午夜剧场

As a student, I hardly read any of Fukuzawa's works. The reason I started reading them was because I became a member of the Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies in my 40s, as my specialty was the history of Japanese economic thought.

Later, from the end of the 1990s, I had the honor of joining the editorial committee for "Collected Letters of Yukichi Fukuzawa." For that reason, I read Yukichi Fukuzawa's letters, and in order to add notes and commentary to them, I also began to seriously read his other works. Once I started reading, I found both his letters and his other writings to be fascinating, and I became completely absorbed. In that sense, the opportunity to become a center member and an editorial committee member was the catalyst.

First is Fukuzawa's writing style. His prose is clear, rhythmic, and crisp. It's enjoyable to read and, moreover, persuasive.

Second, what Fukuzawa wrote were arguments that directly confronted the issues of his time. Furthermore, this era spanned from the end of the shogunate to the Meiji industrial revolution, a time when Japan was attempting to modernize and industrialize through trial and error. The fascination lies in how he grappled with that period.

Third, Fukuzawa did not follow the popular arguments or trendy assertions of his day. Instead, he often pushed back against such trends, making arguments that threw cold water on them. Moreover, his arguments were based on his own observations and data collection. His discussions, grounded in an independent spirit and intellect rare in Japan, are even refreshing to read.

Fourth, when you study Fukuzawa's thought, you begin to see different possibilities for modern Japan. While some of Fukuzawa's proposals were realized during Japan's modernization, many were not adopted, and it's fair to say that the most fundamental parts of his philosophy did not permeate into actual Japanese society. Therefore, by studying his thought, we can see that although it didn't happen in reality, it might have been possible for Japan to have progressed in this other way.

Contemporary society constantly faces various problems and challenges. When confronted with such issues, it is meaningful to return to the starting point of Japan's modern society and reconsider. In that context, Fukuzawa is worth revisiting as someone who, at the dawn of the modern era, argued with considerable influence for another possibility.

Whenever you feel like it in your life ahead—when you want to read a book with some substance, when you want a model for how to think, when you feel like saying something a little profound, or when you're feeling down—anytime is fine. I urge you to try reading the works of Yukichi Fukuzawa. They are fascinating.

(Interview conducted in December 2014)

*Profile and position are as of the time of the interview.