Emily Lu

This dissertation is a study of the intersection between music and politics in Imperial Japan from 1868 to 1945. It examines military music as a form of propaganda, from its creation to consumption. Military music was not only performed by and within the military, but also part of Imperial Japan’s national repertoire, where schoolchildren and citizens back at home learned, danced, sang, and even produced in both private and public spaces. The intellectual class supported the pro-imperialism ideology manifested in military music. This project also inspects the role music played in wartime diplomacy and rise of nationalism, specifically musical exchanges between Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, linking the Japan case study to a larger global phenomenon.