1988年7月，关东地区使用新型炸弹进行爆破，第三次世界大战即刻爆发。31年后，人类从一片废墟中重建都市，东京湾上建立了巨大城市——新东京。世界仿佛要恢复到以前的繁荣。
　　2019年的一个夜晚，新东京郊外的封闭高速公路上，暴走族团体正在公路上飙车。带头的少年，是一名叫做金田的职业高中学生。
　　突然，街上出现了一位奇怪的矮个子男子，暴走族少年铁雄为躲避车祸连人带车飞出公路。正当金田要拿那位男子问罪之时，军队驾驶直升飞机赶到，将那位矮个男子与铁雄一起收押。
　　铁雄进入了一个陌生的地方，这里似乎在从事超能力的研究。而金田则在盘算如何营救铁雄。二人都不知道，他们的未来，因为神秘力量——阿基拉而已经开始了巨大的变化。

There has been a sea change in the way history has been taught and written about during the last twenty years or so, apparent in the frequency with which the words 'global' and 'transnational' have come to be used in the titles of books and articles. Historians are much more interested today than in the past in looking at global, not just local or national developments, as well as in tracing transnational encounters and linkages among people of diverse backgrounds. How would these approaches contribute to a fresh understanding of the past? Why did such perspectives emerge at the end of the twentieth century, and what would they do to the development of historical study? These questions are explored through numerous examples from scholarly writings since the 1990s. History teachers and students will find here a guide to where the study of history stands today, and specialists as well as non-specialists in various parts of the world will be interested in the reminiscences and observations of a scholar who has been studying history for more than sixty years.