午夜剧场

The motivation for writing this book was the issue regarding the refusal to appoint members to the Science Council of Japan. Despite the duty of a democratic state to protect its citizens from power, the state itself exercised power to suppress the freedom of its citizens. I felt it was important to explain what democracy is to members of the ruling party by starting from ancient Rome, where democracy was born.

For example, the original word translated as "state" (kokka) in Japanese is "res publica," which means "the people's thing" or "belonging to everyone." Since the state is not the property of any individual but belongs to everyone, the rights and welfare of all people are given top priority. On the other hand, the Japanese word "kokka" originally meant "belonging to the Great King (Emperor)." This is the same as the Russian word государство (gosudarstvo). Its original meaning is "the property of the ruler." While Japanese people translated "minister" as "daijin" (great official), the original Latin word means "the lesser one" (servant).

In this manner, the meaning of "democracy" has also been misunderstood. Japan's problems stem from a misunderstanding of basic concepts. Because of this, the meaning of "human rights" is still not well understood today. To clear up these misunderstandings and help people correctly understand the meanings of "democracy," "human rights," and "law," I have covered everything from Roman history to science, civil engineering, military affairs, and literature in a single volume. This is to help readers understand the core of Roman thinking found in every field.

For instance, Roman emperors converted the vast spoils of war into money and used it for the welfare of everyone. This included various entertainment facilities like amphitheaters, public squares, shopping malls, large public baths, and a basic income system for the poor. The Egyptian Pharaohs concentrated immense wealth and power to build pyramids, and Qin Shi Huang built his mausoleum and the Terracotta Army. These were of no use to the people. Instead, the Romans built paved stone roads and aqueducts spanning the entire Roman world so that everyone living there could enjoy the benefits for free. The EU's Schengen Agreement is modeled after this free movement within the Roman territory. Naturally, there was no racial discrimination in Rome.

The wisdom of the Romans should be useful to us today as well.

Michio Fujitani

Sakurasha

410 pages, 2,200 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.