New Books from Japan #2: "The Governing Assembly of the Capital City"

Presenter: 池田真歩 (Maho Ikeda, Hokkai-Gakuen University)

Discussant: Jordan Sand (Georgetown University)

What did the governing assembly mean to the capital city of Tokyo? With the transition from Edo to Tokyo, the status system was dismantled and the structure of the city's leadership class and the nature of its political power were reconstituted, as were the major points of contention attending the governance of the metropolitan region. By examining the negotiations between various interest groups across time, this book elucidates the role of the Tokyo assembly during the period of transition from the early modern period to the modern period.

首都東京にとって議会とは何か。江戸から東京へ移行するにあたって、身分制も解体し議会指導層の構成やその政治指導の特質が再編されていくなかで、議会での争点も多岐に変遷していった。そうした諸集団のあいだの相互交渉を通時的に分析し、近世・近代移行期の首都における議会の相貌を描きだす。