Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan
C. History and Geography
Human Activities Shaping Time and Space
History: The former residence of a successor to the Mitsubishi Zaibatsu, built in 1896 on the expansive grounds of a former feudal lord’s residence in Tokyo (2023). This change marks the transition from the early modern to the modern era in Japan. Below are photos of human activities that have shaped those eras.Prehistoric Age: A site where obsidian was mined repeatedly for 30,000 years during the Stone Age in Nagawa, Japan (2023).Ancient History: A view of the area where the capital built by King Bimbisara of Magadha was located. In the break in the hill (on the right), the stone wall from that time still remains. On Griddhakuta in Rajgir, India (2024).Ancient History: A train traveling along an ancient Silk Road trade route between Liuyuan and Hami in China (1996).Ancient History: The ancient city of Jiaohe on the Silk Road, a heritage of the rise and fall of countries, in Turpan, China (1996).Medieval to Early Modern History: Venice, which prospered from Levantine trade, but began its decline with the rise of the Ottoman Empire and the onset of the Age of Exploration (1995).Medieval to Early Modern History: One of the mine tunnels at the Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine, which produced vast amounts of silver that connected the world economy, in Oda, Japan (2024).(Cont’d) One of the ports in Oda where silver was shipped to China and the Korean Peninsula during that time (2024).Early Modern History: Pope Leo X (bottom center), a patron of the Renaissance who granted indulgences that led to the Reformation, in the grotesque ceiling painting at the Uffizi in Florence (1995).Early Modern History: Ferdinand Magellan died in Mactan, Philippines in 1521 during his voyage around the world, at the Mactan Shrine (2016).Modern History: Century-old buildings from the French colonial period in Ho Chi Minh City, illuminated at night: From left, City Hall, Hotel Continental Saigon, and the Opera House (with only its roof visible in the photo) (2008).Contemporary History: The Jagalchi market, which expanded rapidly due to the population growth caused by the Korean War, in Busan (2002).Contemporary History: The house of the late Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore (2016). He made the difficult decision in 1965 for Singapore to become independent from Malaysia.Contemporary History: A wall in Beijing, remembering a slogan from China’s planned economy period in the 1960s: “(工业)学大庆、(农业)学大寨 (In industry, learn from Daqing; in agriculture, learn from Dazhai)” (2006).Contemporary History: China’s process of gradual economic liberalization began in 1978, in Shenzhen (2010).Contemporary History: In 1986, F1 promoters broke through the Iron Curtain and held the first-ever Eastern Bloc race in Hungary (pictured is a 1992 advertisement in Budapest). Hungary was one of the first countries in the bloc to adopt political and economic reforms.Contemporary History: A piece of the Berlin Wall as a symbol of the Cold War, which I bought in Berlin in 1992. More than three decades after the end of the Cold War, where is the world headed as multipolarity accelerates?Geography: Merchant houses, prospered from the 17th century to the first half of the 19th century by water transportation on the Seto Inland Sea, often called the “Mediterranean of Japan,” in Yanai (2023). They are famous for their white plastered walls, designed for fire protection, and their goldfish lanterns. To understand human life, we must first understand the impact of the natural environment on it, as Fernand Braudel argued in his book The Mediterranean. However, photos of nature are categorized in the first half of section E. Science and Technology. In this section, below are photos of human activities that have shaped those locations.Towns and Villages: The historic castle town of Iwamura in Ena, Japan (2018). In the mountains ahead lie the ruins of one of Japan’s most famous mountain castles.Towns and Villages: Peranakan terrace houses in the Katong district of Singapore, showcasing a hybrid of Chinese, maritime Southeast Asian, and European cultures (2016).Towns and Villages: Historic shophouses in Phuket, where many Chinese descendants live (2020).Towns and Villages: Chuandixiacun, a village featuring traditional Qing dynasty houses in Beijing (2006).Towns and Villages: A town of the Garifuna people, who have preserved their own culture, in Roatan, Honduras (2012).Towns and Villages: A floating village on Tonle Sap Lake in Siem Reap during the rainy season (September 2009).Towns and Villages: A gated community in Mactan, Philippines (2016).Formation of Towns: After the Cuban Revolution, high-quality Cuban cigars have also been made by immigrants in Miami’s Little Havana (2012).Formation of Towns: Johannesburg’s New Chinatown has sprung up on the outskirts due to deteriorating security in the city center, where the Old Chinatown is located (2011).Industrial Agglomeration: The garage in Palo Alto, where HP was founded in 1939, one of the birthplaces of Silicon Valley (2015).Transportation: Tsumago-juku on the Nakasen-do in Nagiso, Japan, a post-station town on a major Edo (now Tokyo)-Kyoto route from the 17th century to the first half of the 19th century (2018).Transportation: Japan’s metropolitan expressway network has been developed since the 1970s to connect the city center with the suburbs in Tokyo (2023).Transportation: Copenhagen, a bicycle-friendly city (2017).Transportation:After Mr. Dashrath Manjhi’s wife died due to the distance to a hospital over a rocky hill, he spent 22 years cutting through the hill to open this road in 1982, improving the lives of the people in his village of Gehlaur, India (2024). His life was made into a movie, “Manjhi: The Mountain Man” (2015).Border: The border between Laos and Thailand lies in the middle of the Mekong River, viewed from Vientiane, Laos, towards Nong Khai, Thailand (2024).CBD (central business district): View of Hong Kong’s Central and Admiralty districts from the Lugard Road Lookout, The Peak (2015).Urban Landscape: Large neon signs hanging over the streets of Hong Kong, which are disappearing due to safety regulations (1995). The current view of the area is shown here.Urban Planning: A district of Vienna where traditional buildings have been largely preserved since the late 19th century (1992). The current view of the area is shown here.Urban Structure: Are there any differences between the spatial structure of present-day Chicago and that of the city when Ernest W. Burgess developed the concentric zone model about a century ago, as seen from over Lake Michigan (2013)?Urbanization: The front line of urban development in Ulaanbaatar (2013).Redevelopment: Rainbow Village (彩虹眷村) in Taichung, which was slated for redevelopment but was transformed into a park to preserve the paintings of an elderly resident (2017).Gentrification: The wave of redevelopment coming to Boston’s Chinatown (2015). A related article in Japanese: “Chinatown in Boston” (IDE Square, 2015).Globalization: The growing number of Chinese cars in Lima (2013).Localization: The clown giving a “wai,” the traditional Thai greeting, in Bangkok (2020).
