Tabuchi Kumiko, Professor, Waseda University Towards Zero is a masterpiece mystery novel by Agatha Christie. The time has now come to look back to the “zero times” of the Hyakunin Isshu (One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets), as well. The Hyakunin Isshu is one of the most well-known anthologies of waka (Japanese poems) from Japanese classical literature, and it is generally believed that the editor of this anthology was Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241). However, there are many puzzling questions and contradictions when attributing the editing of the Hyakunin Isshu to Teika. Without answering these questions, a variety of hypotheses have appeared, and it has become almost universally accepted that the Hyakunin Isshu was “selected by Teika.” However, on further examination of each of the questions, it becomes clear that this was not the case. About 70 years ago, the Hyakunin Shuka, an ... ... [Read more]

    Eto Naoko, Professor, Gakushuin University   Key points Formal continuation of collective leadership as a means of consolidating the power structure Attempt to shift the legitimacy of the CCP to the manifestation of socialism Need for Japan to share legally enforceable international rules with China   The 20th Party Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) concluded on October 22, announcing its policies and appointments to the Central Commission. The following day, on the 23rd, with the new leadership inaugurated at the 1st plenum of the 20th CCP Central Committee, the way was paved for General Secretary Xi Jinping’s long-term government as he was reappointed for a third term. This marked the end of the “system-based transfer of power” mechanism, which had been emphasized as a lesson of the Mao Zedong administration period that had brought major disruptions and setbacks. The four ... ... [Read more]

Shorin zu byobu (Pine Trees) by Hasegawa Tohaku (1539–1610) Source: ColBase (https://colbase.nich.go.jp/)   How do national treasures become national treasures? What 89 masterpieces can teach us. Kobayashi Tadashi, Art Historian From October to December 2022, a special exhibition titled “Tokyo National Museum: Its History and National Treasures,” is being held at the Tokyo National Museum. All 89 national treasures in the museum’s collection will be exhibited together. I am currently the director of the Okada Museum of Art in Kanagawa Prefecture. Previously, I was the director of the Chiba City Museum of Art. I have taught at universities, including Gakushuin University, and I once worked at the Tokyo National Museum. As a graduate student, I became a part-time researcher at the Tokyo National Museum, and in 1969 became a curator of painting there. For a while I left for Nagoya University, but returned to ... ... [Read more]

  With the world heading toward division due to the logic of the major global powers, we should turn our attention once again, not to Europe and the United States, or China and Russia, but to the emerging and developing countries—with their multilateral dynamics, working on multiple levels—as key players in population scale, economic power, and order building.   Endo Mitsugi (Professor, University of Tokyo), Nakao Takehiko (Chairman, Mizuho Research and Technologies) and Kawashima Shin (Professor, University of Tokyo)   Kawashima Shin: Over the last few years, the world has been undergoing major changes—with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and accompanying global high prices, primarily for energy and food—and the impact is spreading globally. Looking at international reports of Japan, however, most of the news is focused on the United States and China. Even when Asia and Africa are discussed, situations ... ... [Read more]

  How do differences in political regime, such as between authoritarianism and democracy, affect a country’s economic prosperity and people’s health? I will use an econometric approach to political phenomena to address this question as I consider the reason why democracy should be defended.   Annaka Susumu, Assistant Professor, Hirosaki University 1. Political regime and economic affluence A political regime is defined as “the set of basic formal and informal rules that determine who influences the choice of leaders—including rules that identify the group from which leaders can be selected—and policies” (Geddes, Wright and Frantz 2014, p. 327).[1] It is a concept used to classify different political characteristics from country to country, such as democracy, authoritarianism, and autocratic regime.[2] How do differences in political regime affect economic affluence and people’s health? That is the question that this paper seeks to address. Looking at North ... ... [Read more]

  Ohi Akai, Adjunct Lecturer, Hiroshima Institute of Technology   Thirty years have passed since the political realignment in 1993. Having seen the political upheaval over the last three decades, the time has come to analyze contemporary political history, and the owl of Minerva is set to take its flight. In this article, I propose a framework to understand contemporary Japanese politics through the following three issues. First, the 1993 political realignment and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) split shifted Japan’s political confrontation from a dichotomy of “conservatism vs progressivism” to a tripolar structure of “conservatives/former progressives/neoliberals” (1993 System). Second, in current Japanese politics this tripolar structure comprises the “LDP and Komeito coalition/opposition parties (Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan [CDPJ], Democratic Party for the People [DPP], Social Democratic Party [SDP], Japanese Communist Party [JCP], Reiwa Shinsengumi [Reiwa])/Japan Innovation Party [JIP],” with power relations among ... ... [Read more]