Public Properties: Museums In Imperial Japan (asia-Pacific: Culture, Politics, A [Paperback]

In the late nineteenth century, Japan's new Meiji government established museums to showcase a national aesthetic heritage. Inspired by Western museums and expositions, these institutions were introduced by government officials hoping to spur industrialization and self-disciplined public behavior, and to cultivate an "imperial public" loyal to the emperor. Japan's network of museums expanded along with its colonies. By the mid-1930s, the Japanese museum system had established or absorbed institutions in Taiwan, Korea, Sakhalin, and Manchuria. Not surprising, colonial subjects' views of Japanese imperialism differed from those promulgated by the Japanese state. Meanwhile, in Japan, philanthropic and commercial museums were expanding, revising, and even questioning the state-sanctioned aesthetic canon.Public Propertiesdescribes how museums in Japan and its empire contributed to the reimagining of state and society during the imperial era, despite vigorous disagreements about what was to be displayed, how, and by whom it was to be seen.

"Public Propertiesdemonstrates that Japan's development of museums reflected its growth into a modern nation-state. Yet the book is more than a history of the museum in modern Japan. Noriko Aso offers a comprehensive account of how public and private institutions came together in the formation of national and imperial ideals, pointing out how museums in Japan's colonies were conceived to take advantage of local conditions while emphasizing the larger mission of empire."—Stefan Tanaka, author ofNew Times in Modern Japan