Just a week remains until the curtain comes down on the 20th century. We are, in the true sense of the phrase, at the end of a century. Words like fin de siecle and millennium tend to be tossed about, but this year really can only be described as one of end-of-the-century blues.

In the final two months of the year in particular, the political situation has been violently shaken in Japan and the United States. In the U.S., the result of November's presidential election between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore was left hanging as controversy over vote counting dragged on for more than a month. In the end, Bush emerged as the victor and the GOP will return to the White House for the first time in eight years.

Observing the sloppy counting of votes in Florida, many people have criticized the shameful situation as one that might be expected of a developing country, not in a so-called advanced nation. I disagree. Although there certainly was some ineptness, America is, and always has been, a union of regions, and politics reflects the particular histories of these states. In this sense, the U.S. is completely different from a nation like Japan, which has existed since ancient times as a united community of islands separated from the Asian continent.