Changes

*''Japanese'': 東京 ''(toukyou)''

*''Japanese'': 東京 ''(toukyou)''

====Building a Modern National Capital====

====Building a Modern National Capital====

Construction of Tokyo as a modern national capital, including elements which drew upon Western modes of expressing, celebrating, and instilling nationalism through monuments, began in earnest at the very end of the 1880s, and into the 1890s. A bronze statue of [[Omura Masujiro|Ômura Masujirô]], erected at [[Yasukuni Shrine]] in [[1893]], is oft-cited as the first such Western-style bronze statue of a national hero to be erected in Japan;<ref>Fujitani, 17.; Suzuki Eka, "Building Statues of Japanese Governors: Monumental Bronze Sculptures and Colonial Cooperation in Taiwan under Japanese Rule," presentation at 2013 UCSB International Conference on Taiwan Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara, 7 Dec 2013.</ref> many more followed soon after.

Construction of Tokyo as a modern national capital, including elements which drew upon Western modes of expressing, celebrating, and instilling nationalism through monuments, began in earnest at the very end of the 1880s, and into the 1890s. A bronze statue of [[Omura Masujiro|Ômura Masujirô]], erected at [[Yasukuni Shrine]] in [[1893]], is oft-cited as the first such Western-style bronze statue of a national hero to be erected in Japan;<ref>Fujitani, 17.; Suzuki Eka, "Building Statues of Japanese Governors: Monumental Bronze Sculptures and Colonial Cooperation in Taiwan under Japanese Rule," presentation at 2013 UCSB International Conference on Taiwan Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara, 7 Dec 2013.; the statue of Ômura was in fact preceded by a large bronze statue of [[Yamato Takeru]], erected in [[Kenrokuen]] in [[Kanazawa]] in [[1880]]. However, the statue of Ômura was nevertheless the first bronze statue in Tokyo, and the first in the country to depict a more contemporary figure more directly associated with the modern state.</ref> many more followed soon after.

The first [[railroads|train line]] in Japan opened in [[1872]], connecting [[Sakuragicho Station|Yokohama]] with [[Shinagawa]] Station in Tokyo; the line was extended before the end of that year to Tokyo's [[Shinbashi Station]].<ref>Plaques on-site at Sakuragichô Station, Yokohama.</ref> By 1889, the first incarnation of the [[Tokaido|Tôkaidô Main Line]] was complete, connecting Tokyo by rail as far as [[Kobe]]. The [[Yoshiwara]], and the brothels, teahouses, and prostitutes of a number of other areas were brought under the jurisdiction of the [[Tokyo Metropolitan Police]] in [[1875]], and rapidly declined in size and stature. By the early decades of the 20th century, the Yoshiwara was only a mere shadow of its former self, but it did continue to exist and operate until it was formally closed in 1958.

The first [[railroads|train line]] in Japan opened in [[1872]], connecting [[Sakuragicho Station|Yokohama]] with [[Shinagawa]] Station in Tokyo; the line was extended before the end of that year to Tokyo's [[Shinbashi Station]].<ref>Plaques on-site at Sakuragichô Station, Yokohama.</ref> By 1889, the first incarnation of the [[Tokaido|Tôkaidô Main Line]] was complete, connecting Tokyo by rail as far as [[Kobe]]. The [[Yoshiwara]], and the brothels, teahouses, and prostitutes of a number of other areas were brought under the jurisdiction of the [[Tokyo Metropolitan Police]] in [[1875]], and rapidly declined in size and stature. By the early decades of the 20th century, the Yoshiwara was only a mere shadow of its former self, but it did continue to exist and operate until it was formally closed in 1958.

Construction of Western-style buildings had begun as early as the [[Bakumatsu]] period, but many of the most significant municipal, national, and Imperial structures were only first completed in the 1880s. These include the [[Tokyo National Museum]], designed in its first red-brick incarnation by [[Josiah Conder]] and completed in [[1881]], the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] [[General Staff Office]], completed that same year by [[Giovanni Vincenzo Cappelletti]], and the [[Rokumeikan]], also designed by Conder, and completed in [[1883]] on the former grounds of a secondary residence of the [[Shimazu clan]] of [[Satsuma han]].<ref>[[Ichioka Masakazu]], ''[[Tokugawa seiseiroku]]'', 1889, reprinted Tokyo: Heibonsha (1989), 29.; Dallas Finn, "Reassessing the Rokumeikan," in Ellen Conant (ed.), ''Challenging Past and Present: The Metamorphosis of Nineteenth-Century Japanese Art'', University of Hawaii Press (2006), 227-239.</ref> The main avenues of the [[Ginza]] neighborhood, lined with trees and red-brick buildings, were already a center of modern urban culture, and commercial center, by the 1880s,<ref>Fujitani, 59.</ref> and sites of Western-style elite gatherings (e.g. dinner parties, luncheons, ballroom dancing) such as the [[Rokumeikan]] were at their height at that time.<ref>Finn, op. cit.</ref>

