German-born Klaus Schlichtman is a peace historian. An academic who found his way late in life -- a "seeker" in every sense of the word.

Since he lives in Hidaka, Saitama, we meet halfway, at the gates of Sophia University in Yotsuya, Tokyo, where he has often lectured. Uppermost on his mind is what is happening in the United Nations; but he is also packing for a research trip to India. This will place him geographically nearer any attack on Iraq, but the question lingers: Will it happen?

"What you see now is the U.N. trying very hard to look like a world government body," he says. "But having no sovereignty -- no mandate for peace -- it's limited in what it can achieve. Actually the Japanese peace Constitution's Article 9 aims at world government."