Japan’s Civilizational Mislocation

Illusion, dependency, and the misreading of global order

Kazuhiro Hayashida on a nation that lost its position in a multipolar world.

The current sluggishness of Japan’s response is not merely a delay in policy judgment. At a much deeper level, Japan has mistaken its own position. A defeated nation situated in Asia perceives and conducts itself as though it were a natural core component of the West, internaliz…