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Kuo reflects upon the Pacific War and what he feels holds post-war Japanese culture back from attaining “genuine greatness,” given a capacity enabled by its early modernising efforts for “the liberation of the self, the democratisation of society and … the realisation of the knowledge-based mode of production and exchange.” He also argues that nations in East and Southeast Asia share a similar socio-political “baggage with Japan — chiefly the semi-feudal [and also nationalistic] culture which impedes our [joint] fuller entry into modernity.” The challenge for Asian intellectuals — and particularly for Southeast Asians with their complex and multiple cultural makeup — is to initiate dialogue as to how regional diversity and “civilisational assets” can be turned into a “living multiculture” that will be an advantage for “the region’s long-term progress and prosperity.”.