Europe

  • A Proposal for an Alternative Version of The Odyssey

    Yesterday, I went to see Christopher Nolan’s much-anticipated film The Odyssey. It was superb. . That said, one line spoken by Odysseus’s wife, Penelope, caught my attention: “I hear that bands of marauders known as the ‘Sea Peoples’ have been attacking city-states everywhere. They would finish the civilization.” . In ancient times, the “Sea Peoples” attacked cities along the Mediterranean…

  • A World History Free from Both Eurocentrism and Orientalism ５ Before Athens　

    (The source text of this series is “In Search of Lost Modernity” by Akio KAWATO. The English edition of this book (originally written in Japanese) is on https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hiRK7kjbX0Hxd2NOxPqtQlVWgjDHgKCr/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MB0Me9P5Lpa2HGceuJUdMqqQ2CRHQSxa/edit The copyright belongs to the author, Akio Kawato . （This installment points out that little is known about how politics and the economy in the Mediterranean region unfolded during the 1,000…

  • Secure the Strait of Hormuz by Charging Tolls

    Navigation is becoming dangerous not only through the Strait of Hormuz, but also through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea. This is intolerable for both oil-producing nations and trading nations. Nor does the United States military appear to retain the ability to secure these waterways by force. . If military force cannot solve the problem,…

  • A World History Free from Both Eurocentrism and Orientalism　4　

    The Mediterranean Civilizational Sphere: An Extension of the Orient (The source text of this series is “In Search of Lost Modernity” by Akio KAWATO. The English edition of this book (originally written in Japanese) is on https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hiRK7kjbX0Hxd2NOxPqtQlVWgjDHgKCr/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MB0Me9P5Lpa2HGceuJUdMqqQ2CRHQSxa/edit The copyright belongs to the author, Akio Kawato . （This installment serves as an introduction to the upcoming section on ancient Greek…

  • The Postwar World and the Shifting Currents Beneath It

    (This is a slightly revised version of my article to be published in Newsweek Japan on September 8.) . The Post-Cold War Era and the Expansion of American Power . The international situation today can broadly be described as the “post-Cold War” era. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, which divided the world for decades…

  • A World History Free from Both Eurocentrism and Orientalism　3

    (The source text of this series is “In Search of Lost Modernity” by Akio KAWATO. The English edition of this book (originally written in Japanese) is on https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hiRK7kjbX0Hxd2NOxPqtQlVWgjDHgKCr/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MB0Me9P5Lpa2HGceuJUdMqqQ2CRHQSxa/edit The copyright belongs to the author, Akio Kawato . This installment highlights what the author considers to be the most important aspects of Mesopotamia. While ancient Greek civilization drew many of…

  • A Yellow Warning Light Is Flashing for U.S. Finance

    A yellow warning light is now flashing over America’s financial markets. Excessive Treasury issuance has been driving up long-term interest rates. This could lead to a sharp decline in Treasury prices, a fiscal crisis, and a loss of confidence in the dollar. It could also trigger a stock-market crash, severely reducing the wealth of America’s middle class. . Treasury Secretary…

  • A World History Free from Both Eurocentrism and Orientalism　２

    (The source text of this series is “In Search of Lost Modernity” by Akio KAWATO. The English edition of this book (originally written in Japanese) is on https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hiRK7kjbX0Hxd2NOxPqtQlVWgjDHgKCr/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MB0Me9P5Lpa2HGceuJUdMqqQ2CRHQSxa/edit The copyright belongs to the author, Akio Kawato . This installment of the series challenges the long-held belief that “the world’s civilizations emerged almost simultaneously in Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus River…

  • A World History Free from Both Eurocentrism and Orientalism 1 Introduction

    I’m starting a new series here. The title is “A World History Free from Both Eurocentrism and Orientalism” The source text is “In Search of Lost Modernity” by Akio KAWATO. The English edition of this book (originally written in Japanese) is on https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hiRK7kjbX0Hxd2NOxPqtQlVWgjDHgKCr/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MB0Me9P5Lpa2HGceuJUdMqqQ2CRHQSxa/edit (The copyright belongs to the author, Akio Kawato). . Today is the first installment. Let’s start…

  • Rethinking Japan’s Place in a Rising Asia

    (This article appeared in Newsweek Japan on August 18.) On August 8, news broke that both South Korea and Taiwan had surpassed Japan in exports during the first half of this year. Since the mid-1990s, I had already grown weary of hearing the world sneer that “Japan is finished—even in Asia.” This latest news felt almost like the final blow.…