Abstract
This chapter provides a critical analysis of the Shin Nihon Hakkei (hereafter Hakkei), a canon of eight ‘new’ landscape sites that were nominated in 1927 following an opinion poll jointly conducted by two newspaper companies, the Tokyo Nichinichi Shinbunsha and Osaka Mainichi Shinbunsha. At first glance, the Hakkei’s ostensible aim of showcasing the nation’s finest landscapes in eight pre-determined geophysical categories seems relatively innocuous. Yet the poll marked an important shift toward the nation-building imperatives of the new era, particularly as it was timed to commemorate the transition from Taishō (1912–25) to Shōwa (1926–89) periods by simultaneously promoting characteristically ‘Japanese’ landscape along with ‘modern’ Western aesthetics and concepts of scenic beauty.
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Notes
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Jones, T. (2016). The Role of the Shin Nihon Hakkei in Redrawing Japanese Attitudes to Landscape. In: Liu, Tj., Beattie, J. (eds) Environment, Modernization and Development in East Asia. Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-57231-8_6
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