🌺The End of Applause for Power
ーOn Leadership, Ethics, and the Lost Art of Dialogue
Each spring, I find myself remembering the chestnut trees of Paris—
their delicate pink and white blossoms dancing in the breeze.
I used to stroll through the Luxembourg Gardens, letting the wind carry my thoughts.
In my thirties and forties, Paris shaped me.
I had the luxury of time—time to absorb French ways of thinking,
to let philosophy, not as a subject but as a way of being, become part of my bloodstream.
And so, I confess, I grow weary of Japan’s increasingly reductive discourse.
We must hold a multipolar view of the world.
It’s not unlike understanding life itself—no single truth, no binary logic, just layers.
Today in Japan,
under the rising tide of conservatism,
there are still voices that praise two towering powers of East and West as “brilliant strategists.”
But should we truly admire leaders who trade in fear,
shut down dialogue,
and tighten their grip through sheer domination?
What we must ask now is not who appears the strongest,
but who walks with dignity—
who earns trust,
who stands with the vulnerable,
and who refuses to betray their ethical compass.
Before we analyze “strategy,”
we must first examine the posture that nurtures the future.
In an age of spectacle and suppression—
where treaties are twisted, dissent is silenced,
and intimidation parades as leadership—
the real question is not
“Should we learn from their might?”
but
“Do we still have the courage to resist such might?”
Before we applaud the cold calculus of power,
let us ask what values are lost beneath it.
What kind of future does it carve—and for whom?
That, above all,
is the reflection I believe we must not abandon.