In this Meiji at 150 Project Keynote Lecture, Dr. Shunya Yoshimi (University of Tokyo, Harvard University) proposes that a longue durée approach to history presents one possible solution to the crisis of the humanities in Japan and North America.  Noting cyclical trends in Japan's recent history, Dr. Yoshimi calls attention to multiple "scales" of history in 25-year, 50-year, 75-year, 150-year, and even 500-year increments.