Emperor of Japan

Rating:
Summary: Good book but colored with strong Japanese bias....
Review: This book offers a detailed snapshot of the Emperor and the dynamic times he had lived in...However, in my personal opinion, I would like to say that even after factoring the fact that the author was writing a subjective and sympathetic portrayal of the Japanese Emperor as a gentleman and enlightened monarch, the language and tone in the book reflects an extremely strong pro-Japanese and even nationalistic bias that colours the entire book, unlike the style of writing which I prefer, which is to be as academic and objective as possible....

Rating:
Summary: The best book on the subject
Review: This has to be the best book on the Meiji emperor currently in English. Professor Keene has assembled enough primary and secondary material to form as complete a picture of the Meiji emperor as is likely to exist for a long time. This book is an esential source book for anyone seeking to understand the man or his era.

Professor Keene has a fascinating subject to explore in this book. If Augustus can be said to have found Rome to be city of mud huts and left strutures of marble behind, the Meiji emperor was born into a backward feudal nation and left when it had become a world power. Unlike Augustus, he cannot claim all of the credit for this achievement. There were many talented and visionary politicians who came to power during the period. However, the environment to foster the rise of Japan as a world power was certainly fostered by the emperor's departure from the traditional role of the Japanese emperor, a position which under the preceeding Shogunate period could be said to resemble that of a national high priest.

What is fascinating about this book is how Japan became a modern country. Persons who look at things like how modernity and change affects rising nation states will certainly find this book fascinating. At anyone of several periods throughout this period, Japan could have found efforts to modernize halted and it returning to the status of a rather unimportant Asian power.

Even though I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I will suggest that this is not really the best book to begin a study of Japanese history. Somethings are not fully explained and the significance of certain individuals not perfectly introduced. I would suggest reading a survey history of Japan before reading this one. However despite this shortcoming, Professor Keene has composed the definative text.

Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Account
Review: This is the canonical biography of the Emperor Meiji and it is as magisterial as that distinction would imply. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I seriously doubt that anyone will write as complete and well-researched a biography - at least in English - in the next 50 years. In addition to this, it is a very readable 800 pages. So why only 4 stars? Keene writes well and there is little question that it is an enjoyable and intellectually rewarding experience. However, Keene is one of the leading, if not the leading, expert of Japanese literature in the United States. He is neither a historian nor a political scientist by training and this is entirely apparent in his analysis of Meiji and his life. Meiji presided over what is unquestionably a revolutionary period in Japanese history - an era in which Japanese society, culture, and politics was entirely transformed - and yet the precise way in which Meiji expanded his power and then used it to facilitate these changes, particularly vis a vis his ministers and councilors, is not given the thorough treatment it deserves. After reading Keene's biography, I agree with him that Meiji deserves more credit than he is often given for the changes in Japan during the late 19th and early 20th century, but I am still not entirely sure of what Meiji's role was in those changes. The narrative is engaging - exceptional, even - but the scope of the book is such that I was left begging for a richer analysis. I would have happily read another 300 pages had Keene provided this. Ironically, a less thorough treatment of Meiji might have earned 5 stars: the disappointment of reading such a magisterial book with such thin analysis would have been lessened considerably.