[[Fukuzawa Yukichi]] was among the most prominent of a series of officials who called in [[1883]] for a coordinated plan for the city as a whole, and for a focus on the palace, criticizing the efforts of former Tokyo governor [[Matsuda Michiyuki]] (gov. [[1879]]-[[1882]]) and others to simply build up Tokyo piecemeal, one project at a time. Construction of Western-style buildings had begun as early as the [[Bakumatsu]] period, and the [[Ginza]], flanked by Shinbashi Station and by the Foreign Concessions, was built up into a rather modern commercial area filled with gaslamps, shopping arcades of two-story Georgian-style brick buildings, and the first sidewalks in Japan, as early as 1872-[[1877]];<ref>Fujitani, 71.</ref> however, many of the most significant municipal, national, and Imperial structures were only first completed in the 1880s. These include the [[Tokyo National Museum]], designed in its first red-brick incarnation by [[Josiah Conder]] and completed in [[1881]], the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] [[General Staff Office]], completed that same year by [[Giovanni Vincenzo Cappelletti]], and the [[Rokumeikan]], also designed by Conder, and completed in [[1883]] on the former grounds of a secondary residence of the [[Shimazu clan]] of [[Satsuma han]].<ref>[[Ichioka Masakazu]], ''[[Tokugawa seiseiroku]]'', 1889, reprinted Tokyo: Heibonsha (1989), 29.; Dallas Finn, "Reassessing the Rokumeikan," in Ellen Conant (ed.), ''Challenging Past and Present: The Metamorphosis of Nineteenth-Century Japanese Art'', University of Hawaii Press (2006), 227-239.</ref> The Rokumeikan, among other sites, quickly reached their heights as centers of Western-style elite gatherings (e.g. dinner parties, luncheons, ballroom dancing) during that decade.<ref>Finn, op. cit.</ref>

The year 1889 marks a significant shift in the way the Meiji government viewed and treated Tokyo, and thus in the development of the city. In that year, the Imperial family took up residence in the [[Tokyo Imperial Palace]], which was completed the previous year after fires destroyed the previous palace (Edo castle) in [[1873]]. The Palace was officially designated an "Imperial Palace" (''kyûjô''), and the city, described for many years by foreign observers and Japanese alike as possessing an empty center, once more had a visible and monumental symbol of political power at its center. Parades and other events surrounding the celebration of the promulgation of the [[Meiji Constitution]] later that year are sometimes cited as the first major modern national ceremonies to be held in the streets of Tokyo. Celebrations of the thirtieth anniversary of the relocation of the capital, held in [[1898]], were another particularly notable event in the evolution of Tokyo's modern & national(ist) festivals.

In [[1884]], Tokyo governor [[Yoshikawa Akimasa]] submitted a proposal which was perhaps the first to highlight the accessibility - by road, rail, canals, and bridges - of the city, and the first to make particular considerations regarding the place of the Imperial Palace within the city. Yoshikawa advocated a series of four grand boulevards radiating outwards from the palace, which would provide thoroughfares for Imperial progresses, and for the comings and goings of foreign dignitaries. That same year, [[Yamazaki Naotane]] proposed clustering the chief government buildings near the palace, rather than having them scattered across the city. In accordance with the suggestions of Yamazaki and others at that time, Tokyo's government buildings remain today clustered in the Kasumigaseki area, while the Marunouchi area was given over to commercial development.<ref>Fujitani, 75-76.</ref>

 

The shift in attitude begun around 1883 towards desiring a modern national capital developed according to a coordinated plan, and with an impressive Imperial Palace at its center, reached a certain culmination in [[1889]]. In that year, the Imperial family took up residence in the [[Tokyo Imperial Palace]], which was completed the previous year after fires destroyed the previous palace (Edo castle) in [[1873]]. The Palace was officially designated an "Imperial Palace" (''kyûjô''), and the city, described for many years by foreign observers and Japanese alike as possessing an empty center, once more had a visible and monumental symbol of political power at its center. Parades and other events surrounding the celebration of the promulgation of the [[Meiji Constitution]] later that year are sometimes cited as the first major modern national ceremonies to be held in the streets of Tokyo. Celebrations of the thirtieth anniversary of the relocation of the capital, held in [[1898]], were another particularly notable event in the evolution of Tokyo's modern & national(ist) festivals.

 

The [[Akasaka Detached Palace]] and the Hyôkeikan of the Tokyo National Museum, key examples of a later phase of [[Meiji period architecture]], were completed in [[1909]].

The [[Akasaka Detached Palace]] and the Hyôkeikan of the Tokyo National Museum, key examples of a later phase of [[Meiji period architecture]], were completed in [[1909]].