 Kyoto School philosophy, therefore, should be understood neither as Buddhist thought forced into Western garb, nor as universal discourse (which the West happened to have invented or discovered) dressed up in Japanese garb. Rather, it is best understood as a set of unique contributions from the perspective of modern Japan—that is, from a Japan that remains substantially determined by its historical layers of traditional culture at the same time as being decisively conditioned by its most recent layer of contact with the West—to a nascent worldwide dialogue of cross-cultural philosophy.