I recently read the book "Geopolitics from Age 13.

Hello, I am washi artist Hiroya, who started by jogging after reading the book "The Exercise Brain" introduced in my last blog.

Today, I would like to introduce another super interesting book.

Takayuki Tanaka, author of "Geopolitics from Age 13

This is a book on geopolitics that can be learned in a narrative format.

The characters are: Daiki, a first-year high school student at an advanced school who is good at studying, and his younger sister, Anzu, a first-year junior high school student who prefers fashion and idols to studying. And a mysterious man in an antique store who is called "Kaizoku" because of his unique appearance. The story begins when Taiki and Anzu become interested in an old globe, "Diplomat," which they find in the antique store.

The author, Takayuki Tanaka, is an international political reporter. As the obi says, reading this book will give you a good idea of what is really happening in the world today.

Let me say this first. This is one book you should read. I highly recommend it because it is very easy to read because of its story format.

Let me quickly introduce the contents of the book.

• Data is sent much faster over submarine cables than over satellites, and the Internet would not be possible without these cables. The United States has the most submarine cables in the world, followed by the United Kingdom.
• The more information is collected, the closer it gets to not having it.
• What is natural now is not what will be natural in the future.
• Inherently, however, freedom and security are not opposites. Rather than sacrificing one for the other, both should be the goal.
• He said that what is important in a relationship between countries is trust. Since we are in such different environments, it is easy for us to misunderstand each other because of that. Human beings always try to view the world with the environment in which they were raised as the standard. Chinese, Russians, and Japanese are all the same people. The only difference is their environment, and they are all just trying their best to survive and be happy in that environment. If we can think that way, we will not make foolish discriminations such as, "I don't trust him because he is a XXX person.
• Talk about one's own people being the best and superior to other peoples is pleasant to one's ears. It is much more difficult for people and nations with various differences to explore cooperation together than it is for them to quarrel and divide. The world would be a more peaceful place if more people could think about what is truly positive for everyone, rather than letting their emotions get in the way.
• It is safe to assume that anything that is unusually cheap and good comes at some cost to the people involved.
• I believe that the opposite of discrimination is exchange.
• With curiosity and courage, interact with different types of people from yourself. By doing so, you will reduce your own biased way of thinking and what you don't know. Have interest in and respect for people who look different from you and who were born and raised differently from you. And, create a system that makes it difficult for people to clump together in a similar way. If we can continue to do these things steadily, we will be able to gradually solve the ethnic problems that are occurring in many countries.

That is all.

This is an incredibly clear and thought-provoking book on geopolitics.

I will say it again. Please read this book.