Introduction

I have been asked to write a “response” to the essays in this volume, and, like an obedient boy, I will do what I have been told. And yet my thoughts on reading these wonderful articles are entirely predictable, to wit, admiration and huge appreciation. I have enjoyed, and benefitted from, reading these extremely interesting contributions on subjects that are of very great interest to me. The main thing for me to say, therefore, is “thank you,” particularly since the editors and the authors have also very kindly linked their contributions, in one way or another, to my writings and have said some very generous things. Even when there are differences, the authors have expressed their disagreements in extremely gentle ways.

In fact, the whole process of intellectual events and encounters that has resulted in this volume, led by the vision of the incomparable Reiko Gotoh, has been both highly enjoyable and thoroughly stimulating. We met at the great Ritsumeikan University in the fall of 2005, spoke and heard each other, encountered good arguments and debates, and enjoyed the delights of Japan (and Kyoto in particular), and then left all the hard work of getting this volume together in the gentle hands of Reiko Gotoh (in collaboration with Paul Dumouchel). Not only has Reiko led the designing of the conference (and of this volume), but also her own highly productive approach to justice and reciprocity, which she has developed over the years (and which she presented in her own contribution to the conference in Ritsumeikan), has played a guiding part in the planning of these well-structured intellectual engagements.