He never got back all the power of the days before the Shoguns. After the Boshin War and Meiji Restoration, Japan introduced a Parliamentary system based on western models of government. This was called the Diet. However the Japanese were still attached to their Emperor, as he was considered divine, and in no way was the attempt to dispose the Shogunate equivalent to a Republican movement.

This sort of thing was also not unprecedented at the time. Pretty much all of the powerful nations of the world, with the only counterexample coming to mind being the USA, were Monarchies. And some, such as the UK, also had Parliaments in addition to their Monarchs. Not to mention that for a time the prominent clans of Japan also heavily influenced the Diet, just like in the UK. So the Shogunate being replaced with the Emperor as head of state, with government being performed in large part by a Parliament was the logical thing to do. This is consistent with the overarching theme of Japan at that point in it's history: To modernise and become on par with European nations.