Abstract: Under the postwar constitutional system, Japanese Emperor deals with a series of state affairs according to congressional resolutions as a symbolic image. The socalled “international goodwill” diplomacy activity is an important constituent part of numerous state affairs while the “condolence diplomacy” is a new paradigm in the Emperor’s diplomatic activities. This kind of diplomatic paradigm is not only closely related to Japan’s historical culture, but also reflecting the trends of Japan’s foreign strategies and domestic political ecology. In order to provide a new perspective to understand more about the Japan’s symbolic Emperor system, Japan’s attitude towards aggressive wars and strategic intentions of diplomacy, a study on the historical origin and development, purpose, target selection, the relationship with rightwing forces and other issues about Japanese Emperor’s condolence diplomacy paradigm will be done in this paper.

Key words: condolence diplomacy, Japanese Emperor, historical revisionism, diplomatic paradigm