So why am I interested in it? Perhaps for the same reason that people climb a forbidding mountain. When Sir Edmund Hilary was asked why he had climbed Mt Everest, he replied: ‘Because it was there.’ The imperial institution of Japan, like Mt Everest or, to be geographically more accurate, like Mt Fuji, is there, and cannot be ignored. It is soaring high, shrouded by mists, and better seen from afar. So it may be easier for a foreigner to work on this subject, as he is less prone to having a political axe to grind.
