Theses two portraits Emperor Meiji, made one year apart by photographer Uchida Kiuchi, suggest how Japan used photography to shape its global image. According to Fraser, govt officials were unhappy with the 1872 image as it portrayed the Japan as feudal, backward looking nation. A second portrait was commissioned, shot a year later in 1873, with the Emperor seated in a western chair and dressed in Prussian military uniform, his top-knot replaced by a contemporary western hair style. This image better displayed Japan as modernizing and an equal of the Western powers. Fraser suggests this type of image may have been calculated to help Japan win better treaty conditions.
Fraser, K. (2011). Photography and Japan. London: Reaktion Books.
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