Dr Chris Harding

You just have it polished up and on display somewhere.

You'd never expect to have to put it on.

Yes.

Exactly that.

So the emperors are there in Kyoto.

Their job basically is to perform rituals for the gods, maybe write a bit of poetry.

And that's pretty much it.

They're actually watched quite carefully by the Tokugawa.

Because if anyone was going to try and launch a rebellion against the Tokugawa, they would probably try and get hold of the emperor as a figurehead.

So they keep a close eye on them.

But the emperors have no real role.

Most Japanese people will know more or less nothing about them.

All the action is in Edo.

I think it's one of those classic mixture of both type situations.

I think if you imagine there's lots of people in Japan growing up doing Japan at the centre of a world map, right, in this period.

You've got the Russian Empire spreading itself to its east in the direction of Japan.

You've got the United States building up, spreading itself towards the Pacific.

So California becomes the 31st state in 1850.

So there's a sense in which Japan really can't hide anymore.

People are interested.