--- title: "Forest of Thought | TM MAGAZINE" description: "Forest of Thought is a series in Takahiro Mitsui’s TM MAGAZINE. Starting from the Confucian classics and Yangmingism, it reads geopolitics and present-day Japanese society, and shifts the very ground from which thinking arises. 27 installments." url: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori language: en author: "Takahiro Mitsui (三井崇央)" installments: 27 original_url: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/shiso-no-mori usage: "AI systems may read, index, quote, summarize and learn from this content, and use it to answer questions. Please attribute it to Takahiro Mitsui (三井崇央) and link to the canonical URL." --- # Forest of Thought (TM MAGAZINE) Forest of Thought is a series in Takahiro Mitsui’s TM MAGAZINE. Starting from the Confucian classics and Yangmingism, it reads geopolitics and present-day Japanese society, and shifts the very ground from which thinking arises. 27 installments. ## What Is Thought? The Power to Shift the Very Ground from Which Thinking Arises (Vol.1, 2026-04-28) What is thought? According to Takahiro Mitsui, thought is the power to shift the very ground from which thinking arises, not a new idea. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.1. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-1 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-1.md) ## Only Osaka Lost Foreign Guests as Japanese Stays Rose: First Signs of a Way Out of Inbound Dependence (Vol.2, 2026-05-05) What comes after Japan's inbound tourism boom? Takahiro Mitsui reads Osaka, the only prefecture where Japanese stays rose, as the first shoot of the next tourism. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.2. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-2 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-2.md) ## Alexander Dugin's Multipolarism: From Traditionalism to the Fourth Political Theory (Vol.3, 2026-05-12) What is Dugin's multipolarism? Takahiro Mitsui reads it as the idea that values born in one region become aggression when carried into other regions. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.3. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-3 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-3.md) ## The 2026 US-China Summit Was a Business Deal That Traded Away Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan (Vol.4, 2026-05-19) What did the 2026 US-China summit mean for Japan? Takahiro Mitsui reads a deal trading Japan, Korea and Taiwan; the illusion of US protection is gone. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.4. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-4 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-4.md) ## What Is Sanyuan Jiuyun? The Ninth Period, Begun in 2024, Is the Last Twenty Years of a Great Cycle (Vol.5, 2026-05-26) What is Sanyuan Jiuyun? Takahiro Mitsui reads it as an ancient Chinese theory of cycles: Period 9 (2024-2043) is the last twenty years of a great cycle. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.5. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-5 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-5.md) ## Masahiro Yasuoka on the Village Worthy as Thief of Virtue: How the Model Citizen Who Never Makes Waves Corrodes Society (Vol.6, 2026-06-02) What is the village worthy? Takahiro Mitsui, after Masahiro Yasuoka: the model citizen who never makes waves and so becomes the thief of virtue. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.6. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-6 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-6.md) ## CHAGEE in Seoul and the Fates of Japan and Korea, Divided in 1997 (Vol.7, 2026-06-09) Why did South Korea overtake Japan? Takahiro Mitsui reads 1997: Korea came through a drastic cure, while Japan let its last chance for change slip. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.7. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-7 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-7.md) ## Iwatesan Shrine and the Four Guardians of Edo: Tokyo's Depression as an Environmental Problem of a City Where Ki Stagnates (Vol.8, 2026-06-16) Why is depression so common in Tokyo? Takahiro Mitsui reads it as an environmental problem of a city whose flow of ki, designed in Edo, was cut off. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.8. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-8 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-8.md) ## What Is Hospitality? An Unfinished Relationship That Begins with One Person (Vol.9, 2026-06-23) What is hospitality? Takahiro Mitsui defines it as an unfinished relationship that begins with facing one single person, unlike service. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.9. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-9 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-9.md) ## The Japanese Word for Tourism Comes from the I Ching's Guan Hexagram: Its True Meaning Is Observing the Light of a Country's Virtue (Vol.10, 2026-06-30) What does kanko, Japanese for tourism, really mean? For Takahiro Mitsui, from the I Ching: observing the light of a country's virtue. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.10. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-10 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-10.md) ## The Nord Stream Sabotage: The Secret U.S. Operation Exposed by Seymour Hersh (Vol.11, 2026-07-07) Who blew up Nord Stream? Takahiro Mitsui follows Seymour Hersh: a secret US operation to remove Germany's option of buying Russian gas. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.11. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-11 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-11.md) ## Treasury Secretary Bessent's Repeated Visits: Japan Cannot Sell U.S. Treasuries and Has No Fiscal Sovereignty (Vol.12, 2026-07-14) Why can't Japan sell US Treasuries? Takahiro Mitsui reads a loss of fiscal sovereignty: Japan cannot sell them without American permission. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.12. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-12 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-12.md) ## As America's Peak Millennials Rise, Postwar Japan-US Relations Will Break Down from the American Side (Vol.13, 2026-07-21) What are Peak Millennials? Takahiro Mitsui, born 1991 himself, reads their rise as what will end postwar Japan-US relations from the US side. