Keeping up with the Tokugawas
The new shogun reflects on family history and Japan’s looming social change
If not for the Meiji Restoration, Tokugawa Iehiro might be running Japan. Instead, the new head of one of Japan’s most eminent dynasties, which ruled from 1603 to 1868, spends his days overseeing its relics at a spacious stone compound down a side-street in Tokyo’s Yoyogi-Uehara neighbourhood. The shogun greets Banyan in fluent English, with no ceremony and a warm smile.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Keeping up with the Tokugawas”
From the February 25th 2023 edition
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