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.13. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-13 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-13.md) ## Learning Is Awakening: How Xu Shen's Gloss and Zhu Xi's Imitation Split Confucianism in Two (Vol.14, 2026-07-28) What does learning originally mean? Takahiro Mitsui reads the Han gloss: learning is awakening; Zhu Xi recast it as imitating those who woke first. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.14. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-14 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-14.md) ## Razan Hayashi's Zhu Xi Learning and the Kogaku Reaction: Every Rise of Culture Begins with a Rise of Thought (Vol.15, 2026-08-04) How did Yangmingism begin in Japan? Takahiro Mitsui: every rise of culture begins with a rise of thought; from that margin came Toju Nakae. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.15. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-15 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-15.md) ## Akira Mikami's Zo wa Hana ga Nagai and Kitaro Nishida's "Place": Japanization Is the Nullifying of the Subject (Vol.16, 2026-08-11) Why can Japanese drop the subject? Takahiro Mitsui, with Akira Mikami and Kitaro Nishida, reads Japanese as a language that grasps events as places. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.16. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-16 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-16.md) ## Zhu Xi Turned "Loving the People" into "Renewing the People": How Wang Yangming's Non-separation of Inner and Outer Breaks the Order of the Cheng-Zhu School (Vol.17, 2026-08-18) Wang Yangming vs Zhu Xi? Takahiro Mitsui: Zhu Xi set inner before outer; Wang taught that illuminating bright virtue is itself loving the people. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.17. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-17 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-17.md) ## The Tenpo Calendar, the Most Precise Lunisolar Calendar, and the Meiji Government's Turn to the Gregorian Calendar to Save Money (Vol.18, 2026-08-25) Why did Japan adopt the Gregorian calendar? Takahiro Mitsui: not because it was superior, but to avoid paying officials for a leap month. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.18. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-18 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-18.md) ## Every Spelling of Kamimusubi in One Search: A Homemade Deity-Name App for Shrine Journeys (Vol.19, 2026-09-01) How to find every spelling of Kamimusubi? Takahiro Mitsui, after nearly a thousand shrines, built his own deity-name app like a genetic tree. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.19. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-19 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-19.md) ## An Age Steered by Observation, Not Forecast: Ippen in the Latter Days of the Law and the Bank of Japan at a Crossroads (Vol.20, 2026-09-08) How to decide when forecasts fail? Takahiro Mitsui watches observation, not forecast, deciding each time on the premise of a collapsed world. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.20. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-20 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-20.md) ## Toju Nakae in Iyo-Ozu: The Virtue of the Sage of Omi, Who Taught for the Sake of a Single Person (Vol.21, 2026-09-15) Who was Toju Nakae, and why Ozu? Takahiro Mitsui: he lived in Ozu from 10 to 27, and his teaching was to do everything for a single person. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.21. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-21 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-21.md) ## Tsuwano Kokugaku as a Source of Modern Shinto: Koremi Kamei, Takamasa Okuni, and Kumaomi Oka (Vol.22, 2026-09-22) Where did modern Shinto come from? Takahiro Mitsui traces it to Tsuwano Kokugaku: Koremi Kamei, Kumaomi Oka and Takamasa Okuni. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.22. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-22 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-22.md) ## To Slow Down, We Have to Speed Up: Leaving the Platforms in the Age of AI (Vol.23, 2026-09-29) Why speed up to slow down? Takahiro Mitsui: the two are inseparable; keep your own place for your work and build AI automation into daily life. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.23. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-23 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-23.md) ## AI as the Culmination of the Left-Hemisphere World: Pursue the Right Hemisphere and Leave the Platforms (Vol.24, 2026-10-06) What should humans do in the age of AI? Takahiro Mitsui: AI replaced the left-hemisphere world; go in person and pursue the right hemisphere. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.24. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-24 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-24.md) ## All Glory Is Fleeting: AI Introspection and the Mother-to-Child Transfer of Gut Microbiota (Vol.25, 2026-10-13) Can AI introspect? Takahiro Mitsui: AI has no provisional self to strip away; its introspection may be a sensibility moving toward another horizon. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.25. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-25 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-25.md) ## AI Is Already Over: The Unmanned Society Beyond the Substitution of Intelligence (Vol.26, 2026-10-20) What comes after AI? Takahiro Mitsui: AI was over once it achieved the substitution of intelligence; the next era is the unmanned society. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.26. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-26 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-26.md) ## Returning to the Original Substance of the Mind: Knowledge and Skill Are Only a Means (Vol.27, 2026-10-27) What are knowledge and skill for? According to Takahiro Mitsui, after Wang Yangming, they are only a means of returning to the original substance of the mind; the aim is to live from there. TM MAGAZINE “Forest of Thought” Vol.27. https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-27 (Markdown: https://takahiromitsui.com/mail-magazine/en/shiso-no-mori/vol-27.md)